Even Brake Installed Improperly Drains Battery on a 2013 Honda Fit

Question:

I had my 2013 Fit wired for an Even Brake 9400. In the Manual it specifies not to use any accessory power sockets but the Even Brake sending unit plugs into an accessory port. My battery ran down quickly on the 1st trip and I had to eventually replace it. In addition, the installer ran a wire with an in-line fuse directly to the battery. If I dont unplug the fuse wire from the battery when it is not being towed, by battery will still run down in 4 or 5 days. The installers recommended solution was for me to unplug the wire when the vehicle is not being towed. This causes another problem I cant shift out of park when the fuse wire is unplugged. Any recommendations on these problems before I take the Fit back to the installer for the 4th time LOL.

asked by: Ronnie T

Helpful Expert Reply:

It looks like a fuse needs to be pulled to flat tow your 2013 Honda Fit. Consult the vehicle owners manual to confirm. This might help with the battery running down. To make it easier on you, so you do not have to pull a fuse every time, you can install a fuse bypass, # RM76511.

You can also install a power accessory outlet # RM-9332 to plug the Even Brake into.

To keep a maintenance charge on the battery I recommend using a harness such as # BX88206 with the tow bar wiring you will be using so that you can run a wire from the connector at the front of the truck to the vehicle battery.

There are a couple of ways to do this. First, you can tap into the running light circuit in the tow bar wiring but to provide power to the battery the RV running lights would have to be on all the time. Or if the connector at the back of the RV has a working 12 volt circuit you could use that circuit instead.

Which ever way you choose you would just attach the wire to the appropriate corresponding pin at the back of the connector that will be at the front of the truck and the other end of that wire will go to the positive battery terminal.

I do not recommend going back to the same place that made all those other interesting installations. By wiring in the Even Brake the way they did they not only caused you additional problems but also potentially voided the warranty on the Even Brake.