actibrake on 1988 Excella AS

[okeejohn1]

The other morning as I was leaving the house, I heard a loud humming noise from my actibrake(sealed unit with brake fluid). When I looked at it, it was hot to touch.I killed the power and the noise went away.I examined the brake away and realized from my father (93 years old who I bought the trailer from 2 years ago) said that the brake away was the original. What was more disturbing is the wires are connected with wire caps and potentially exposed to the environment over the years. My question are thee following:

1.Could the brake away be faulty and caused the humming noise by engaging the brake system while the AS was sitting in the drive way?

2.If so, I'm not sure how long the brake system was on for but it was hot! Could there be damage? I am going to replace the brake away switch this week.

[Action]

Originally Posted by okeejohn1

1.Could the brake away be faulty and caused the humming noise by engaging the brake system while the AS was sitting in the drive way?

2.If so, I'm not sure how long the brake system was on for but it was hot! Could there be damage? I am going to replace the brake away switch this week.

1) Yes if there is a good battery in the trailer.
2) May be.

Be prepaired to recharge the battery(ies) in the trailer.
Also you would want to test the service brake operation and the new breakaway switch operation.

Connecting wires with wire caps is an accepted practice. Typically if there are wire caps the compoenant (in this case a breakway switch) may have already been replaced at one point since the trailer was new. You can use wire caps (or wire nuts) and my suggestion would be to seal them with a liquid sealer and then wrap with electrical tape after installation. Or use butt connectors with heat shrink tubing for the same result.

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