etrailer | Tekonsha ZCI Circuit Protected Vehicle Wiring Harness Installation - 2021 Tesla Model 3

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Full transcript: https://www.etrailer.com/tv-install-t...
Hey everybody, how's it going Today, we're gonna be going over and showing you how to install the ZCI Vehicle Protected Trailer Wiring Harness here on our 2021 Tesla Model 3. So what the ZCI here is gonna do is gonna provide us with a way to tow a trailer and it's gonna transfer the lights from the vehicle to the trailer. Now, this is not only a legal requirement in every state, also a lot of the times your trailers actually gonna block the taillights on your vehicle. So you still need a way to let other motorists out in the road know what signals we're gonna be making so we can arrive to our destination safe and sound. Now, in addition to the trailer wiring harness, you will need a couple other things such as a trailer hitch and a ball mount and hitch ball. We have plenty of these options here at etrailer to choose from.

So this kit here does have a 4-way trailer connector also known as a 4-pole trailer connector. So these are really great because they're gonna be the most basic type of trailer connector on the market. And chances are, the majority of trailers we're gonna be towing with our Tesla here are going to have this. You just simply transmit the brake and turn the signal circuits for either side, as well as the running lights. They don't have any of the extra stuff such as the electric break output or the battery charge line.

But those are typically only on larger trailers, and those actually require a seven-way. Now, if for some reason you find yourself to be towing one of those trailers with the Tesla here, you can still use this harness but you will need an adapter which we do sell here at etrailer. So as you can see that when we need to tow, we're just gonna be draping our trailer connector through the trunk there so we can attach it to our trailer. But when we're not towing it's actually gonna be stored inside the vehicle. And although, you may not like to drape it out the hatch there it's really the best option for this particular vehicle here, 'cause chances are you're not gonna be towing every day.

So keeping the trailer connector inside the vehicle where it's nice and protected, is gonna ensure you don't have any lighting issues down the road. We just simply coil it up. And then I like to just store under this panel here, just throw it in there, and then it's ready when we need it again. So what's great about this kit is that it doesn't require any splicing into the vehicle, whatsoever. So it's not gonna void any warranties or cause any problems with the vehicle's electric systems.

So there actually is no plug and play custom fit wiring harnesses for this vehicle. So you either have hard wire options or you have the ZCI kit here. And how this works is it actually uses a sensor that clamps around the wire. So it doesn't splice into it, whatsoever. And it's gonna pick up on the readings from that wire and then transmit that to the trailer. So overall, it's just gonna be a great way to tow a trailer, transmit the lights without having to make any modifications to your vehicle. So in regards to installation, it's pretty straightforward. It's not that bad at all. You really don't need a lot of complex tools for this at all either, just mostly common hand tools you're gonna need some way to strip and your crimp wire. So as long as you have one of those tools, you should be good. We're actually gonna do most of the hard stuff for you and that's testing the wire. So you know which circuits to tap into. But aside from that, the bulk of your installation is just gonna be running a wire from the rear of the vehicle to the front. It's not hard, it's just gonna take you some time. Let's go ahead and walk through that entire process step by step now. So first step of our installation, we need to open up the trunk on our vehicle here and we're gonna be removing this threshold panel. So this threshold panel's pretty easy to remove, just get your fingers underneath and pull it straight out. And now we'll go ahead and just remove our floor covering as well. Now, on either side here in the corner, you're gonna have a push pin fastener. Go ahead and take these out. Next, we're gonna start to peel back this little liner here. And the reason we're doing that is, we're gonna look inside here for our taillight plug which is gonna be located right here. So there's