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I recently purchased a C-Max Energi for the purpose of towing all wheels down behind my motor home. The owners manual tells you how to set the car up for RV towing but nothing about what to use for assisted braking  

Now it seam I am having  problems finding the right braking systems to place in the cabin since the energi also has regenerating brakes. Most state laws require assisted braking for vehicle being towed. I have talked to Ford dealer they have no clue and depending on what RV dealer they all have their own opinion.

Has anyone set one up for RV towing? What brand are you using?

dlan603

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The Ford and the RV dealers you have talked to are idiots.

 

Look at your wheels and you'll see conventional hydraulically actuated disc brakes at each wheel position.  These brakes are what stop the vehicle at low speeds or the engine is off or when the regeneration isn't enough to provide the required deceleration.

 

Almost any commercially available auxiliary brake system will work.  Lots of us are towing our CMax's successfully.  If you can't install the system yourself, find an RV dealer and tell them to forget they're working on a hybrid and pretend it is a Focus or Escape.

 

Since the engine on these cars isn't always running, vacuum is supplied to the brake booster by an electrically driven vacuum pump.  When towing with the ignition off, this pump will run the battery down in about 2-3 hours.  No one has found an easy way to disconnect this pump for towing, so you will need to add a charge line connecting your motorhome battery to the CMax battery.  This is no big deal and most cars need charge line anyway.  The battery is buried under the rear floor so the easiest place to connect this line is under the hood where there is a post for attaching jumper cables. Check your owner's manual for the location.

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I would like to thank you both for the help. Sometime back  I purchased a complete tow package from a friend that was getting out of the motorhome going back to trailer towing.

It was all Roadmaster items including a Break Buddy 9300 model. So now I will do some more research to see if this new enough to use. 

Looking forward to going down the road! 

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I use a ReadyBrake.  Nice simple system, no electronics.  Works great.

 

But, I can't imagine why the 9300 system wouldn't work too.  I know that when the CMax was first released some of the auxiliary brake system manufacturers were telling people that their systems wouldn't work on a Hybrid car.  Turns out they were mostly wrong.  

 

If I were you, I'd ask Roadmaster to explain why they think the 9300 won't work on a CMax.  There's a reasonable chance they are just plain wrong.  

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I use a ReadyBrake.  Nice simple system, no electronics.  Works great.

 

But, I can't imagine why the 9300 system wouldn't work too.  I know that when the CMax was first released some of the auxiliary brake system manufacturers were telling people that their systems wouldn't work on a Hybrid car.  Turns out they were mostly wrong.  

 

If I were you, I'd ask Roadmaster to explain why they think the 9300 won't work on a CMax.  There's a reasonable chance they are just plain wrong.  

After you first post you got me think about the make up of this car. I am mechanically incline and I thank you for replying. I am going to do some testing the weekend. I think i know why most report dead batteries after 2-3 hours because of the electric vaccum pump running.

I am in the kinded mode where I can't see why the 9300 won't work.

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That's the spirit, don't take anything at face value.

 

It's interesting that if you look on Roadmaster's web site they have a chart which says that the Invisibrake is not recommended for the CMax.

 

ETrailer shows the Roadmaster 9400 as OK for for the CMax and it looks just like the 9300.

 

Who knows? I still say with the engine off, the CMax is just another hydraulically braked car and just about any system that fits can be used on it.

 

In addition to the vacuum pump, there is other stuff which apparently uses up battery power when the engine is off but the system is in the accessory mode (not turned off completely).  Simplest solution is a charge line which will be needed anyway because for anything but the ReadyBrake, the auxiliary brake system will run down the battery anyway without a charge line.

Edited by jmckinley
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That's the spirit, don't take anything at face value.

 

It's interesting that if you look on Roadmaster's web site they have a chart which says that the Invisibrake is not recommended for the CMax.

 

ETrailer shows the Roadmaster 9400 as OK for for the CMax and it looks just like the 9300.

 

Who knows? I still say with the engine off, the CMax is just another hydraulically braked car and just about any system that fits can be used on it.

 

In addition to the vacuum pump, there is other stuff which apparently uses up battery power when the engine is off but the system is in the accessory mode (not turned off completely).  Simplest solution is a charge line which will be needed anyway because for anything but the ReadyBrake, the auxiliary brake system will run down the battery anyway without a charge line.

Thank you for the help. I will be doing some test looking and studying the car manuals.   I will let you know the out come. I never heard of the ready brake and have been looking at them also as and alternative.

Have a great weekend.

Edited by dlan603
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