Tekonsha P3 Brake Controller Installed on 2017 Tacoma

EDIT 2026:

The display goes red on these controllers in about 5 years, The controller will still work. The Manufacturer is non-responsive. I tried to get mine repaired or replaced.

I've been using it with red display. There aren't a lot of choices out there for decent brake controllers. I paid $100 originally for mine, they're about $169 in 2026.

 

 

I'm pulling a Lance Travel Trailer Model 1985 with a "3rd Gen Tacoma".

 

Never towed anything before so I asked around and read a lot of reviews. 

 I saw a lot of 5 star ratings on this controller so I thought I'd give it a shot. 

I had it temporarily wired and velcro'd in until I found a spot where I'd be happy. 

The problem for me is, I'm 6'4" and none of the knee areas around the steering wheel worked for me.

I thought about the little utility compartment to the left of the steering wheel

but I found that it was sort of nice if the passenger (my wife) had access to the thing as well.

So I settled on the compartment above the cup holder under the panel of 1 ECT button

on my SR5.

Sorry I didn't get video of the installation but I was really trying to get it done

sort of quick. 

I've done a lot of electrical work on my job over the years so I had to use those skills here. 

To get the P3 in that compartment I had to buy the Toyota harness (3017-P)

and then splice in about a foot of wire to lengthen the harness. Fortunately, I was able to use the harness wires that came with the controller and just cut off the connector. 

Tried to do a nice job soldering and heat shrink tubing...

 Connecting the connector to the harness in the kick panel was really straight forward and can be found on Youtube. Then you have to run them over to the center console, in the panel above your knees. 

Not too difficult. The hard part was committing to drill a hole in the compartment. 

I thought the best spot would be in the triangular area in back. I also had to remove the pins from the connector and feed the individual wires thru a grommet. Write down what color wire goes to what pin... If you unplug the connector in the kick panel, there won't be power to them and they won't short out!.

I used a small length of split loom over the wires.

The device comes with a couple of mounting brackets, you can see which one I chose to use, here's a picture of the harness and the bracket...

 

 Then the controller plugs in and can be snapped in to the bracket.

Looks like this when finished...

I'm really happy with the way it came out.

You have to be a pretty good tech to pull this off and not get in a hurry. 

If you have any questions, you can send me an e-mail.

 

RV Covers again, National RV Covers 

DON'T ORDER FROM THESE GUYS UNLESS YOU'RE REALLY SURE WHAT YOU WANT. 
THEIR REFUND POLICY IS HORRIBLE!.

 

 I have a new Lance travel trailer now and I thought I'd try a different brand of cover this time. 

A friend told me he planned to try this place: National RV Covers

So I thought I'd give it a try too.

They're not crazy expensive but time will tell how they hold up. 

If they have the cover you want in stock, they ship fast and here in CA they will come in

a day or two. The place is near San Diego somewhere.

 The covers have some really nice features like straps to hold it down and zippers in all four corners also side zipper panel for door access. It has nice straps in the front and rear also.

They say 3 Year warranty but when I asked about it, it's not going to cover the wind ripping it or the UV from the sun destroying. Seems like they only cover it if the thing comes apart at the seems.

We'll see how long I can get out of it. I installed it June 16, 2018.  I'll post when It dies  ;-)

One (long) note of caution with this place, they say "Easy Returns" on their home page but I found it to be sort of a pain. 

Like most companies, they can suck the $ out of your account immediately but putting it back is not so easy. I made the mistake of assuming that the Lance info. on the trailer size was correct without measuring it. Lance says the "box" is 18ft but it turned out to be 20.

Originally, I bought an 18ft cover and it didn't fit. National said that sending a return authorization number would take two days, I finally got one in five. You also have to ship back at your expense and there's a restocking fee.  😕   This is no Amazon.

They got the cover back, June 19, 2018 and I haven't heard from them about a refund yet. 

 Today is June 24th. I'll edit the post when I get my money back. Refund Came July 9th, 3 weeks!!

Of coarse they didn't have the same cover I wanted in a 22ft so I ended up getting a 

more expensive version. Instead of the original $270, the new 22ft cover in the different version was about $350.

Instead of the "Expedition" I got the "Expedition S2". Don't ask me what the difference is, I can't tell. 

I needed to get something sort of quick before the really hot weather comes.

The larger 22ft size fits over the hitch on the 24ft OAL trailer. Here are a couple of pictures...

UP-DATE: This cover was pretty much killed by the sun/wind I threw it in the trash
9/20/19 I got a year and 3 months out of it. Pretty much like all the other cover places.

 

RV Roof Cleaning

If you plan to do this, take your time and watch your step up there!

Wear a good non-slip shoe.

The roof of my RV was a mess after I did some water sealing up there so I needed to wash it.

I bought the Dicor Rubber Roof Cleaner at an RV supply place. At the Lowes home improvement store, I got a large spray bottle and a stiff plastic bristle "deck brush".

I hosed off the roof and sprayed the cleaner on, starting at the front of the RV, about 3ft at a time.

then scrubbed pretty hard before hosing it off. 

It didn't seem to get all the scuff marks off but it gets a lot better then it was!.

About 1/2 way done...

Last of it...

BEFORE

AFTER

RV Rubber Roof Seal

If you plan to do this, take your time and watch your step up there!

Wear a good non-slip shoe.

It has been way too long since I did anything with the roof on my RV.

The rain and wind this year was much worse then previous years and if you see my post about the cover I had, you'll know I had some holes in it. 

Water was sitting on the roof and finally started seeping through in a couple of places. 

When I got a warm day with no rain I started working on sealing the leaking areas on the roof. 

There are some decent videos on-line about sealing the roof joints and that seems to be the easy part.

 First you have to determine what the roof material is. There seems to be 2 main types, EPDM and TPO. Fortunately, I found a single sheet about the roof in my owners documentation. 

My roof is TPO.  Evidently the EPDM has a black underside but I think you have to take off part of an inside ceiling vent fan to see that. 

The videos I watched said to clean the existing sealant with "mineral spirits" and the Lowes store near me no longer carries it. I got some Dicor Rubber Roof Cleaner. It's just like a soapy solution you put into a spray bottle. To clean the old sealant (which is now black) it takes a pretty hard bristle brush

or even a fine wire brush. Maybe the mineral spirits cleans it better/faster?

 

 This is what the old sealant looks like before cleaning...

This is what it looks like when you get it cleaned up

If you look closely at the after clean picture above, you can see where the sealant is cracked
and water can get in.
You have to buy the sealant for the type of roof you have. For the TPO you use:
Dicor 502-LSW Self Leveling Lap Sealant (WHITE).
Get it at an RV place or Amazon. I got a good deal on 4 tubes of the sealant at Amazon but one broke open in shipping and they gave me the order for free. It was a mess in the box. You can do just about everything on the Class 3 RV roof with 3 tubes but it doesn't hurt to have the extra one.

Then you just cut the tip off and put in your calking gun.
It's really easy to apply and you shouldn't try to spread it with anything. Just squirt it on and let it dry and settle overnight.
It really does "self level" nicely.

Here are a couple areas I did...
(I have to go back and wash the rest of the roof).

Trojan Batteries T-105 "Mileage Master"

Finally time to replace my auxiliary batteries. Man these things lasted a long time!.
Original batteries from 2003.
Was out recently dry camping at the beach and aux. batteries were reading low on the panel.
I ran the generator for a while and they came up but were low again the next morning.
So they weren't stone dead but I don't want to push my luck. I know they are charging
and I know the water level is high enough. So when I got back, I started looking around for some new ones. Seems like for a deep cycle, 6V battery these Trojan T-105's last pretty long so
I found a place that I could drive to and get some. I guess they don't call them "Mileage Masters"
anymore, just T-105.
They're pretty popular for golf cart use. The place I called said they had a "pallet" of them.
They range in price from about $130 to about $170.
Mine were about $155 each. I didn't want to have them shipped. I can imagine what the shipping cost would be, these thing are crazy heavy!
I got mine in Southern CA at a place called Battery Systems in Van Nuys.
As far as I can tell, they seem to have stores around the western U. S. states.
https://www.batterysystems.net/

 Out with the old...


 In with the new...

Adco RV Covers Revisited

I got a chance to try a custom fit cover from Adco. 

The short story is, I think this is the cover for Southern California weather.

The label says it's Tyvek, a Dupont material used in all kinds of things.
You have to work with the company to provide them with good dimensions for your RV.

It's white, so when it's hot out, it helps to keep things cool (relatively)

The winds out here were worse then normal this year. The cover has 5 underside straps for keeping it pretty snug.
     You have to pad sharp edges on your RV. 

No cover or tarp will survive rubbing against really sharp edges. 

I tie old t-shirts around high spots and sharp edges. Most other stuff falls off. 

     It has a zipper for door access and the flap that un-zips can be rolled up above the door and held with velcro straps.

Since I got this cover as a replacement for a previous one, I'm not sure what these
custom covers sell for. If it's $500 and lasts two or three times longer then a $300
one, you could save some $ in the long run.
I've had this one installed since December of 2013 and it's still pretty nice.
I have some wear in some areas I didn't pad too well but that's pretty much my fault.

Update: We had a lot of wind and rain in 2016 and this cover finally got too many holes in the top to
be much help anymore. I had to let it go around March of 2017, so it held up about 3 years and 3 months. Not too bad!. 

Onan Microquiet 4000 Generator won’t start, only buzzing sound.

I pushed the generator start button on my inside RV panel just before leaving for a week long trip.

The generator wouldn’t start, only a low buzzing could be heard coming from the generator.

I ended up going on the trip and experienced the same behavior at our campsite.

The friend who was with me was barbequing some food and he walked over while I was trying to start it and he whacked the solenoid on my generator with some tongs he had in his hand and the thing started right up.

I used the “hit it” technique until I got home and then looked for a place to buy a solenoid.

I ended up finding one for a decent price on anyrvparts.com I got the new part a couple days later, unfortunately it had a piece broken out of the corner.

I ended up gluing the piece on with JB Weld and using it. I sent a note to anyrvparts but never heard back anything. They use newspaper for packing material to ship, maybe a problem?

 

Part Number 307-2586  

Price with shipping & tax about $46

Anyway, pretty easy to install, just one bolt and the wire connections,

With the new solenoid, the generator starts up every time.