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Towbar fitter

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Old Dec 12th, 2016, 14:04   #1
yusaf1
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Default Towbar fitter

I am looking at putting a towbar on my v40 but it seems that to have one supplied and fitted is about £250.
I'm thinking about a used one but cannot find anyone that will fit it and do the electrics.

I'm in Surrey, does anyone know of someone who can fit this for me?
Thanks.
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Old Dec 12th, 2016, 16:00   #2
skyship007
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Quote:
Originally Posted by yusaf1 View Post
I am looking at putting a towbar on my v40 but it seems that to have one supplied and fitted is about £250.
I'm thinking about a used one but cannot find anyone that will fit it and do the electrics.

I'm in Surrey, does anyone know of someone who can fit this for me?
Thanks.
250 quid is real cheap for a good towbar and electrics, so I would not waste your hard stolen cash on an iffy used one, as they do corrode and the electric socket might not work or even be wired correctly.

A Volvo stealer will charge one arm and two legs for the parts kit and about 5 hours to fit and test it. Might be close to a grand in total!

When you fit the electrics, make sure to use the correct fuse (The kit only has 2 fuses) on every wire. I think the OEM kit just has one big fuse on the earth return and brake feed wire.

The connection to the brakes is very important in fuse and bulb type terms, because if you blow the 15A fuse in the footwell box, none of the brake lights work AND you will not get a brake bulb fail warning, which can be dangerous.
15A is not much for all the brake lights, as the 3 normal ones can pull nearly 8A, so there is a real good chance that the fuse will blow if you use normal bulbs, rather than more efficient approved LED's.
If you fit LED's on the caravan or horse box, then just use 5A for the brake line fuse.
The other option is to take a slight risk and increase the main fuse to 20A and then use a 7.5A for the feed to the socket.

You will also need a universal adapter, as the pin wiring for some trailers, caravans or horse boxes is different.

Finally, it's a good idea to buy one of those emergency starter batteries that are in a sealed box with the cables and clips (You can also make one), as anything left plugged in can trash the cars battery. A horse box trailer light nailed my first OEM battery a few years ago, although the kids playing with a boom box did not help either. The ADAC (AA equivalent) chap had a real small neat jump start battery with intergral light and charger.
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Old Dec 12th, 2016, 17:25   #3
loely
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Default Fuses for braking lights

Hi ,
I do not know the rules for fuses in wires for your country but here it is 15A for a cable 1.5 mm2 surface,The original wires are even less thick and should not have a surge from 20A .The fuse must protect the cable from heating or melting ans setting the car on fire,not for protecting the load.The total current consumption is aprox 10A so a 15 A fuse will do the job.
(Sorry for the writing errors)
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Old Dec 14th, 2016, 11:33   #4
yusaf1
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Thanks for taking the time for your responses, I think you're right in that fitting a new one is probably the best way to go, cheers.
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Old Mar 31st, 2020, 12:53   #5
southweststuff
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Hi Loely,
You seem to know what you're talking about.
I'm in the process of wiring up my towbar on a V40XC 2013. Being a lapsed DIY'r the problems I am having is find a rout into the car for my cable from the lighting socket and finding a route into the car from the battery power supply. Bulk heads are hermetically sealed these days and I can't find a gland into the boot.
I'm hoping you're familiar with the V40 and can point to a good cable entry point before I strip the whole car down trying to find one.
I know I can take a power supply from the fuse box under the drivers seat but I am not sure how to splice into it or which wire to use.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated if only a hint as to what car the V40 is similar to (ie Ford Focus) so I can search their forums
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Old Mar 31st, 2020, 15:27   #6
magnuz
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Quote:
Originally Posted by southweststuff View Post
Hi Loely,
You seem to know what you're talking about.
I'm in the process of wiring up my towbar on a V40XC 2013. Being a lapsed DIY'r the problems I am having is find a rout into the car for my cable from the lighting socket and finding a route into the car from the battery power supply. Bulk heads are hermetically sealed these days and I can't find a gland into the boot.
I'm hoping you're familiar with the V40 and can point to a good cable entry point before I strip the whole car down trying to find one.
I know I can take a power supply from the fuse box under the drivers seat but I am not sure how to splice into it or which wire to use.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated if only a hint as to what car the V40 is similar to (ie Ford Focus) so I can search their forums
I think you may need to post this here https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=194 to get a better answer ?
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Old Apr 2nd, 2020, 13:51   #7
dralphs
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You can get towbars new online quite easily, they are not too bad to fit to on a V40 just one bolt near exhaust is awkward and the wiring if you are just going for basic 7 pin not too complicated. There is somewhere on here a diagram. There should already be a plug in the boot where you can pick up a dedicated power line.
I would fit a bypass relay as it avoids any issues with car lights.

see https://www.pfjones.co.uk/v40-estate...ge-towbar.html

However by the time you add up the towbar and electrics its nearly £150+ so not a huge saving and at least with your quote of £250 if anything goes wrong you can go back and ask for it to be fixed.
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Old Apr 2nd, 2020, 17:16   #8
ITSv40
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I think the OP will have got it sorted by now - 3 years down the line. Southweststuff needs to post in the forum as suggested by Magnuz as a 2013 model will be canbus and will most probably need dealer programming to get it to work.
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