US Gear Unified Brake Controller Interface

There were two issues installing the Unified Brake from US Gear. First, there was no firm location of where Monaco located the prewired connector for the Brake Controller. US Gear thought it should be located behind the IP at the headlight switch, but it wasn't; and Monaco just states that it's somewhere in the IP. Although US Gear only needs a four wire connector, Monaco installs a 6 wire connector loaded with 5 wires as shown in the first photo below.

Once I located the Monaco connector, I decided the best place to install the controller was over a blank switch plate that I removed for the controller wire and its connector to pass through as shown in the second photo.

The second issue was the US Gear Unified Brake package contained only one adapter from its connector to that in a Freightliner chassis. Monaco and my Monaco Dealer Service department does not carry the mating connector for the Monaco side. I called US Gear Customer Service and they make the adapter cable that goes from their controller connector to the Monaco prewired connector, but they didn't include it in the package because the pin out had not yet been defined. The last photo shows the location of the two connectors and controller, but the adapter cable from US Gear is still "in the mail". They did want the model and serial number of their product I purchased before they would send the adapter. Hope this helps others headed down this same road.
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quote:

Once I located the Monaco connector

Camelot Camper,
Where did you find the Unified Brake connector? a couple of the wires in this connector run to the back of the coach and I want to use them for another purpose.

thanks,
mark

Mark,
The access panel hole shown in the photo above is just in front of the instrument panel on top of the dash. The connector was on top (lucky me) but it is not labeled or numbered in any way to let me know this is the brake controller interface. I had to compare the stamp on each wire with the wiring diagrams to determine this was the right connector.

I also received the adapter cable in the mail but was unable to use it because the pins Monaco used and those in the mating connector were both female pins. AP Products who took over this product from US Gear stated Monaco sends them the mating connector and they had no male pins to send me. I ended up cutting off both connectors on the Monaco side and splicing but still very happy it was prewired. System works good but it was a lot of work laying in a new harness in the car.

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It has been a while since I have added any little mods. Here are a few things -

Little clear bumper on the lid of the toilet so that it doesn't bonk the wall when you open it up -


The magazine rack in The Library (oak(ish)rack from Camping World) -


A dimmable string of LEDs above the windshield - behind the sunshades and in front of the curtains. Makes a nice red glowing windshield at night. It is quite easy to pick ours out of a lineup I also added some strings under the front curb slide. Makes for a nice glow at night, and the red doesn't mess with my night eyes -


Installed dimmer switches for most of all of the halogens in the coach. I saw the dimmer switchs in a Safari coach we looked at, but Monaco wanted $40/switch. Found them on Ebay for $10/ea, but now I see they went up to $20/ea -


Added an LED block under the thermostat that is switched by the outside switch on the SeeLevel panel. Lights up the controls for late night adjustments, going down the road, etc.


Not a mod, but an honorable mention. I found out how to open the covers on the awning toppers This may have been common knowledge, but I was excited to find out how they worked. There are small pins on either side of the cover. Push in a pin and lift the cover. Repeat for the other side. The covers flip right up and you can get all the pine needles out of there!




More organizing than modding, but made a huge difference. I drilled a hole in the corner of the desk and poked in a cord insert. I then ran all of my cords down the back, added a monitor stand so I could stack two laptops, and got a 24" monitor! I removed the valences on the side of the window. What a pain that was. If anyone wants to see some pictures of how the valances are attached, let me know. I just hope I never have to take another one apart.

Orig setup+ new monitor. Cords were a little out of control -


New setup with stacked laptops, new cord hole, and removed valences -




Mod on.

--kev

Hey Kev...just curious.. Why did you remove the valance?

quote:

Originally posted by MonacoMama:
Hey Kev...just curious.. Why did you remove the valance?

So that I could fit a 24" monitor on a 16" wide desk

--kev

REROUTING BEDROOM TV AUDIO

Our Camelot has the bedroom Radio/DVD unit with speakers installed over the head of the bed. I wanted to also use these speakers for the TV audio because every time the air conditioner came on I would have to turn the TV speakers up, and then back down when the AC went off.

From the wiring diagrams I determined the video line from the Radio/DVD player to the TV also had left and right audio lines. I removed the TV wood frame to pull out and rotate the TV to access the AV cables. I removed the left/right audio cables from the TV audio input connectors and moved them to audio input/output #3. I had to go to the SETUP menu on the Sharp 20” Aquos TV to select/define I/O #3 as an output with variable volume. Likewise, I pulled out the Radio/DVD player and moved the AV cables from the audio output to the audio input connectors.

Now with Aux In selected on the Radio/DVD, TV audio is delivered directly overhead instead of across the room. The Radio/DVD remote is now used to mute and control the TV audio. This modification took about 30 minutes and was well worth it.

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Two easy mods, one done and the other when it stops drizzling. Last month, while driving through Louisiana, we finally tracked down an insane whistling to my missing weep-hole covers on the drivers side window. Before leaving Camp Monaco Wildwood last week, I replaced the 21 missing weep-hole covers. The techs' there recommended that I use black silicone on the top and leading edge of each cover to keep them from blowing off or becoming dislodged during washing. I picked up a small tube at the local Auto Parts store for about $4.00 and the entire process took less than 15 minutes. good looking job and they are not coming off accidentally. The second project is to put strips of anti-slip tape on my slides to make the slide seals go in the proper direction when opening or storing them. They said that slide seals will break down alot sooner if they are buckled or twisted for long periods of time. A mechanic gave me a ten foot by 1 inch roll and said to put 6 inch long strips about a foot apart on all my slides. He said DO NOT get the 'sandpaper' type of anti-slip because that would damage the rubber seals! The kind he gave me looked like the black sandpaper kind but it had a rubber feel to it. My wife is hoping this works because her self appointed job is to take the awning rod and pull out the seals after the slides are out. We'll let you know how this works after we apply the strips. BTW, ain't got a clue how to put the strips on the top of the slides. That could be fun!

AkTrek,

Any pictures of this "anti-slip" tape you can give us? I am having the same problem but have been using my 8 foot A frame ladder to keep pulling out those d... seals every time I open the slides.

I bought a couple of cans of the foamy type of slider seal spray at Camping World but have not tried it yet.

Anyone else have this problem or is it only Aktrek and me?

Thanks for the blog....

Front Aqua Hot Heat Exchanger Input Filter Added

A few posts back in this thread, filters were discussed for the dash air and heater. When I saw how much this filter was catching, I decided to do the same with the air input for the Furnace Front Heat Exchanger.



Twisty Ties were used to keep the filter in place.



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