Cooked??

[FreshAir]

Oh, please do not tell me that I cooked my electric brakes. Today I walked behind my pick-up and there hooked to my bumper was the cable and pin to my emergency AS brakes. It has been on the bumper for 5 days since I used the truck to position the AS in front of the garage. We had just returned from a few days camping. Did I do any damage? The battery was run down the following day but I guessed it was the 3 days of boondocking. I plugged into shore power and the battery is now recharged without the e-brake pin.

Neil.

[overlander63]

If you're REALLY lucky, you blew a fuse. I know I am not that lucky. Plug your 12v feed wire in your plug to the electric brake wire, and see if any of the brakes are making a humming sound, if so, they are working. If not, check the fuses. They shouldn't be wired that way, but they could be. If everything is good, and you have no hum, and a small compass doesn't point at the wheels with power applied, you probably have fried the magnets. If everything works, but the breakaway switch, you got lucky and toasted the switch, and a new one is relatively cheap.

[Jim & Susan]

Vintage Trailer Supply has the breakawy switch on sale right now for around $13.00, IIRC. Lets hope it's nothing too serious.

Jim

[FreshAir]

Originally Posted by anholman

Oh, please do not tell me that I cooked my electric brakes. Today I walked behind my pick-up and there hooked to my bumper was the cable and pin to my emergency AS brakes. It has been on the bumper for 5 days since I used the truck to position the AS in front of the garage. We had just returned from a few days camping. Did I do any damage? The battery was run down the following day but I guessed it was the 3 days of boondocking. I plugged into shore power and the battery is now recharged without the e-brake pin.

Neil.

I just tested my brake magnets as suggested by overlander63. I found a compass and activated the brakes but as I approached the wheels I could hear the humming even with my hearing aids volume low. So that is a relief. I thought then to test the break-away switch. I pulled the pin but no sound was coming from the wheels. That switch was either fried or did not ever work. I will pick up and install a new one. Thanks for the help.
Neil.

[azflycaster]

What luck! A bad breakaway switch saved your brake magnets.

[TIMEMACHINE]

Thanks,

The lesson here is that we should check our brake switches regularly. Anholman was lucky for two reasons, he didnt fry his brakes and he didnt have an emergency that needed a working brake switch.

John

[FreshAir]

Originally Posted by anholman

I just tested my brake magnets as suggested by overlander63. I found a compass and activated the brakes but as I approached the wheels I could hear the humming even with my hearing aids volume low. So that is a relief. I thought then to test the break-away switch. I pulled the pin but no sound was coming from the wheels. That switch was either fried or did not ever work. I will pick up and install a new one. Thanks for the help.
Neil.

I removed the 'faulty' breakaway switch to discover that its lead wire was severed where it begins to disappear into the trailer tongue. It was hanging by it's insulation and appeared normal until I touched it. I removed the switch and tested it. It works! What a strange chain of events. So, lesson learned. Everyone, check those switches as religiously as you check your smoke detectors.
Neil.