Tail Light Wiring for the HHR in Tow Update

Well, after several troubleshooting sessions at the back of our RV, scratching my head, researching and reading about trailer wiring, towed vehicle wiring, I finally found the solution to the brake light issue on the magnatic tail lights for our HHR when it's being towed behind our Discovery.

It appears that previous owners had different tow vehicles that needed different brake controllers because there are two separate brake controllers mounted on either side of the steering wheel at the driver's console.  Here's what I found and the solution I came up with to get the brake lights to illuminate properly on the magnetic tow lights for the HHR.

1. There are two receptacles mounted under the back bumper, a 6-pin round and a 7-blade round plug style connector.  Since I don't need 7 wires to

Update - Monitoring the Diesel Engine

After several little short trips with the ScanGauge Diesel Engine Monitoring Display installed on the dash, I have decided to upgrade to a hardware/software solution that most diesel pusher RV's are using these days.  Silverleaf Electronics created an interface to the standard J-1939 J-1708 diagnostics port that outputs digital information from most modern diesel engines manufactured since the late 1990's.  Combined with their PC software called VMSpc (Vehicle Management System), anyone can easily design their own instrument panel with a variety of gauges and displays.  To interface the engine/coach information with the software you have to buy a little black box and cabling they call the JIB.  This little magic box interprets the digital information being output by the engine and channels it through a standard USB cable to a Windows laptop or tablet running their software.  Here's a sample screen that's provided with the software:

Here's how I want to display the same info on my laptop.  I saw this layout provided by another RV owner using VMSpc and I liked how he utilized many of the optional features available for each gauge.  Notice that the VMSpc window is shared on the laptop display with mapping/routing software running simultaneously.  I like that idea, but I will probably stick to my iPad running Google Maps for our moving map display and routing instructions.

As soon as I receive the JIB and cabling I will provide an update here and post a screen shot of my final display.

Towing Our Chevy HHR

After considering several options for transportation when we travel in our RV, we finaly decided to tow our 2009 Chevy HHR on all four wheels with a tow bar.  We did consider renting a car once we arrived at our destination but that can get expensive and it's not very convenient. Then I took a look at dolly towing and that's a lot of work driving the car up ramps and strapping the front wheels down on the dolly.  I also thought it would be a royal pain in the arse to rig the car with a tow bar baseplate and hooking everything up, rig tail lights and install a braking system in the HHR.  

After a lot of YouTube research, talking to those whoe tow a vehicle, I finally decided to look for some used equipment and try it out before we head out on our big Trip Across America next year.  I found a used Blue Ox Avanta Tow Bar on Craig's List locally and I was lucky enough to find a baseplate for my HHR out in Nebraska on Craig's List.  I had our local RV dealer install the baseplate last week and we hooked everything up and went out for a test drive.  It was a very simple hookup, quick and easy.  The only thing I'm still looking at is what to do for tail lights and an auxillary brake system.

Here is a photo of our rig all hooked up and ready to go:

Knot At Sea and Dinghy Connected

I decided to try out a wireless tail light system I found at Pep Boys and so far they aren't working properly.  I'm not sure if its the existing plug on the back of my RV or the lights are faulty.  I plan on checking the pins on the plug to make sure I'm getting the right signals to the correct pin-outs.  If I get these things working properly, it's real easy to attach on the back roof of the HHR with the built-in magnets and the LED's run for days on 6 AAA batteries.

• UPDATE:  It seems that this product is very susceptible to interference.  These wireless lights never functioned with any reliability.  I noticed that when I activate the brake lights, the left one flashes instead of being on steady, and the other one flashes really bright.  There seems to be some kind of interference with the signal reaching from the 7 blade plug/antenna to the back of my towed car.  I returned these lights back to Pep Boys and I plan on installing a permanent wiring harness from the front of the car and connect to the tail lights of my HHR with a diode kit.

The next thing I researched was what kind of auxillary braking system to use.  There are quite a few out there with most of them requiring installation of permanent equipment inside the car.  I didn't really want anything permanent which brought me to the Brake Buddy or the RViBrake that's a completely self contained unit that sits on the floor of the driver's seat with an arm connected to the brake pedal.  The advantage of this is nothing to install and both systems are proportional braking for the towed vehicle.  These systems use high tech inertia modules that sense when you're slowing down and applys the brakes through the arm connected to the pedal with an air cylinder in the unit.  The pressure is maintained by a small compressor that runs on the 12v cigarette lighter.

My RV dealer was kind enough to loan me an older Brake Buddy to try out.  More on this later after I get it hooked up when we leave for our next trip.