Can You Help Me ID This?

[rdownward]

I have an item inside my battery compartment that I have no idea what purpose it serves. I can't tell what it is connected to and have never seen anything like it before. It has what appears to be a rheostat dial on the side with the word "GAIN" on it and a compression type slide switch of some sort on the front. Any help any Alpine (or other brand) owner can provide in identifying this item would be greatly appreciated. Here's a photo of the item:

[Old Scout]

YUP--looks like a brake controller for pulling a trailer with electric brakes....dont have any idea what it is doing in the battery compartment--noramally, its in the driver cabin where you can adjust sensitivity and gain, or manually activate trailer brakes if necessary.

[rdownward]

Thanks Old Scout for confirming my suspicions. I should have just asked you in the first place! That is what I thought it looks like but can't for the life of me figure out what on earth it is doing in the battery compartment. That would be a strange hangout - even for an ostracized DW!!!

[sparkydog]

Most definitely a brake controller. No idea why it's there. but it looks like its wired to work. Go figure!!

[Refuse1]

That is a trailer brake controller. Typically it would be mounted under the dash within reach of the driver.

Seems weird it would be in the battery compartment.

Jeff

[daveshan]

That does look like what it is, and installing it there sure would simplify running the wires as you wouldn't have to run them through the firewall and all the way down the length of the chassis.

If you always tow the same trailer loaded to the same weight you could just set it and forget it. Gotta admit for a second I considered installing my Prodigy 3 there after reading this, I'll probably go ahead and put it on the dash however.

[dgerstel]

Most Alpines that I know of are pre-wired for the brake controller. The wire just takes a little looking to find.

[daveshan]

Not the early ones. Don't know when they started but I can guarantee it wasn't '99.

[J Rod]

Reminds me of teaching our daughter how to drive and explaining the dimming of the headlights with the lever on the steering column. Told her in my day the switch was on the floor. She could not figure out how we could reach down, dim the lights and drive safely.

[EngineerMike]

JRod- working the floor switches safely on the motorhome is pretty easy; I've added a few switches below for things I wanted. I frequently make adjustments or just duck under the dash to check stuff out for folks posting questions on iRV2 while on the road (I check every so often on my smarty phone to see if something new posted).

I just set the cruise a bit slower than regular traffic, then reach for the switch.

[J Rod]

a ha, now it makes sense why you are in the lead and we follow. May we never travel in opposite direction on the same road.

[Cayman09]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Refuse1 That is a trailer brake controller. Typically it would be mounted under the dash within reach of the driver. Seems weird it would be in the battery compartment. Jeff

Maybe the driver WAS driving from the battery compartment