Hello from an oldie newbie!

[JOHN POWELL]

Hi All!
Have just joined for a particular project but I'm sure that I'll be grateful for the collective expertise on these forums in the future. I should say at this point that I'm not a sparks and, while reasonably competent as a DIYer, I really need to be treated as a ten-year-old from the point of view of understanding circuitry or electronic vocabulary.

My specific question is for the Autoelectricians among you.

I want to fit a tow bar to my 2002 Skoda Fabia 1 Elegance. It has Can-bus circuitry (or so I'm led to believe) and, as it has reversing sensors and bulb fault sensing, etc., I want to get the wiring right first time.

I bought a tow bar, which comes with a 'Wiring Kit'. This consists of an audible relay with five wires ( White, Yellow, Green, Orange and Grey) and as far as I can see is solely for connection to the indicator circuit. The rest of the kit is several metres of black 9/0 3mm wire and a number of Scotchlok connectors. I'm pretty sure that no-one on here will recommend Scotchloks so my intention is to make proper soldered joints where necessary.

I've searched the internet for a supplier of vehicle specific looms but can't find anyone doing one for the Skabia. Can anyone tell me if they know of a dedicated loom supplier or what my best approach would be in making a loom from scratch?

I shall only be using the 12N 7-pin connector as it's just for towing a small trailer. The trailer has built-in lighting but I also have a trailer board.

Any info would be most welcome so thanks in advance.

Sleepy John

 

[Marvo]

Welcome to the forum John.

I've put this thread in the Auto Electrical forum for you where it should receive better replies.

 

[JOHN POWELL]

Welcome to the forum John.

I've put this thread in the Auto Electrical forum for you where it should receive better replies.

Thanks Marvo! Had intended to do that but got side tracked on the Skoda forum!:smiley2:

 

[NickD]

If it is CAN Bus, then as best I understand it, instead of having separate wires for indicators / brake lights etc. running the length of the car which are easy(ish) to find and tap into, you have a communications network running round the car plus power, and the network tells stuff to turn on/off. Depending where the CAN Bus slave controller (or whatever it's called) is that manages the rear light clusters, there may not be easily accessible wires for you to tap into. If there are, the system may well monitor bulb current draw and declare a fault if you draw too much current by tapping in extra bulbs, in which case you would need relay(s). Not sure this helps and it may actually be garbage my knowledge of CAN Bus is theoretical and from twenty years ago. But it may give you some pointers? Good luck.

 

[tazz]

The vehicle cam Bus or ob11 systems is for management, reference and diognostics only......without external circuitry, it is not directly connected to equipment...The towbar electrics you have been supplied with, connect direct to the rear lighting of your vehicle.....left right indicators, brake lights, tails lights, fog and reversing lights plus the earth..

 

[NickD]

The vehicle cam Bus or ob11 systems is for management, reference and diognostics only......without external circuitry, it is not directly connected to equipment...The towbar electrics you have been supplied with, connect direct to the rear lighting of your vehicle.....left right indicators, brake lights, tails lights, fog and reversing lights plus the earth..

Good job I put the caveats on what I said then! So did 'full-on' CAN Bus never take off then? When I looked at it (as I say, ages ago) they were talking about using it to strip out as much 'old-school' wiring out of cars as they could.

Is there any chance he will need relays to combat bulb overcurrent sensing or should he be OK? I've seen that be a problem on a Polo but that was rather newer.

 

[tazz]

It basically cuts down all the wiring in the vehicle, for sensing and information and control....to a 2 wire bus. but requires buffing to actual control equipment. No recommend to interfere with this system, it controls everything, from fuel/air mixture to a faulty sensor.