Caravn Electrics.

[kanewesley]

Here we are again...as a newbie to BM's ....I'm on the steep bit of the learning curve !

You've probably gathered by now, I have just bought a 2006 3.0d sport facelift model.

We need a towbar and 13 pin socket on the car to cope with the FULL caravan electrics.

I read, BMW have a pre wired plug on this car but it only contains 10 wires. The 2 extra wires (caravan charging and fridge) are not included on German cars.?

My question then...I have seen a Westfalia wiring kit for £120 !!!!
A lot of money I think for a caravan socket !
Am I right in thinking this "kit" plugs directly into the 10 pin pre wired plug on my car?....and is any "additional" wiring included  to power the charging and fridge-while-moving circuits?

Will this extra wiring upset the computer on the car?

What about the PDC sensors?...are they already taken care of when a caravan is hooked up or have they to be programmed out?

Finally, £120 for the kit !....What kind of a job is it to buy a standard much cheaper 13 pin caravan socket and wiring ....... and chop it into the cars electrics? Again, doing it this way, will it upset the cars computer?

Hope you can help.....and thanks !

[chrisn7]

I have exactly the same car as you. There is a pre-wired trailer plug, located where the modules are under the spare wheel and under the battery cover.

Obtain a trailer module off ebay -£40-£50. This locates with the other modules above and the trailer plug fits one socket of the new module. This module does not need coding happily, so no effects on the cars existing set up.

From your BMW dealer, obtain the short section of harness that plugs into the second socket in the trailer module. The other will end pass through an existing hole in the centre of the rear valance, covered with a rubber blanking plug (the new piece of harness comes with a new grommet), to your 13 pin socket.

The new piece of harness is fitted with a connector to fit a BMW socket. Now this harness does NOT have the fridge live and ground wires in it, but there is just enough room in the harness sheathing to run these through, so keeping the watertight integrity. For this reason I did not expect the BMW 13 pin socket to have the full complement of pins, so bought an aftermarket 13 pin.

This means you need to cut the unique BMW connector off, leaving little tails on, to aid you in re-wiring to the new 13 pin. This is important, as BMW use their own wiring codes , that do not match conventional colours.

Apart from this last step, its plug n play and is well worth it as the BMW trailer module does all sorts of useful things...including de activating the PDC when in reverse, switching off brake lights and fog light to avoid glare etc

[kanewesley]

First of all, thank you for your reply. Very good of you to take the time.

I have been a maintenance electrician for 41 years, and have a wealth of experience across a broad range of electrical engineering, from high voltage 3 ph 11Kv down to PLC programming.

I don't wish to be rude or sound ungrateful, and please don't take this the wrong way......but I haven't a clue what your talking about?????

[X5Sport]

You need to plug a special module into a pre-existing wiring socket down by the battery.  It will be why the proper electrics are so expensive.

The module 'tells' the on board systems you have a trailer on which in turn modifies the rear parking sensors and also alters the Stability Programme (ABS/ESP etc) operation as the car now knows something is hooked on.

For simplicity, stick with a dedicated loom set unless you want to pick apart the loom, as that means no coding of the car systems is needed.  If you are comfortable with the electrics (sounds like you are) then it will be a case of splicing your own in at the BMW provided connector which should be down at the back right and wrapped into the existing loom but unused.

[Insight G40]

He's the pages from the Westfalia manual for extending 13 pin electrics to add continious positive, charging wire and earth.

If you can't read it very well, PM me an e-mail address and I'll send you a higher res image.

[kanewesley]

It must be me..... :'(

Do I get a cable from PF Jones, which has a 10 pin plug on it to plug onto an existing plug on the X5? (near the battery)
This will give me 10 wires = 3 wires short to the caravan socket?

THEN ..........

Do PF Jones ALSO supply and ADDITIONAL piece of equipment containing 3 wires which has to be spliced in to the X5, switched on with the ignition, and fused to accommodate battery charging and fridge power supply on the caravan???
And do these 3 extra wires then have to be led out to the 13 pin caravan connector?

Ive never known anything as complicated in my life??????

[kanewesley]

Thanks for the photo InSight !!!!

[jagr]

Here is the cable on the pic Insight uploaded:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Westfalia-3000 ... entries*=0

Or a full 13pin with charging line for fridge

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Westfalia-Tow ... Swk5FU0kO-

Or direct from PF Jones and a lot cheaper:

http://www.pfjones.co.uk/bmw-x5-e53-13- ... 00113.html

[kanewesley]

Thanks Jagr........I'll give Jones's a ring this morning and have a chat with them.

All this to keep me beers cold when I'm travelling !!!!

[chrisn7]

I really don't understand why you want to go aftermarket when the genuine BMW parts will do the job at reasonable cost, and give you no compatibility issues?

Trailer module part number 61356955253 - cost £40.00 ebay
Trailer harness part number B61116906348 - cost £34.25 +vat from dealer

Prices Feb 2015

[andyph]

I bought the kit from P F Jones last autumn as I tow a caravan, easy to fit with the extra bits to wire in the pins required for fridge and caravan battery charching. Good prices and helpfull if you need to call them for any technical assistance.
P.S X5's a great towcar.

[kanewesley]

Thanks AndyPh...how much was the kit including the bits for the fridge & charging?
How long did it take you to wire it up?

Did you get a 13 pin socket or 2 x 7 pins?

Chrisn7....didn't know BMW accommodatedthe fridge and charging circuits??????? as far as I can make out, they are not used on the continent?

[X5Sport]

BMW support it under a 'repair kit' to add the extra wires.  That what mine was done under.

[buzz]

I got the witter detachable towbar from pf jones along with the dedicated electrics....

http://www.pfjones.co.uk/bmw-x5-e53-13- ... 00113.html

plug and play (except for a wire to the battery for the fridge)....really easy

[kanewesley]

Ordered !!!!