Hi folks, I am a briskoda newbie (this is my 1^st post) and I hope that someone can help me with a query about towbar electrics. Apologies for the long post, but I am hoping it helps make clear what I am needing help with.

The key issue is the integration of the towbar electrics with the car alarm i.e. the car alarm needs to go off if armed when the trailer plug is pulled out. The car is a 2 litre diesel Octavia 3 estate. As far as I am aware, the car doesn’t have any towbar prep from the factory. The installer that I am having a dialogue with (installer recommended by Skoda) has recommended the car specific Westfalia wiring loom which he says is the same wiring loom that Skoda fit at the factory. He is saying that he is not sure if the car alarm can be configured to sound the alarm with this loom (the handbook that came with the car mentions the trailer alarm so I am wondering if a different trailer loom is required). He continues to investigate, but has no solution so far… hence this request. The alarm function is very important to me and hence I will only have the towbar/electrics installed by someone who can commit to the alarm working with the trailer.

 I would really like help with these 2 questions:

1)      Has anyone had a Westfalia car specific wiring loom fitted to an Octavia III (not fitted at the factory) and had the car programmed to sound the alarm when the trailer plug is pulled out ? If so, do you know what has to be programmed to achieve this ?

2)      Does anyone know of a Skoda recommended towbar installer in the Hampshire/Berkshire/Surrey area who has successfully installed 13 pin towbar electrics with all of the trailer integration functionality specified by Skoda working correctly including the integration with the car alarm ?

I have already done a search of briskoda and found some related threads but not the specific answers.

Thanks in anticipation of some help

Mine was done by an aftermarket guy use by City Skoda of Basingstoke whom have since gone tits up.

 

I'll try & find out whom did it for them but, the bottom line is getting the coding done then you'll get all the trailer features which are well worth having.

Quote

I used the car specific Westfalia wiring loom and programmed it using VCDS ( & posted instructions on Briskoda). I can confirm that the car alarm goes off if the trailer plug is disconnected when the car is locked.

 

Edited 28 April, 20179 yr by pncarrerars

14 hours ago, themanwithnoaim said:

Mine was done by an aftermarket guy use by City Skoda of Basingstoke whom have since gone tits up.

 

I'll try & find out whom did it for them but, the bottom line is getting the coding done then you'll get all the trailer features which are well worth having.

Thanks very much, I sure would be interested which towbar installer was able to do the full coding job including the alarm integration. Did you buy your car without the factory towbar prep i.e. the installer had to do everything from scratch ? I have seen some posts wondering if the factory towbar prep adds something special (hardware/software ?)  for the alarm integration to be coded by aftermarket installers.

Towbar prep puts a socket down near the back of the car to make it easier to fit the towbar wiring without needing to run wires to the front of the car. This is why there is a wiring kit for cars with or without the prep. Coding will be the same with either and included the alarm monitoring for the trailer wiring when the trailer is plugged in. This works the same as the test to make sure that the light bulbs are working. Note that you may have issues if using LED lights on your trailer.

 

the coding does other stuff as well, including changing the engine mapping and safety systems when it detects the trailer is connected.

5 hours ago, pncarrerars said:

 

Thanks very much for the info + link to your detailed VCDS instructions. I have just spoken to the installer and he uses the software provided by Westfalia to do the coding and it appears that the Westfalia software does not activate the integration of the trailer with the car alarm. Unless there are some hardware differences in the Westfalia wiring kits available, I would assume that if VCDS was used to do the coding after using the Westfalia software,then the car alarm would work with the trailer.

1 hour ago, Superb Smartie said:

Towbar prep puts a socket down near the back of the car to make it easier to fit the towbar wiring without needing to run wires to the front of the car. This is why there is a wiring kit for cars with or without the prep. Coding will be the same with either and included the alarm monitoring for the trailer wiring when the trailer is plugged in. This works the same as the test to make sure that the light bulbs are working. Note that you may have issues if using LED lights on your trailer.

 

the coding does other stuff as well, including changing the engine mapping and safety systems when it detects the trailer is connected.

Thanks very much for the info, based on this it looks like even though I don't have the factory towbar prep, then I should still be able to have the alarm integration (as well as the other goodies as well)

You should be able to get the whole trailer software system to work just, not sure how it is enabled either VCDS or VAGcom

 

I'll try to see if AndyV can help, he had a full scan of my car.

1 minute ago, themanwithnoaim said:

You should be able to get the whole trailer software system to work just, not sure how it is enabled either VCDS or VAGcom

 

I'll try to see if AndyV can help, he had a full scan of my car.

Thanks very much, it is looking like VCDS/VAGcom software is needed in order to code the full functionality (including the alarm integration) and hence if an installer only has the Westfalia software,then they probably are not going to be able to configure the alarm to work with the trailer. The Westfalia software apparently allows specific bits to be coded that are outside the standard menu options but this would be risky. The car is still under warranty, hence I am keen that a Skoda recommended installer does all of the coding. It looks like I need a Skoda recommended installer who uses the VCDS/VAGcom software for the coding.

I would expect the Westfalia kit to code the car correctly as they are the OEM manufacturer of the parts supplied by Skoda. There is nothing to specifically code the car to alarm when the trailer is disconnected. It just happens as a byproduct of coding the car for trailer electrics fitted. If the alarm does not work then the car has not been coded correctly.

Edited 28 April, 20179 yr by pncarrerars

Thanks for the feedback. I had a long chat with the installer and he is using the standard Westfalia hardware + Westfalia configuratrion software (the software is produced by a 3rd party and it isn't VCDS). It is looking more and more like the Westfalia software is missing one of the key coding steps. I have sent the installer your very detailed VCDS config steps (thansk very much for documenting those so well). I am hoping that he can compare the 2 sets of coding in order to identify which coding step is missing. Westfalia have said to him that yes they are the OEM supplier to Skoda but what they supply to the factory might be a bit different to what they supply to the aftermarket... I guess that could help explain why the factory trailer/alarm integration works. I would assume that the Skoda factory use their own config software and not the Westfalia software for the coding. If there isn't some magic bit of hardware/wiring missing from the Westfalia kits that the installer uses then it must be a missing config step(s). The ideal solution would be for the installer to find a way to  identify and apply the missing coding step but unfortunately he doesn't use VCDS.

The list of VCDS MODS ( 1 of the threads sticky noted at the top of the list) has the offical trailer wiring loom coding all detailed

Thanks very much, that sure will be useful.