Dexter EOH Disc Brakes?

[RoadEyePie]

Here is the email from the dealer who corrected the wiring on my RV

"Danny Ball <danny@bluegrassrv.com>
Apr 9, 2019, 4:44 PM
to Bryan, Adam, Harry, Todd, J

The way it was wired from Vanleigh was as followed.

Wires leaving Electronic Brake Control:

Black - 12 volt constant - correct
White - Ground - Correct
Blue - Wired to cold side of Break away
Yellow - Wired to an unknown wire that fed into frame up in the tongue

What I did to correct:
(This is all correlating to the wires coming FROM the EBC)

Blue - Cut from the cold side of breakaway and attached to the blue wire in the 7 way plug
Yellow - cut from going to an unknown place in the frame to cold side of break away switch

Customer did not need the HBC CAM that he was told to purchase by Bryan. Bryan assured the customer that this would fix his problem. We did not wire the HBC CAM into this unit after we repaired the wiring, it was not needed.

The coach is now wired up according to the attached wiring diagram, which works correctly."

Based on this email, it does not appear that the yellow wire was reconnected to anything? I'll have to investigate.

P.S. Bluegrass RV closed their RV business in Ashland, KY. I do not know where Danny Ball is working currently.

[beerdude]

Originally Posted by RoadEyePie

Here is the email from the dealer who corrected the wiring on my RV

"Danny Ball <danny@bluegrassrv.com>
Apr 9, 2019, 4:44 PM
to Bryan, Adam, Harry, Todd, J

The way it was wired from Vanleigh was as followed.

Wires leaving Electronic Brake Control:

Black - 12 volt constant - correct
White - Ground - Correct
Blue - Wired to cold side of Break away
Yellow - Wired to an unknown wire that fed into frame up in the tongue

What I did to correct:
(This is all correlating to the wires coming FROM the EBC)

Blue - Cut from the cold side of breakaway and attached to the blue wire in the 7 way plug
Yellow - cut from going to an unknown place in the frame to cold side of break away switch

Customer did not need the HBC CAM that he was told to purchase by Bryan. Bryan assured the customer that this would fix his problem. We did not wire the HBC CAM into this unit after we repaired the wiring, it was not needed.

The coach is now wired up according to the attached wiring diagram, which works correctly."

Based on this email, it does not appear that the yellow wire was reconnected to anything? I'll have to investigate.

P.S. Bluegrass RV closed their RV business in Ashland, KY. I do not know where Danny Ball is working currently.

Many thanks for sharing! This is great info that confirms the reply posts I saw on page 1 of this thread. It also aligns with a Dexter actuator wiring diagram I located online at the eTrailer website.

Am guessing Vanleigh maybe wires the breakaway harness the same on all RVs they build, ignoring the unique wiring required of Dexter actuators on EOH-equipped RVs, and GM ITBC units simply aren’t able to "shake hands" with the actuator whereas other truck makes are?

Either that, or you and I inadvertently got the electromagnetic harness instead of the EOH harness during manufacturing due to a daydreaming line tech on a Friday afternoon?

Needless to say, I'm very curious to discover how my actuator/breakaway are wired now. More to follow….

P.S. I’m not giving Vanleigh a pass here, assuming my actuator is improperly wired, too. However, before anyone knocks on Vanleigh in particular, I saw similar threads at a Montana forum and even at an Airstream forum where some GM truck owners ultimately give in and install an aftermarket controller, bypassing the ITBC. Very unfortunate if theirs is simply an improperly wired actuator as well. Some GM owners do appear to have success with a CAM only, though, maybe due to schematic variations by RV manufacturer and/or ITBC firmware variations.

[jdpm]

I did the disc conversion on my former Carriage and had a 2011 GM with itbc at the time. I knew that truck required the cam. I recall doing the wiring and it was a bit of a challenge but I got it worked out and never had an issue.
My current Lifestyle came with factory installed Dexter brakes/pump. I had a 2013 GM truck with itbc and had to use the cam with that set-up. I think I previously posted that I had a frustrating failure one time which turned out to be a cam. Yes, it failed. Replaced it and never had another problem.
My current 2018 GM with itbc with the same RV uses no cam and has been problem free.
So keep in mind if using a cam and you start to have an issue, it could very well be the cam.
I'm grateful for these forums. Sometimes you'd really be at a loss without their help!

[beerdude]

Originally Posted by RoadEyePie

"...now wired up according to the attached wiring diagram, which works correctly...."

You wouldn't still happen to have that attachment, would you? If so, would you be wiling to share it? I'm guessing it is similar to the Dexter schematic linked in my post above. I'm also assuming the actuator/breakaway parts and wiring haven't changed between 2019 and 2021 models.

[beerdude]

Originally Posted by jdpm

...I'm grateful for these forums. Sometimes you'd really be at a loss without their help!

Amen. And you've been a tremendous help in this thread along with the OP. Many thanks!

[RoadEyePie]

Originally Posted by anoldpunk

You wouldn't still happen to have that attachment, would you? If so, would you be wiling to share it? I'm guessing it is similar to the Dexter schematic linked in my post above. I'm also assuming the actuator/breakaway parts and wiring haven't changed between 2019 and 2021 models.

I can't download it from the original email. I know Google has had large scale outage problems of late. I tried the download multiple times and just kept getting a Google failure. I'll keep trying and share if successful.

[beerdude]

Originally Posted by RoadEyePie

I can't download it from the original email. I know Google has had large scale outage problems of late. I tried the download multiple times and just kept getting a Google failure. I'll keep trying and share if successful.

Not a problem. The description of wires in your email from Danny match the Dexter schematic. I have a good idea of what to check for now.

[RoadEyePie]

brake controller diagram VANLEIGH WIRING-Layout1[12202].pdf

I think I've attached the brake controller wiring diagram from VLRV. If not, I'll try again.

[beerdude]

Originally Posted by RoadEyePie

I think I've attached the brake controller wiring diagram from VLRV. If not, I'll try again.

It downloaded here perfectly. Thank you again. I was planning to head to the dealership this morning with my multimeter and Dexter schematic, so this drawing in hand will hopefully resolve my issue even quicker.

I'll follow up here as soon as I have more info on my end. Am so hoping this is the solution to my brake issue.

[beerdude]

Got an update for the thread, but still no joy. I went to the dealership and did some troubleshooting on my RV myself, as it sits on their service lot, while the dealership is awaiting authorization from Vanleigh on any further wiring modifications beyond the CAM they already installed.

As noted by RoadEyePie in an earlier post, there are four wires coming out of the EOH brake actuator.

From the actuator perspective:

• The 12VDC power (black wire) and ground (white wire) from the brake actuator are connected properly near the battery boxes. The brake actuator has power. Check!
  
  
• The brake voltage signal (blue wire) and breakaway wire (yellow wire) travel into a small gray enclosed loom, containing only those two wires, where that loom is then routed to the pin box. Check!
  

Note: The yellow wire changes to white, and the blue wire changes to a slightly different shade of blue, as they both leave the actuator and travel into the small gray wire loom near the battery boxes.

Inside the pin box:

• I find the small gray wire loom containing the two brake actuator wires in the pin box. Check!
  
  
• The breakaway wire coming from the brake actuator (now a white wire) is connected to the cold side of the breakaway switch as it should be. Check!
  
  
• A black power wire inside the pin box is connected to the hot side of the breakaway switch. I check for 12VDC, and it is present. Check!
  
  
• The brake voltage signal wire coming from the brake actuator (blue wire) comes out of the small gray wire loom in the pin box and oddly takes a turn and travels into a different loom (larger black spiral loom) and appears to go up into the coach? Then, a blue wire (same one?) comes back down out of that same black spiral loom and finally connects to the 7-way plug cable.

Bizarre.

Why would the blue wire travel into another loom in the pin box instead of just connecting straight to the 7-way plug cable once it comes out of the small gray wire loom. I have no clue what the blue wire is connected to or spliced with inside/beyond that black spiral loom.

So, the simple solution in my mind is to reach in the pin box and connect that blue wire coming from the brake actuator via the small gray wire loom directly to the 7-way plug cable.

The rub: The dealership doesn’t want to perform the wiring modification without approval from Vanleigh (plus, they’d like the warranty $$$ from Vanleigh, which I have offered to pay out of pocket).

So, I get on the phone this morning speaking with service and warranty at Vanleigh in MS, and I ultimately speak with the director of Vanleigh service. Nice enough guy, but the ball remains in their court, and I’m currently waiting on a call back from Vanleigh service. RV remains at the dealership.

If I don’t hear anything back from Vanleigh or the dealership by tomorrow morning, I figure I may as well go back up to the dealership and perform the wiring modification myself on their lot. Snip, strip, butt splice, crimp, done (I’ll replace with a solder sleeve when back at the house). I can then give it a test drive, first with the CAM intact since it is now installed and wired properly near the battery boxes (I checked the wiring against the Hydrastar schematic. Check!). If brakes still don’t work, I’ll cut the CAM wiring and cap it off. Keeping my fingers crossed this will do the trick.

Worst case scenario, everything I try myself is a fail, and my knowledge/skills from being a USAF electronics instructor back in the 90s is rustier than I thought. If that’s the case, I’ll simply wire everything back like it was and wait for next steps. I'd say there may be something wrong with my pickup, but that blue brake wire running into the coach for no apparent reason seems to be suspect for now.

Sorry for the wall of text. More to follow…

[beerdude]

In short, it appears to be very similar to the miswiring on RoadEyePie's coach, but the two wires are oddly swapped.

EDIT: I'll add that I'll double-check wiring tomorrow and take pictures.

Originally Posted by anoldpunk

Got an update for the thread, but still no joy. <SNIP>

[beerdude]

Update:

Actuator is Hydrastar instead of Dexter. Actuator wiring schematic is essentially the same, though. Dealership was great to work with, as always, and we tried several scenarios to get my pickup's ITBC to "speak to" the actuator.

Scenario A: Ran blue wire straight from actuator to 7-way plug. Kept CAM installed. Result: No change from before the rerouting of the blue wire. Zero brakes at rest or underway, even if using manual ITBC lever, regardless of gain setting.

Scenario B: Ran blue wire straight from actuator to 7-way plug. Removed CAM. Result: ITBC no longer saw the trailer as connected, at all. This was a surprise since the ITBC would previously communicate with the actuator at a complete stop (0 MPH) without a CAM and factory wiring. So, the direct blue wire change had a negative impact in this instance.

We wired everything back to factory wiring with the CAM installed.

Am open to ideas, but I think whatever firmware I have in my 2018 GMC w/ITBC simply will not allow for proper communication with the Hydrastar actuator.

I've ordered an aftermarket brake controller and will post an update once I install it in roughly a week. I'm waiting on a couple of other warranty replacement items (fireplace and entry door shade) in the meantime, so not a show stopper.

[RoadEyePie]

Please post pictures of your aftermarket controller when you have it mounted.

[beerdude]

Originally Posted by RoadEyePie

Please post pictures of your aftermarket controller when you have it mounted.

Absolutely.

I took a couple of photos today in the battery bay, but got tied up with talking with the service advisor, and I forgot to take a photo of the wiring in the pin box.

I'll post all photos here once everything is buttoned up and hopefully working.