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Old 01-22-2013, 10:39 AM   #1
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What is this?

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GPPH4_cbma...-53-21_348.jpg

this was connected into the umbilical wires but I am unsure what it is. I thought at first it was a battery for the breakaway switch but it is too light weight?
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Old 01-22-2013, 11:46 AM   #2
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My being a child of the 80's would lead me to assume it was a wired hockey puck... I'm guessing the wireless hockey puck dint really become popular til at least after wireless telephones were common.
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Old 01-22-2013, 12:52 PM   #3
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It looks a lot like one of those rotary battery disconnect switches, usually found on boats.

I've seen people who had their trailer's clearance lights wired into the house batteries somehow to add to their night display of party lights, etc. Might be the remnants of such a rig.

May have also been a way that an extra house battery could have been hooked up, or a small solar panel, though I agree the wire gauge looks a bit small.

I'd check it with a multimeter or test light and see what it is wired into. If you have no use for it, remove it back to the umbilical and seal the cable up as best as you can.

Christopher
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Old 01-22-2013, 01:01 PM   #4
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K H on the top looks like the logo of Kelsey Hayes, they used to make trailer brake components.

There is still a Hayes, I would guess that is what is left of K-H.

I don't recognize the item in the photo, though.

JD
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Old 01-22-2013, 01:26 PM   #5
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Maybe a junction box for the brakes.

Can we have any clues to what wires were hooked to it?
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Old 01-22-2013, 03:22 PM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Wazbro View Post
Maybe a junction box for the brakes.

Can we have any clues to what wires were hooked to it?
I wish I could but it was disconnected when I bought the trailer. the previous owner had already done some dismantling when I bought it.
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Old 01-22-2013, 05:17 PM   #7
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What is this?

Greetings dkrukosky!

Quote:
Originally Posted by dkrukosky View Post
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GPPH4_cbma...-53-21_348.jpg

this was connected into the umbilical wires but I am unsure what it is. I thought at first it was a battery for the breakaway switch but it is too light weight?

While I have never seen the exact device in the photo, I suspect that it may be a "variable resistance" device that mounted in-line with the trailer brakes that allowed the trailer's brakes to be dialed into the Kelsey-Hayes brake controller mounted on the dash of the tow vehicle. My first Nomad trailer in 1980 had a Kelsey-Hayes trailer brake controller that mounted on the tow vehicle dash with a direct fluid connection to the tow vehicle's brake master cylinder. The force with which the trailer brakes could be applied was controlled by a "variable resistor" that could be mounted on the trailer tongue or under the tow vehicle's hood (the trailer brake control box that mounted under the dash had no controls other than the lever to manually apply the trailer brakes). The device on my tow vehicle in 1980 was a rectangular device, but I suspect that there may have been multiple variants.

Good luck with your investigation!

Kevin

The variable resistance module can bee seen in the diagram of the Kelsey-Hayes Brake Controller Diagram in the illustration below:

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Old 01-22-2013, 06:26 PM   #8
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I found a sticker on the bottom that says how to wire it, three wires one +, one - and one to brakes. It also says TRU Track?
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Old 01-25-2013, 05:46 PM   #9
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What is this?

Greetings dkrukosky!

Quote:
Originally Posted by dkrukosky View Post
I found a sticker on the bottom that says how to wire it, three wires one +, one - and one to brakes. It also says TRU Track?
I seem to remember an old thread that discussed short-lived accessories installed on Airstream Trailers during the 1970s. Tru-Track was mentioned, and I believe that it was a form of early electronic sway control. It evidently wasn't well accepted as my memory is that it was only offered for one or two model years. I believe that it was in the same thread that discussed the accessory that pumped waste from the blackwater tank forward to be burned in the tow vehicle's exhaust. I tried a couple of quick searches but didn't have any success in locating the thread.

Kevin
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