Invisibrake by Roadmaster
I'm not the sharpest tool in the box so I experience frustration when things go wrong. I was congratulating myself on my choice of an invisibrake system for towing our new CRV. First trip out and all ...
Forum Discussion
Cochise49,
I have a CRV with NAV. The Honda dealer gave me a short test cable to bridge the fuse that must be removed when towing the vehicle. I think it was a 5 amp fuse. Whatever it was, I ran the test cable from the fuse block to a switch hidden in a storage pocket on the left side of the dash. I added an in-line fuse of the same value I removed to connect the test cable to retain the fuse protection. Turning the switch off, eliminates the NAV system drain.
Roadmaster uses a lead from the running light circuit to overcome the remaining minor current drain, and the higher drain when braking due to the vacuum pump, and brake lights that will operate when the braking unit activates. That actually works pretty well with one minor glitch that I will address if someone mentions it. I simply used an extra wire in the cable between the MH and the CRV to feed voltage (current) from the motorhome to the CRV when towing. I put a 12 volt ignition operated relay in this line to disconnect the CRV charge line when the engine is not operating on the motorhome. All this has worked for thousands of miles, with no dead battery.
The trick is setting the amount of braking since, due to the weight of the motorhome as compared to the CRV, it’s impossible to determine how hard the CRV is braking behind the motorhome. I overcame this by making a portable wiring harness that permits me to operate the braking system in the CRV while separate from the motorhome. I just go out on a back road and operate the Roadmaster to see how hard the CRV brakes, without any influence from the heavier tow vehicle, and set the amount of braking accordingly.
I have a CRV with NAV. The Honda dealer gave me a short test cable to bridge the fuse that must be removed when towing the vehicle. I think it was a 5 amp fuse. Whatever it was, I ran the test cable from the fuse block to a switch hidden in a storage pocket on the left side of the dash. I added an in-line fuse of the same value I removed to connect the test cable to retain the fuse protection. Turning the switch off, eliminates the NAV system drain.
Roadmaster uses a lead from the running light circuit to overcome the remaining minor current drain, and the higher drain when braking due to the vacuum pump, and brake lights that will operate when the braking unit activates. That actually works pretty well with one minor glitch that I will address if someone mentions it. I simply used an extra wire in the cable between the MH and the CRV to feed voltage (current) from the motorhome to the CRV when towing. I put a 12 volt ignition operated relay in this line to disconnect the CRV charge line when the engine is not operating on the motorhome. All this has worked for thousands of miles, with no dead battery.
The trick is setting the amount of braking since, due to the weight of the motorhome as compared to the CRV, it’s impossible to determine how hard the CRV is braking behind the motorhome. I overcame this by making a portable wiring harness that permits me to operate the braking system in the CRV while separate from the motorhome. I just go out on a back road and operate the Roadmaster to see how hard the CRV brakes, without any influence from the heavier tow vehicle, and set the amount of braking accordingly.
