SMI stay-in-play Duo for a 2008 CR/V - (Pictures)

[ARNE-T]

With the help of SMI and most importantly, the excellent write-up and pictures provided by "offthewall" at
Late Model Wrangler/Sahara Towing


I have (almost) completed the installation of my SMI Stay-In-Play Duo in my 2008 Honda CR/V.
For me there were several challenges.

Installation of the Operating Unit
First I could not find a place to put the Operation Unit.



As soon as I was assured that the (relatively heavy) unit could hang from two screws in front of the brake lines by the firewall, this problem was solved.


g


One pleasant surprise was that the Vacuum line to the Power brakes was conveniently located right nest to the unit, so the hose management was easy.



Unclear Installation Guide
The installation manual could have benefited from a review by a backyard mechanic. The instructions certainly would make sense to a person familiar with the system. However there were many instances of poorly or incorrectly described parts. For example:

1. The RED fuse holder was BLACK
2. The WIRE LOOP was not a loop
3. The SPADE was not identified in the parts list.

Oh how I miss the old Heath-Kit assembly instructions. At least SMI could number each part in the parts list and provide better pictures of the parts (with numbers). The instructions could than refer to a part by number in addition to an ambiguous name be much easier to follow.

Hardware Installation was Straight Forward
Except for the time spent trying to understand the instructions, the installation of the braking cylinder and inertia unit was straight forward. I refer you to offthewall's excellent picture presentation. One thing you may note in his picture of the box with the on/off switch it that it has a ON label facing the driver seat. My unit only has a label on the top of the box. This label is clearly useless. My next task is to affix a similar label.

Cable routing
The challenge here is that the entire front of the CR/V is covered by various plastic panels. By loosening the panel in front of the left steering wheel (two screws, one snap) cables could be directed down from behind the battery to a spot behind the bumper.



From there path was found by first unscrewing the two bolts and removing the 5 (?) snaps holding up the front plastic panel under the bumper. This opened up a crack into which cables could be directed.

Brake Notification Light.
offthewall decided not to use SMI's method for installing the brake activation notification light. His elegant solution was to send the signal through the existing umbilical cord to his Motor home and to string a cable all the way up to a diode in the cocpit. I like that Idea and I will do the same.

Finally
offthewall mentioned that he had a feedback problem with his unit. Specifically, an activated brake would never release as it thinks the dinghy's brake light signal is an instruction to activate the brakes. I have not observed this in my installation. Not sure why there is a difference

The whole job took me about two days. much of this time was spent trying to figure out what to do (I am not a back yard mechanic). The installation has been tested, and all systems seems to work properly. However I hooked it up without actually driving the rig (it is in storage). We don't have now here in Florida, but it is still a pain to take the rig out of storage.

[ARNE-T]

With the help of SMI and most importantly, the excellent write-up and pictures provided by "offthewall" at
Late Model Wrangler/Sahara Towing


I have (almost) completed the installation of my SMI Stay-In-Play Duo in my 2008 Honda CR/V.
For me there were several challenges.

Installation of the Operating Unit
First I could not find a place to put the Operation Unit.



As soon as I was assured that the (relatively heavy) unit could hang from two screws in front of the brake lines by the firewall, this problem was solved.


g


One pleasant surprise was that the Vacuum line to the Power brakes was conveniently located right nest to the unit, so the hose management was easy.



Unclear Installation Guide
The installation manual could have benefited from a review by a backyard mechanic. The instructions certainly would make sense to a person familiar with the system. However there were many instances of poorly or incorrectly described parts. For example:

1. The RED fuse holder was BLACK
2. The WIRE LOOP was not a loop
3. The SPADE was not identified in the parts list.

Oh how I miss the old Heath-Kit assembly instructions. At least SMI could number each part in the parts list and provide better pictures of the parts (with numbers). The instructions could than refer to a part by number in addition to an ambiguous name be much easier to follow.

Hardware Installation was Straight Forward
Except for the time spent trying to understand the instructions, the installation of the braking cylinder and inertia unit was straight forward. I refer you to offthewall's excellent picture presentation. One thing you may note in his picture of the box with the on/off switch it that it has a ON label facing the driver seat. My unit only has a label on the top of the box. This label is clearly useless. My next task is to affix a similar label.

Cable routing
The challenge here is that the entire front of the CR/V is covered by various plastic panels. By loosening the panel in front of the left steering wheel (two screws, one snap) cables could be directed down from behind the battery to a spot behind the bumper.



From there path was found by first unscrewing the two bolts and removing the 5 (?) snaps holding up the front plastic panel under the bumper. This opened up a crack into which cables could be directed.

Brake Notification Light.
offthewall decided not to use SMI's method for installing the brake activation notification light. His elegant solution was to send the signal through the existing umbilical cord to his Motor home and to string a cable all the way up to a diode in the cocpit. I like that Idea and I will do the same.

Finally
offthewall mentioned that he had a feedback problem with his unit. Specifically, an activated brake would never release as it thinks the dinghy's brake light signal is an instruction to activate the brakes. I have not observed this in my installation. Not sure why there is a difference

The whole job took me about two days. much of this time was spent trying to figure out what to do (I am not a back yard mechanic). The installation has been tested, and all systems seems to work properly. However I hooked it up without actually driving the rig (it is in storage). We don't have now here in Florida, but it is still a pain to take the rig out of storage.

[offthewall]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by ARNE-T:
With the help of SMI and most importantly, the excellent write-up and pictures provided by "offthewall" at
Late Model Wrangler/Sahara Towing


</div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Arne-T,

I'm glad I could be of some help with your install. BTW, I stuck that "ON" label on myself with my handy Brother P-Touch after not remembering which way was ON every time I activated the switch during testing