Invisibrake by Roadmaster

[cochise49]

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 went well for the first day. On the second we stopped for lunch early in the day. When returning to the rig, I decided to run through the daily pre-tow routine just for practice. The CRV was dead. No battery. The invisibrake has a charge line to the toad to prevent this. I decided to tow to the next larger trucks top where I might buy appropriate glass fuses etc if needed. The brakes wouldn't activate on the toad. I called for a jump start and also contacted Camping World in San Berdo where the system was installed. Apparently, I missed a couple of important points in the operation of the device. First point....the charge line is operated from the headlight switch in the RV. I had assumed the daytime running lights sufficed. Second.....the invisibrake is powered from the toad battery. I headed out with a freshly charged battery in the CRV and kept headlights on in the DP. All is well again. Hope this saves someone else from making the same error. Happy travels.

[Sensorone_2]

I've got a 2006 CRV that I'm getting set up to tow. I want to get the Invisibrake installed along with the Fusemaster. Are you CRV folks happy with the Invisibrake and were there any headaches with the installation. I plan on getting it professionally installed but just want to make sure there aren't any issues I'm not aware about. Thanks!!

[RLMiller]

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.

[view2a_thrill]

don_a wrote:
How does the "Invisibrake" work from the cable harness and back into the black box? Why do they hook it into the vacuum line? There shouldn't be much vacuum if the engine is not running. Or is there an air pump in the black box or a geared motor used to pull the cable? How does this work? I would think an electrical motor would not respond fast enough like an air cylinder would. If it uses air, where is the tank and is it pumped up and ready to go at the first tap of the brakes?

Does it run off the towed battery? Someone spoke of a charging cable. Why would you not use a charging cable already in place?

All your questions should be answered here in the Invisibrake Install Instructions.

[don_a]

How does the "Invisibrake" work from the cable harness and back into the black box? Why do they hook it into the vacuum line? There shouldn't be much vacuum if the engine is not running. Or is there an air pump in the black box or a geared motor used to pull the cable? How does this work? I would think an electrical motor would not respond fast enough like an air cylinder would. If it uses air, where is the tank and is it pumped up and ready to go at the first tap of the brakes?

Does it run off the towed battery? Someone spoke of a charging cable. Why would you not use a charging cable already in place?

[Hikerdogs]

moose888 wrote:
Has anyone used the Roadmaster Direct Proportional braking system ? If so are you pleased with it.

We used the Roadmaster 9060 proportional braking system for over 75,000 miles on our 2001 Winnebago Adventurer. I just finished installing a new one in our 2013 Adventurer. It's a great system and works well. I especially like the fact that there's only an air cylinder to remove and store in the Jeep.

There are 2 models. 1 for a gas powered motorhome and another for a diesel powered. The diesel power one is easy to install and should take about a day to complete. The one for gas powered coached includes an air compressor and takes considerably more time to install.

If you're considering this system go to the Roadmaster website and read through the instruction manual. It takes a couple days to install if you want a "professional" look.

A couple notes of caution. If you're installing it on a gas powered motorhome decide where you want to put the compressor before you begin. On our first motorhome the compressor was mounted in a compatrment just to the rear of the entry door. There was plenty of air hose and wiring in the kit for this application.

The best place to mount it in our new motorhome was a rear compartment. I had to order more air brake tubing from McMaster Carr to run from the compressor to the proportioning valve (mounted near the front of the coach on the drivers side frame rail) and then all the way to the back of the coach. I also had to add more wire to get from the compresor relay to the fuse box in the front of the coach.

You might also want to check to see what size brake lines you have on your motorhome. Our older motorhome had 1/4" lines so all the fittings were included in the kit. The new one has metric lines so I had to order the fittings seperately.

The fittings offered by Roadmaster do not fit the 2013 Ford F53 chassis. Ford uses a double inverted flare (same as the sae fittings) but with a 12 mm-1.0 thread. You can get the appropriate Tee fitting from Belmetric.com. You'll also need to get a 12mm-1.0 nut. They're made by Edlemann and available from O'reilly Auto Parts.

The kit comes with a 1/4" line with SAE fittings. The line will work but for metric brake lines you need to replace the original nut with the metric one. You can either cut the line, slide off the old nut, slide on the metric one, and reflare the line, or take it to an auto parts house and have it done.

[chili_s_trip]

moose888 wrote:
Has anyone used the Roadmaster Direct Proportional braking system ? If so are you pleased with it.

If you mean Brake Master I have the system on my Honda Fit and am happy with the performance. Sucuring the clamp to brake pedal is not as easy as it could be. Good luck.
jack

[moose888]

Bought a 2011 Honda Element to flat tow .Does anyone flat tow a 2011 Honda Element EX ?

[moose888]

Has anyone used the Roadmaster Direct Proportional braking system ? If so are you pleased with it.

[moose888]

Has anyone used the Roadmaster Direct Proportional braking system ? If so are you pleased with it.

[cochise49]

Thanks Wingspan..That is pretty much what Roadmaster told me. I have a Fusemaster device but it is a real bear to install. Not much room and the wires are barely long enough. I managed to break one of the spade connectors with all of the pushing and bending it. The fuse block is in a bad place as you know. I am having a hard time finding a replacement connector. I emailed Roadmaster (Fusemaster) and got no reply. I have ordered the closest thing I could find on the internet and it seems to thin to stay in the fuse block connector. I have also taken a round wire connector I got at Radio Shack and beat it into the approximate shape/sizee I need. I will try to get it to work again tomorrow. Glad I am retired. Else, I wouldn't have time for all this trial and error.

[Wingspan]

In response to cochise49's original post ..

I have a F-53 and a 2013 CRV and in setting up to tow I learned ...

1.) The late model F-53's all come with one "standard" wiring harness that has a 12V positive spare wire from the Interior Dome Light switch on the dash that runs all the way to the rear in the wiring harness. It's blue and has a small ID tag on it and it is curled up in the harness and taped back. When you rotate the dome light switch up it will not only turn on the dome light if you have one ( I do not ) but also puts a 12V on the spare blue wire. Thats obviously what the installer used but neglected to explain. I chose to run a dedicated 10 gauge wire from my coach batteries to my CRV toad vehicles battery and fused it with a in-line 30 amp fuse.

2.) AWD with Navi have a constant electrical drain as long as the key is in the tow / Assc position. Pulling the fuse helps but does not stop it completeley. Only solution is running a hot wire from RV back to toad battery. Poor design considering they say to pull fuse when towing.

[cochise49]

On checking with Roadmaster I received the following from Technical Support:

"As for your vehicle battery running dead. Does your Honda owners manual require you to remove any fuses? If so, then you may consider purchasing the Fusemaster part# 76511. This should help, with the battery draw. The Fusemaster takes the place of the fuse that needs to be removed. If you would like to see how it is installed, then simply go to YouTube and type in Fusemaster and you will see the Fusemaster installed in a Honda CR-V.
To diagnose if your charging feature is working for the Invisibrake, then simply, with the CR-V connected to the motorhome, disconnect the red wire & black wire from the battery of the CR-V and turn "ON" the headlights on the motorhome. You should have 12 volts & 2 Amps going to those wires. The Invisibrake is set up to maintain the battery not fully charge it. If your draw is greater than 12 votls & 2amps, then the charging system will not be able to keep up. Hope this helps, good luck and have a great day."

My CRV has the NAV system and the screen cannot be switched off except by pulling the fuse. The draw from the NAV display may be greater than can be replaced by the charge wire from the RV. Now looking for a Fusemaster.....Anyone have experience with those?

[view2a_thrill]

Cohise49:

In case you haven't, you can check out the wiring diagram in the installation instructions or its available online here. Red fused wire to toad battery positive, black wire to negative post? Are the toad tail lights on when the MH parking/headlights are on (when hooked up, of course)?

I fall into the half-smart category but I was able to install Invisibrake on our 2010 Corolla and have had no problems, either towing or driving the Corolla.

If all the wiring appears to be as intended, here's what I would do:

- Hook up the MH/toad umbilical
- Disconnect the red wire at the toad battery. Or you could just open the inline fuse and stick the tester probe in the part toward the IB controller. If you test for current with the red wire attached to toad battery, you’ll just be checking that battery.
- Make toad ready to tow: key on? Etc.
- Turn on MH parking lights.
- Put a test light on the red wire from IB controller, ground the test light, but not to battery negative post.
- If test light does not light, double check the wiring: The plugs on back of IB controller; also the brown wire connection at the wire harness to the 6 or 7 pin plug on the front of toad.
- If test light lights, you’re getting power from the MH. This is where that half-smart comes in. Seek professional help as to why your toad battery is not being charged.

Good luck!

[cochise49]

Well...when arriving at home yesterday, the toad battery was dead. All wires were connected and headlights were on since quartzsite (200 miles). Does anyone know how to determine if a current is moving through the charge wire. I have a multimeter. I think the red wire with the glass fuse inline attached to the battery is the wire. The fuse appears unbroken. Just red from multometer to red wire and black on MM to battery ground? Trying to avoid dragging the RV and toad to camping world 40 miles away.