How To Install HBA-CAM Hydrastar Adapter

Updated 10/02/2025 | Published 08/15/2021

Question:

Greetings, After watching your you tube video concerning the installation on the Solitude I was a bit confused. In this video it is recommended to install a circuit breaker item 9510 which is a 40 amp circuit breaker. Would it be due to the double battery set up. Mine is a single battery 12v system The wires on the HBA-CAM unit are 12 ga wires which appears to rated for a maximum of 20 amps. Is the circuit breaker too large therefore potentially allowing more amperage overload or shall I opt for a 20 amp circuit breaker? Please clarify. Thanks in advance for your time and patience.

asked by: Floyd G

Helpful Expert Reply:

As you can see on the attached photo, the wiring diagram for the actuator shows there can be a 25-40 amp circuit breaker in-line with the black wiring which goes from the battery's positive terminal to power the actuator. This is actually only powering the unit, not the HydraStar Adapter # HBA-CAM. The adapter only gets signal from the blue brake output wire which is only a few amps, so 10 or 12 gauge wiring is fine.

That said, the diagram I attached is for the older 4-wire setup and this updated 2-wire design does not require that. You would simply connect the blue wire to your brake controller's blue output wire and connect the white wire to white ground wire. See demonstration video.

expert reply by: Andrew N

Hydrastar Adapter
(click to enlarge)

Donny C.

10/2/2025

These instructions and schematic have been sitting on my desk for a while and something about it wasn't quite right. I believe the original poster was correct. If the wires comng out of the HBA-CAM are in fact 12 ga and if they are rated for 20A then a 30A circuit breaker isn't going to do anything. The wire will melt before tripping the breaker. And to your point of adding another circuit breaker, a modern tow vehicle will no doubt have a fuse for that circuit. While circuit protection is important, having too many is just confusing. An older vehicle without a fused circuit will need circuit protection. Also your statement is incorrect, "the wiring diagram for HydraStar Adapter # HBA-CAM shows there can be a 25-40 amp circuit breaker in-line". The wiring diagram shows a "+12V/25-40+ amp circuit from tow vehicle" This note only identifies the circuit. There is no mention of a circuit breaker. I hope this comment helps and I'm not just being a Karen or the posting police. Don

Andrew N.

10/2/2025

@DonnyC Hey there. I get what you're saying, but Hydrastar designs these to work together so I trust that they chose the correct wiring for it. Also, in reality, you will never see 30A on a brake controller output wire (the blue wire that the # HBA-CAM ties into when connecting to the actuator). This is usually only a few amps, and 10 or 12 gauge wire is perfectly safe :). I think the confusion is stemming from the pic above where it shows 25-40A. That is only for the wiring powering the actuator, not actually going to the # HBA-CAM.