BMW X5 as TV?

Well Bill, I didn't read that exact post, but I did read others. I did want the Prodigy, but when their ads specifically say that you can't use them on BMW X5's I think it's unlikely that a BMW dealership will install them.

Quick easy installation for Prodigy ONLY
NOTE: Brake controls can NOT be installed on BMW X5 due to multiplex wiring system.

And I'ld never heard of the Jordan before, I guess we'll hope for the best.

I have to agree with Bill. The X5 is a crossover SUV with unibody construction instead of the traditional truck ladder frame. So the 6000lb towing capacity relies a lot on the trailer brakes working appropriately (this is borne out by the low no-brakes tow capacity of only 1650lbs). Your unibody structure will be subject to far fewer nasty forces using a properly adjusted proportional brake controller than it will with any time delay type.

One of the links I quoted earlier uses an additional switch (a simple push button switch on a custom but simple metal bracket) to get around the brake light switch connection difficulties of the X5. The other connections are just power, ground and the brake signal to the trailer - i.e. there is nothing X5 specific about them and so the "not recommended for X5" statement is no longer valid. If your dealer's any good he should be able to handle this, I think.

Paul

[Bill]

Sinjin -

I guess my point was that if they can install an Activator, they can install anything.

All of these controllers require the same outside connections, and the same functions. These are +12VDC, ground, brake light, and the connection to the trailer. In other words, if they have found a hookup method that works for the Activator, it will work for the Prodigy.

The difference for the Jordan is that it does not require the brake light connection.

Just to clarify (I think) Paul's post. Paul is not referring to a pushbutton that you have to push by hand. He means a button that is attached to a simple bracket on the brake pedal, so that when you step on the brake, the button is automatically pushed. This is the way most cars are set up, so you are just duplicating what is "normal".

Bill

[rickst29]

As the other guys pointed out, all of the nice electronic ones have the same four wires. I don't think I mentioned that I was looking at the Draw-Tite Dealer's Catalog (2006). So the advice isn't actually out-of-date, but rather really good:

Not recommended (because it's a 6-hour nightmare instead of a 30 minute "open the box, snap in the built-by-us wiring connector, verify it on a simulator, show the customer how it works" like all the normal vehicles are. Your customer will be pissed, that's bad for business, and you don't need this hassle !!!)

I hope that at least your price was from their initial time estimate, rather than the whole 6+ hours while they played around in confusion. (The URLs of how to do it look like no more than 1-1/2 hours, even for an incompentent like me.) I can imagine how high the shop rate at one of those luxo dealerships might be... and to put on the crappy 'Activator'

So are you guys saying that I could just take out the Activator II and attach the wires to a Prodigy and it would work? I have no problem with that if you could give me a guarentee and warrent that I'm not trashing my electronics if I do it myself. I don't think my Bimmer dealer will install a product on my X that the product manufacturer says "DON"T INSTALL THIS ON AN X5" in red letters. So where do I go to get it installed?

I feel caught between a rock and a hard place. I've seen both of the prodigy installation documents referenced before. I found them in my original search of the web. However, who do I trust? The guy who is using his wife's credit card to do mods to his $40,000 bimmer or BMW and Tekonsha?

Maybe I should just skip the TM and go back to Maui

And PS they didn't charge me for the extra hours. Just the normal hitch installation fee.

Sinjin,
Apologies if the advice on this forum has put you in a dilemma. But people are just trying to give good advice (and it is good advice) and their motives are well-intentioned.

I can empathize. There is so much information available so easily these days that sometimes you just want to close your eyes, stick your fingers in your ears and go "la,la,la,la, la,...

I called the Tekonsha tech support line. They said that the only problem is that you can't use the brake pedal switch for the braking signal (like their universal installation guide instructs) . There may be another signal somewhere on the X5 that can be used but they're still "working on it". But we knew that.

Who to believe? Well Tekonsha and BMW obviously haven't put much effort yet into a Prodigy/X5 combination solution but then they have bigger market forces to worry about. So you're pretty much stuck with the guys who have put time and effort in despite their use of credit cards...
...and of course you'll get no guarantees.

Both the papers mention the X12, pin 10 signal and the Kurt Gibble guy used that signal:

according to one:
Information from the 1st Page of BMW’s Tow Bar Installation
Instructions:
"A connection pin for retrofitting (electric brake) is provided on
plug X393S. If an electrical brake is desired for the trailer, it
can be retrofitted. For the latest list of recommended brake
controllers contact BMW Service Hotline. The signal pick-off for
brake (the input to the brake controller) may only take place on
plug X12, Pin 10. This plug, X12, is to the Light Control Module
(LCM), the wire color is black and yellow. The male pin (BMW
P/N 61 13 1 376 195) should be used at the mating plug of
X393S. Be sure to observe this information."

I would guess this is the signal your BMW dealer used. Why don't you ask them? If so, then you have a least one person (Kurt Gibble) who reports good results from this and a Prodigy.

Paul

[rickst29]

Originally Posted by sinjin

And PS they didn't charge me for the extra hours. Just the normal hitch installation fee.

OK, that makes me !

Now, before I go further: I can't be held responsible for results of these guesses. But I think they're dang good:

The Prodigy (== Draw-Tite Intella-Stop Ultra) and the Activator have the same four wires, in the same 4 colors, and use the same wiring adapters in all vehicles which Draw-Tite/Tekonsha offers an adapter.

Therefore, I'd conclude, with 100% certainty, that if your Dealership has got those four leads connected properly, you can just disconnect the Activator and plug in the far superior Ultra, with the same leads going into the same connectors.

If it doesn't work, your Activator Installation was equally %$&'d up already, at the Dealership. No Ifs or Ands, and just one But:

"But" be sure to note this installation difference: Bacause the 'Activator' doesn't have ANY kind of intertia detection (electronic or otherwise), it can be mounted with faceplate NOT parallel to the dash. The Ultra/Prodigy, in contrast, MUST be mounted with the a line across the faceplate parallel to the dash SIDEWAYS... i.e., the faceplate must be exactly perpendicular to the direction of vehicle travel forwards.

You can have the Prodigy mounted at up to 70 degrees back-to-front... but across the front, a line through the display must be parallel with a line from the corner of driver's side window to the same corner on the front passenger's side window.

I'd do it myself. This isn't even a half-beer job, more like a single swig. Do disconnect the battery first!

Well, it turns out the BMW dealer did not install the Activator correctly. It doesn't even know that a trailer is connected. We picked up our TM yesterday (450 miles from home), but the brake controller didn't recognize that it was there . If I had checked more closely (bad on me) I would have recognized it didn't pass the first test for correct installation: dealer assured me all was well and that all necessary tests had been run, hehehe. I thought I had to have the trailer connected to test it (DOH!). So we drove 450 miles just using the Bimmer brakes, no problems on the flats . Back to the dealer this week, with a Prodigy in hand and hopefully we can fix this.

I really do appreciate everyone's advice, sorry if I sounded testy before. I'm kind of out of my theatre of experience here. Any advice on a brake controller expert in the St. Louis or even Chicago area who could help me out would be appreciated.

As far as the TM goes, some little problems: When we first plugged it in to the TV-->Nothing, no lights etc. Turns out one of the connecters on the TM was ungrounded. The dealer fixed the connecter, we got some lights but no turn signals, no brake lights. Further investigation, no bulbs in TM. Add bulbs, life is good, except for no brakes (due to BMW brake controller installation).

On ride home the right turn signal on the TM went out three times, first time we stopped and jiggled the connections on the wires, works again!: second time, things just started to work again spontaneously, third time we just ignored it and hoped for the best ( i.e. no ticket: life is good, several cops passed us but did not pull us over for no turn signal ). Today, things worked ok, so we're still in the dark about the intermitent problem.

So, continues my saga of brake controllers, BMW's, dealers and TM's. Stay tuned, more to come.

Aloha again;

Got the dealer to replace the Activator II with the Prodigy. Things are looking good, except they installed it tight against the windshield so it was out of reach. We moved it this weekend and it now is in a useable position.

I now have two questions;

1) Do you Prodigy users, use it in the boost 1 position or no boost or sometimes boosted and others not? If you use it in the boost mode sometimes---when?

2) We're planning to do the Powell lake, Canyonlands, Zion, Arches loop. Sorry if those are out of order I'm pretty much Geography impaired until I've actually been someplace (and I'm the navigator ). We'll be tentatively approaching Co on I 70 thru Kansas. Got any route suggestions?

Thanks

PS: I'm not looking for travel guide itinerary kind of info (although that's welcome too) but for driving road grade Eisenhower tunnel (yikes) info.