yowhfx

I have a 2013 Audi Q7 with a Class III Hitch and 7 pin connector which was dealer installed. I am looking to pull a 3080 lb trailer with electric brakes. I have gone to 5 RV Dealers three of which told me they would not install a brake controller on a Q7 due to electrical problems. Two said they would and the Audi Dealer in town will not do the installation as they say it is a non certified part and there would be liability potential. I was looking to install a Tekonsha P3 controller or the Tekonsha Wireless RF controller. Any comments on potential electrical problems that may arise from such an installation.

cuatrokoop

I'm getting ready to install the Hopkins InSight controller on our '07 (factory tow package), and am planning on following the instructions found online (there are a couple PDF's found through this forum). Check under your steering column and see if you have the brake controller plug. Then look at your brake pedal switch and see if you have the 4-wire flat connector with the black/red wire.

Is the 3080lb trailer weight FULL or EMPTY? If empty, what are you planning on putting in it? If full, how and where are you going to be trailering? If empty and you aren't going to be doing highway speeds, I don't know if I'd worry about the brake controller too much. The Q7 has nice big brakes. I pulled a tandem axle dump trailer with ours between two locations (one way at least half full, the other way empty) in town and never had an issue.

Pburleson

I installed the Tekonsha Prodigy P2 this summer in my 2011 Q7. No problems at all. Works great.

yowhfx

Thanx. Can you tell me if you have a travel trailer and if so power to charge your travel trailer battery. Read on the thread that there could be a problem with that. Visited another RV Dealer today who refused to work on an Audi.

cuatrokoop

As in the brake battery, or a larger storage battery? The Q7/Treg/Cayenne all have the aux 12v feed in the 7-way from what I remember. That reminds me, I probably need a new battery on my trailer.

Also, I pulled my Haulmark tonight to get the new tires put on it. The Haulmark weighs just over 3000lbs empty, and the Q7 really didn't notice it was back there under braking.

Pburleson

I do pull a travel trailer. One of the things that I learned while installing my OEM trailer hitch was that there was no power through the connector to charge the battery on the trailer. Some on the forum talked about tapping off of the 12V outlet in the rear of the vehicle. I did not try this. I simply added a second battery on the trailer as I don't pull my trailer that far.

If you already have the factory installation the brake control installation is a piece of cake. Tekonsha has a document that I followed and there is a plug and 2 wires with pins on each of them that you can get from your dealer or another Audi parts source.

Check out this post if you haven't already. This is what I used.

https://www.audiworld.com/forums/q7-...rness-2846156/

cuatrokoop

I haven't looked to see what the 12V power point circuit protection is, or what else is on that circuit, but I can't imagine it would be a great source to charge a battery. I'd be more inclined to add a relay wired to the battery on 30 and a key-on source on 85 or 86, and use that to feed the aux terminal of the connector. 12ga for the aux power, and 18ga for the key-on source would be sufficient. The 12ga is good for a 26ft round trip at 25A. 18ga is good for 7A at that distance. I'd sincerely hope that the current draw would not exceed that. I'd run a fuse or circuit breaker in the 12ga run. I figure you could run that for maybe $25, $30 tops based on a quick mental list and pricing from Waytek (bad thing with them is that they have minimum quantities for every thing they sell).

I'll have to verify that the aux terminal is dead from the factory, surprising based on the trouble they went to with the rest of the wiring.

cdhoward

I had a trailer shop put a draw-tite controller on my 2007 4.2. They thought it didn't work because their tester didn't work. It turns out that the Q has to sense the resistance of actual trailer wiring before it will go into trailer mode. The tester didn't have enough resistance. I have been towing my Z06 back and forth to the track with no issues. Car plus trailer around 5000 lbs. Cruise control just below 80mph. Gas mileage goes from 16 down to 15. Just traded it at 130k miles for a 2013 3.0T S-Line Prestige and the dealer is going to swap the EBC to the new one. We'll see how it goes...