I want to tow a car trailer with Brunnhilde. Driving a car on the track it can become not road worthy as anything can happen. I don't feel comfortable exploring distant tracks until I acquire a trailer. For the heavily laden Sprinter T1N I searched for the lightest aluminum open trailer with tandem axles for security/redundancy as well as low tongue weight. My research resulted in the Trailex 8045EB.
the 8045EB comes with 11-foot ramps which is very important for track cars low clearance
As the trailer has electric brake I looked into what are needed to install a inertial trailer brake controller that is mounted in the cockpit. The OE tow package should make it a breeze, so I thought. Good that I am one that never assume anything. It turns out some T1N Sprinter tow harness has the electric brake but some don't. Brunnhilde got dealt a bad hand so there is no brake wire running from the cockpit to the trailer hitch connector. The reason is European trailers tend to rely on self-contained brake controller in the trailer and this wire is not needed, so our German prep'ed NAFTA has not.
the OE harness connects to the 7-pin trailer connector via a 10-pin rectangle connector
there is no wire for pin-7 (analog electric brake signal)
additionally there is no contact pin so I have to find the right one which is easier said than done
I managed to find some contact pins after doing a lot of research to determine what connector this is. I would not know if they are the right ones until they arrive. I will run a 12 or 14 AWG wire from the cockpit to the trailer connector.
This relatively affordable inertial brake controller is my choice. A Curt Triflex 51140 with 3-axis accelerometer.
after thinking though all the mounting locations I think this is an ideal one and getting rid of the totally useless ashtray and cigarette lighter
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