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Old 08-07-2018, 12:52 PM   #1
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SMI Stay-IN-Play DUO Supplemental Braking System

Does anyone have any experience with the SMI Stay-IN-Play DUO Supplemental Braking System (Part #SM99251)? We were going with the Roadmaster Invisibrake, but the Roadmaster dealer/installer told me they don't install the Invisibrake , but recommended the SMI. Thought it was a little strange that a Roadmaster dealer/installer would not install a Roadmaster product and recommend something else. Thanks in advance.
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Old 08-07-2018, 01:02 PM   #2
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We have the Stay-N-Play Duo and it works great. Just traded coaches and did not have to do anything to the coach. Just hook up as usual. I would recommend getting the wireless Coachlink to go inside the coach so you can easily tell when the brakes are on in the toad.
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Old 08-07-2018, 03:09 PM   #3
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We have the SMI system and no problems.
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Old 08-07-2018, 03:16 PM   #4
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We have the SMI system and no problems.
8 years with mine and trouble free. Just plug in the lights and you are ready to go.
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Old 08-07-2018, 04:02 PM   #5
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Hi DRosado,

After researching various tow bar and supplemental braking systems, we went with the Roadmaster Sterling Tow Bar and the SMI Stay-IN-Play configuration for towing our 2017 Jeep Wrangler Sport behind our 2018 Newmar VLDP.

The main reasons we decided to go with this configuration was price, ease of installation and that we didn't have to make any modifications to our VLDP.

We also looked at having the entire system installed for us but after looking at the installation process and the excellent installation videos and instructions on etrailer.com, my son-in-law and I decided to perform the installation ourselves which saved us literally over 1k in installation charges and price markup.

We purchased our configuration from etrailer.com which had the best prices that we found online and even beat Amazon.

1. The Roadmaster Sterling All Terrain, Non-Binding Tow Bar capability is absolutely awesome when you do find yourself in a binding issue with your towing vehicle. Plus, it is 8k # rated.

2. The only heavy lifting that we experienced during our installation was when we installed the Roadmaster EZ5 Base Plate Kit onto the Jeep which does take some muscle and strategic positioning for lifting the base plate into place.

3. The Roadmaster Diode 7-Wire to 6-Wire Flexo-Coil Wiring Kit installation took some time because of snaking all the wires from the from the base plate to the rear Jeep lights but pretty straight forward.

4. The Roadmaster Battery Charge Line Kit installation was also pretty straight forward and required since we didn't want our Jeep battery to go dead while towing.

5. The SMI Stay-IN-Play DUO Supplemental Braking System took the longest to install because of all the wiring involved. We found installing the SMI Controller within the engine compartment worked best for us.

After 3k miles utilizing this configuration, we experienced zero issues and installing it ourselves saved us $$$ and it took us two days to complete the entire installation.

Just wanted to share our configuration and hopefully you will soon choose the right one for your setup. Good Luck .
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Old 08-07-2018, 07:22 PM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by znt1186 View Post
We have the Stay-N-Play Duo and it works great. Just traded coaches and did not have to do anything to the coach. Just hook up as usual. I would recommend getting the wireless Coachlink to go inside the coach so you can easily tell when the brakes are on in the toad.
I didn't know about that. Thanks for letting me know.
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Old 08-07-2018, 07:32 PM   #7
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Thank you! We are also going with the Sterling. We have a 2018 Acadia and etrailer recommended the EZ4 base plate kit. We thought about doing the install ourselves with help from our son, but hubby says we will probably do it in stages and have it installed. We were quoted 5 hours @ $130 per hour to install the base plate and light kit. Next stage would be the brake system, tow bar and toad protector. My husband feels like he could do that part. He is not too keen on taking apart the front of his brand new car.
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Old 08-08-2018, 06:36 AM   #8
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DRosado-

We tow with the Roadmaster Sterling and the Duo. We had our trusted auto mechanic install the baseplate and rear light system. I installed the Duo.

"znt1186" mentioned the wireless brake notification light. It looks like a neat option- one that was not offered when we bought our Duo. Some folks on iRV2 have made their own wireless components to do the same thing. There is another option, which is to use an existing wire between the coach hitch connector and the dash to pass the brake notification signal to an LED on the dash. It is not hard to set up. If you are interested in that option, let us know and I'll explain the details.

The only failure we've had in 15,000 miles of towing is the breakaway switch. It corroded internally. I replaced it and everything works well now.
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Old 08-08-2018, 07:21 AM   #9
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Too save even more money, you can use a single led indicator light for the "brake notification" light. Like mentioned above, it wires into the brake controller pigtail behind the dash. You don't need the fancy adapter harness or the wireless braking system. I used something like this, mounted where I could see it easily. etrailer has a great video on doing the installation. https://www.amazon.com/Blue-Sea-Syst...WV27GVSS1&th=1
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Old 08-08-2018, 02:27 PM   #10
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Thank you all for your responses. I will pass the information on to my husband. Much appreciated.
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Old 08-08-2018, 03:58 PM   #11
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RVBoomer. Im curious.

Since you have a diesel pusher with air brakes, why didn’t you go with the Air Force One?
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Old 08-09-2018, 06:06 AM   #12
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We have the SMI system for 6 years and no problems.
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Old 08-09-2018, 06:28 AM   #13
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RVBoomer. Im curious.

Since you have a diesel pusher with air brakes, why didn’t you go with the Air Force One?
Hi Lass,

We didn't go with AF1 because at the time, we didn't have any way of accessing the DP air brakes without cutting / splicing into them which is something that we did not want to do on our new DP.

We did have to cut / splice into our Jeep's break booster line with the SMI which was something we were more willing to do then splicing into the DP air brakes.

Ease of DIY installation and price point were other factors that swayed our decision to go with SMI.

From what I understand, certain '19 Newmar models if not all are now equipped / configured directly from the factory to utilized the DP air brakes for their towed vehicles. They are even marketing it to work directly with AF1 which is awesome.

Missed the opportunity to leverage Newmar and AF1 plug & play configuration by a year.
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Old 08-09-2018, 06:51 AM   #14
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easiest way to wire the brake indicator line is to connect the brake pedal signal line from the brake controller socket on the TOAD to the blue brake wire in the 7 way connector. Then connect the blue brake wire on the coach's brake controller socket to an LED and then to ground on the coach dash. Simple...
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