Strong work. --R Sent from iPhone
> On Aug 23, 2017, at 9:34 PM, Mitch Haley via Mercedes <[email protected]> > wrote: > > First, buy a Curt 56146 trailer light converter, it has its own power supply > and does not draw power from the taillight housings, just samples taillight > voltages to tell it what to do. This avoids trouble with the bulb warning > light in the dash. Also, I checked the impedence on the power input, with the > turn signals, brake lights and taillights off, it was 26kOhms, so there's no > worry about battery drain when you aren't using the car (the rear power > outlet is always hot). > > Buy a Curt 13018 hitch (3500lb), Draw-Tite 75087 (5000lb) or Reese 44720 > (8000lb). I hoped the Curt would not require cutting away part of the plastic > bumper cover, but I still had to notch it to clear the gusset on the back of > the hitch. (less cutting than the Draw-Tite in the video, which sits higher > and requires you to cut a notch wide enough for the 2" receiver.) > > Download these two videos: > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUtq8gvv8jU > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTj1GjgeEMY > > I don't follow the videos exactly. When they take the bumper off, and then > take the flat panel antenna off the bumper, I just fold the back seat and > stick the bumper in the back with the right end hanging out to keep from > pulling the wire. > > I made several changes to the wiring video. > They stuck the box in the left taillight recess, then had to extend the wire > to the right taillight. I stuck the box under the bumper cover, and the green > wire was then long enough to reach the right taillight. > > They used a self-drilling-tapping sheet metal screw to punch a hole in the > body and secure the ground wire. I fished the white ground wire through the > bumper plastic and secured it with the rightmost bumper plastic holding screw. > Advantage, no holes drilled in my car. > > They ran a long wire and an inline fuse holder to the battery, running the > hot wire under the body along the frame. I ran a 5' wire through the bumper > to the right taillight housing, wiggled it through the rubber grommet for the > taillight wiring (so the body is still waterproof behind the taillight), and > used the same sort of blue wiring tap as was used at the taillights to tap > into the red wire at the rear power outlet/lighter socket. > To get access to the wire, I just had to take off the cargo net hook nearest > the outlet, peel back the rubber tailgate gasket, and pull the interior panel > away from the body until I could get my hand in there and unplug (no locking > clip, just unplug it) the wiring from the outlet. The wire is long enough to > pull out the CD changer access door for easy tapping. Now the trailer light > controller has a 20A fused power source, and there aren't any stray wires > under the body. > > My one mistake: While I was wishing they hadn't set the wire lengths to force > you to put the unit by the left taillight (because my chosen power supply was > by the right taillight) I didn't think of the solution until just now as I > was writing this up. Instead of driving to town for a spool of 14ga stranded > wire to extend the power input lead, I could have put the unit under the > right end of the bumper, connected the tail and stoplight wires on the right > side, shortened the green turn signal wire, and used the excess green wire to > extend the yellow left turn signal wire over to the left taillight housing. > That keeps the power wire short, and allows you to do the entire install with > the wires that Curt furnished. > > Pictures: The first one shows where I attached the converter box with the > supplied double sided tape. You can also see that the white wire is taped to > a 3" zip tie, I used that to fish the green wire over to the right side and > to fish the white ground wire into the bumper cover as I reattached the > bumper cover. The second photo shows how I ran the power wire parallel to the > existing wiring harness and slipped it into the body via the existing rubber > seal. > > Mitch. > <Curt adapter location.jpg> > <running power lead into cabin.jpg> > _______________________________________ > http://www.okiebenz.com > > To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ > > To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: > http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com > _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
