I need a bit of help as i am new to caravanning, so new havn't towed or been in it yet, and even newer to towing. I have made enquiries with various firms in my area about fitting of a tow bar to tow a caravan. But getting confused about single or double electrics. Some say ok with single others insist I need to have double electrics. I noticed a lot of companies offer DIY for towbars and electrics, how easy is this to do as it could save me up to £100 on the quotes I have had. Any advice greatly appreciated.
You only need the second connection if you want to have your fridge on whilst towing. The battery should charge up when you plug in the electric hook up.
As for fitting yourself - it depends on the car and how confident you are with the electrics. I fitted my own on a ford focus but had it fitted for the Honda CR-V (Mainly because I didn't have the time).
For the Honda it cost me about £270 to have a towbar and twin electrics fitted, but would have been around £170 had I done it myself. So worth having a go yourself if you can.
The car is a ford escort estate and I feel confident followiing the instructions and there is always the helpline some firms offer so probably have a go.
Hi, Towbars are quite straightforward to fit on Fords both twin and single electrics. If you have any problems please contact as I am a qualified Ford auto electrician/technician.
We paid £160 to have a towbar & single electric fitted to our Corolla. The bits from Towsure came to £118 so I just paid the extra & had it fitted. Had the saving been higher I would have fitted it myself. I recently added a second socket, bits cost about £22, quote from the fitters was £60. Took an hour or so to fit, hardest part was running the higher voltage feed for the fridge to the ignition. To be honest with hindsight I wouldn't have bothered. If you turn the fridge right up for a few hours on hook-up before leaving home the contents will stay cold for a good few hours. Failing that just pack a cool box. I suppose if you are doing some all day driving you would need the second socket.
You have come to the best place for advice. These guys on here are a mine of info. We are new to caravanning this year. Towing just takes practice. Pick a nice wide easy route with a bit of mixed driving & gradually build up. Find a nice empty car park to practice reversing.
You also need the 12S grey socket if reversing lamps are fitted to your van
Some later model fridges also need a fully charged leisure battery in the caravan to work the electronics as well as the leads from the car for power and earth
Totally irrelevent to your question, but I recently asked in the forum about caravan insurance for older units. You asked me to let you know if I found one, well I was advised to try the following:
Hi adam-eggs,
I have an old ABI 1994 and got it insured for £.51.through the Camping and Caravaning Club that we are members of.Cost of joining is around £.33.
Worth looking at their web site.
Hi, Harryc. How old is your vehicle? With some of the later ones (my 2005 VW Touran, for example), you need to know what you are doing, otherwise you can cause serious and expensive damage to the car's electrical system.
I always used to fit and wire my own towbars. In the case of my current car, I had this done by the dealership before taking delivery. Expensive, yes. But I have peace of mind in knowing that the vehicle warranty is absolutely intact.
Thanks everyone for the advice but SWMBO has decided that she does not trust me to do it myself, (although not in those exact words) says it is not worth it so have had to bow down to that. Got it fitted with electrics (Single) for 135 quid and it is guaranteed for the life of the vehicle so I suppose that wasn;t too bad so off this weekend with fingers and everything else crossed. Very slowly does it.
Quote: Originally posted by robhill2004 on 05/7/2007
Hi, Towbars are quite straightforward to fit on Fords both twin and single electrics. If you have any problems please contact as I am a qualified Ford auto electrician/technician.
robhill2004
Hi there
Im new to the forum but would appreciate some advice. Ive just bought a second hand towbar & electrics for my 2003 focus hatch. I am quite confident on fitting the bar but the last time I fitted electrics for a towbar was about 25 years ago. In the boot there are 2 looms of wires with in line connectors, would I be right in assuming these may be the looms for the towing electrics (single and double)?
As mentioned in other postings I too am a little nervous about just 'tapping in' and causing a problem with the ecu. if you are able to give me some help I would be very grateful
You will need a split charging relay for the 12s. If you got the wiring second hand, I suspect the relay was left in the original car. Towsure do them for about £15 Better to use one rather than flatten your car battery.
Quote: Originally posted by SoundsDigital on 20/7/2007
You will need a split charging relay for the 12s. If you got the wiring second hand, I suspect the relay was left in the original car. Towsure do them for about £15 Better to use one rather than flatten your car battery.
thanks for advice however I'm still a bit in the dark. The towbar (fitted today) came with one set of electrics (not connected yet) are you saying I will need to get a second socket or is there a way of using the first set of electrics and getting this split charging relay to work with the existing socket.
I know these may be stupid questions but I want to make sure I dont blow anything up.Also not too sure about which wires to connect to inside the boot.
You need all the pins in the 12N (black) socket for road lights. The 12S (grey) is connected to reversing light, and two earths, plus the split charging relay for the fridge and battery charge. You could theoretically use the fog light pin for the charging wire, but if ever you tow something with a fog light, then you will be unable to turn it off, or you will have to leave the fog light on on your car to charge the battery up. I did consider doing it this way myself, but for the cost of doing a proper job, It wasn't worth botching it. You will also be putting unnecessary and excessive load on the earth wire by charging through the 12N, so are likely to have problems with your lights misbehaving unless you do it properly. I see your not far from me, if you'd like a hand, let me know. I'm in Ponty.
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Topic: towbar electrics
