New-ish TV!

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   So after all of last year's troubles with our TV, we finally threw the towel in on our Subaru Outback and traded it in for Hyundai Santa Fe.  In retrospect, we should have gotten the Santa Fe to begin with but misjudged how we were going to camp and how far we wanted to go.  Now we'll hopefully have enough power to go the scenic hilly way to our campsites.
Our pre-owned vehicle had a a tow package pre-installed but we have no idea how to install the electric brakes.  Is this something we can do ourselves or should be take it to someone?

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g4royce Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 20 Nov 2010 Location: PortStLucie FL Online Status: Offline Posts: 335	Topic: New-ish TV! Posted: 07 May 2014 at 12:38am
	So after all of last year's troubles with our TV, we finally threw the towel in on our Subaru Outback and traded it in for Hyundai Santa Fe. In retrospect, we should have gotten the Santa Fe to begin with but misjudged how we were going to camp and how far we wanted to go. Now we'll hopefully have enough power to go the scenic hilly way to our campsites. Our pre-owned vehicle had a a tow package pre-installed but we have no idea how to install the electric brakes. Is this something we can do ourselves or should be take it to someone?
	ChaiPod 2009 RP152 2011 Hyundai Santa Fe 3.5L V6

techntrek Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Admin Group - pHp Joined: 29 Jul 2009 Location: MD Online Status: Offline Posts: 9062	Posted: 07 May 2014 at 8:19am
	Congrats. Were you having problems with the Subaru itself, or problems with towing? It isn't too hard to install a brake controller if you are familiar with electric wiring. You need to connect 4 wires. Sometimes these connections are already provided by the car manufacturer and you just need to find them; I haven't checked if this is true for yours. You may want to contact a local hitch installer (many Uhauls do it) to do it for you. I started to write up a how-to, but found this wiring diagram/info which should help: http://www.etrailer.com/question-6890.html
	Doug ~ '10 171 (2009-2015) ~ 2008 Salem ~ Pod instruction manual

outermostpod Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Groupie Joined: 06 Nov 2013 Online Status: Offline Posts: 43	Posted: 07 May 2014 at 8:29am
	g4royce - we too just purchased a 2014 Hyundai Santa Fe as our TV to replace Jeep Wrangler Unlimited. What year is your Santa Fe? We had no problem hooking up the 7 pin wiring to the Santa Fe, but the trailer brake controller was not so easy. I suspect it depends on the year you have - but for the 2013-14, we had to go with a wireless brake controller (Tekonsha Prodigy RF) that sits on the pod itself and is controlled remotely via a plug in module in the vehicle. It does work great but it was pricey.

g4royce Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 20 Nov 2010 Location: PortStLucie FL Online Status: Offline Posts: 335	Posted: 07 May 2014 at 11:30am
	Wireless? ooh...sounds fancy... I think ours is 2011. I'm still trying to get used to getting in and out of it. It's much higher up than our old Outback and I keep falling getting out of it if I'm not paying attention. G found a video on Youtube but it looked quite complicated and the guy kept on saying "Go ahead and do this" every other sentence. So maybe the video just seemed longer and more complicated than it really was. Do we just buy whatever the guy at the shop recommends? Are there different types? Our 2007 Subaru (3.0L with tran cooler) did fine towing up until we tried to do the hilly scenic backroads in the Finger Lakes during a 2 week heatwave a few years ago. It was the first time we saw the engine temperature needle move ever so slightly. We were nervous because we kept passing overheated TVs and Class Bs along the way. Our maiden voyage was driving all the way out to WI to buy our pod and then camped our way through the Upper Peninsula, Canada and down through Niagara Falls and NY back to CT. The car did great then and even on trips up to Maine and Quechee, VT. We were too nervous to try Lake Placid, Northern VT or even longer trips after the Finger Lakes trip. We spent a lot on the Subaru last year and never managed to get out camping. Maybe it was just age or maybe it was some stuff exacerbated by towing. However, if we were to go smaller and lighter than the pod and keep it to just us and the dog without all our heavy sports equipment, we wouldn't hesitate to buy another 3.0L+ Outback with tran cooler. On our almost flat trips to Cape Cod the built-in car computer screen was saying we were averaging 13+ mpg towing very slightly nose down. As we would like to do much more than just Cape Cod, we went up to the Santa Fe.
	ChaiPod 2009 RP152 2011 Hyundai Santa Fe 3.5L V6

techntrek Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Admin Group - pHp Joined: 29 Jul 2009 Location: MD Online Status: Offline Posts: 9062	Posted: 07 May 2014 at 12:44pm
	It isn't that complicated, IMO. You connect the ground line to a bolt somewhere under the dash, connect the +12 to the battery under the hood (adding a fuse in the line), run the brake output to the Bargeman connector near the hitch. The hardest part is finding the right wire to tap into coming from the brake pedal switch.
	Doug ~ '10 171 (2009-2015) ~ 2008 Salem ~ Pod instruction manual

Sleepless Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 07 Jun 2013 Location: Titusville, FL Online Status: Offline Posts: 556	Posted: 07 May 2014 at 2:27pm
	We had a 2010 Santa Fe with the larger 6 cylinder (274 hp) and it towed our 173 and now our new 178 with few problems although a few of the mountainous areas did dictate locking the AT into 3rd gear instead of 4th. Ours had the towing package, but that did not include a brake controller. This was not difficult to install, but as Doug mentioned, finding the correct lead off of the brake switch was the only challenge. You will also have to connect a 12 volt fused feed from the battery to the Bargeman connector. We are assuming that you already have the correct hitch and wiring connector on your Santa Fe. When I bought mine, eTrailer had the best price on a quality hitch for our Santa Fe. Installation of the hitch was very simple.
	2014 R-Pod 178 (OUR POD) 2009 Chevrolet Avalanche

outermostpod Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Groupie Joined: 06 Nov 2013 Online Status: Offline Posts: 43	Posted: 08 May 2014 at 10:40am
	Finding the brake pedal switch was the issue with our Santa Fe. The installer couldn't find it. Many calls to the Hyundai dealer were apparently no help. The dealer's main contribution was cautioning the installer that if he spliced into the Santa Fe's wires and caused a problem that he would be voiding my warranty. He spent 4 hours on it (and didn't charge us for that time because he couldn't solve the problem.) We even investigated hooking into one of the brake light wires at the rear lights, but there was concern that this would mess up system voltages on the CAN-BUS. Cars are way too complicated. They had absolutely no problem hooking up my brake controller on my Jeep, but this new car is beyond me. In the end we went with the installer's recommendation of the Tekonsha Prodigy RF and actually wish we had just done that in the first place with our original Jeep TV. Then we could have just left it attached to the Pod and moved the remote control to the new vehicle. Considering the cost of the original brake controller ($100) plus installation ($150) just buying the Prodigy RF in the first place wouldn't have been that much more expensive. Live and learn.

outermostpod Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Groupie Joined: 06 Nov 2013 Online Status: Offline Posts: 43	Posted: 08 May 2014 at 10:51am
	oh - and I will second the statement that hitch installation was very simple. Etrailer.com is highly recommended. our 2014 Santa Fe is rated to tow 5000 lbs, and it tows very nicely. Went over some pretty long grades in NY and NJ and it never struggled. We didn't expect fantastic gas mileage and were not surprised to get 14 mpg. That was, however, better than my father in-law's 10 mpg he got pulling his much larger trailer with a F-150 along the same route.