I think I dodged a bullet

DocBrown · 06-27-2017, 09:31 AM

Coming home yesterday from the UP. About an hour from home we made a bathroom stop. Got back on the freeway, pouring rain, windy, bad piece of road, very bouncy. I felt a sudden lunge and the rig slowed down, I saw nothing on the dashboard. Pulled over and the brake controller was blank then said NC (no connection). Got out looked at my connections everything looked good. Unplugged the connector and plugged it back in just for grins. Got back in the truck and the controller was connected again. Pulled out and everything seemed fine.

Got home about 2:30 PM, unhitched and discovered the breakaway cable had released. I didn't see it earlier because it's so small. In theory the brakes should have stayed locked but they didn't. Not having a clear understanding of how this works I still wasn't overly concerned. About 5:00 PM I went out to the trailer to put something away and went to turn the light on and no lights. Battery went dead because of the breakaway getting pulled. I really don't know how long the battery was dead. I disconnected the battery for now.

When we got home I didn't hear the magnets engaged when unloading.

What's odd is that it must have drained the battery almost instantly. I did put the key back in breakaway box this morning. I'll probably plug it in tonight and get the battery charged. Bad battery maybe? It's 4 years old but it's been holding a charge just fine. Is there anything else I need to be looking at?

Thanks!

Doug · 06-27-2017, 09:38 AM

I would thing bad or weak battery as well.
Didn't lock breaks up hard enough or long enough for you to notice.

D.

**norty1** · 06-27-2017, 10:18 AM

Hard to say w/o some info. Get the battery tested at a auto store. Make sure you hear the magnets engage when the pin is pulled with a charged battery.

If not check voltage at the wheel behind the brake assembly.

Did you notice any problems braking before this happened? If they were working as they are supposed to, you should have felt them slow you up or maybe lock up depending on how heavy your rig is.

DocBrown · 06-27-2017, 10:27 AM

It definitely slowed us down so yes I noticed. It was like a hard jerk and at first I thought it was a drive train failure of some sort. That's why I pulled over. Brakes seemed fine both before and after the incident. When we got to our subdivision I even checked the manual operation and they seemed fine.

I can test the battery myself. It didn't occur to me until this morning that it could be the battery, but I'm at work now so I'll have to check later.

Thanks!

Jagiven · 06-27-2017, 10:49 AM

I am surprised you were able to drive home with the E-brakes engaged. Are you sure something else might have happened along the road? Then accidently pulled the e-brake cable as you were unhooking??

The reason I say this is a few years back, we were following my parents, who where towing their TT on a two lane county road. A farmer had is big irrigation system setup wrong and the big impulse sprinkler on the end unit was spraying the road. My parents drove through it. The water spray/jet, engaged the E-Brakes and the TT came to a stop, right then and there. Tire smoke was everywhere, immediately I know what had to have happened, my DW had no clue. We rest the brakes and we were on the road a gain. They lost a lot of tread and had very flat spots on all four tires. No way could they have driven any distance with the brakes engaged.

mike837go · 06-27-2017, 10:56 AM

Sounds like the e-brake wiped your battery in the time it took to pull over and give things a good looking over.

However, you seem to have a rather more insidious issue... "the brakes seemed to work OK for the rest of the trip"... with the breakaway pulled and the battery dead, your brake controller was sending pulses to the magnets AND your trailer's battery.

To keep things safe, I'd be looking at a new battery, breakaway switch and careful inspection of all wiring and magnets in the braking system.

SkyBound · 06-27-2017, 11:02 AM

I had the breakaway pin come out once while maneuvering my trailer at a crawl. It locked the trailer brakes up instantly and pulled the truck to a halt. The trailer brake breakaway system should be much stronger than what yours displayed.

mike837go · 06-27-2017, 11:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SkyBound

I had the breakaway pin come out once while maneuvering my trailer at a crawl. It locked the trailer brakes up instantly and pulled the truck to a halt. The trailer brake breakaway system should be much stronger than what yours displayed.

Yeah, X2 on the breakaway should have had a bigger impact.

Doc, you've got an electrical open in the breakaway circutry. Something fried by the side of the road in the rain.

jasum · 06-27-2017, 11:25 AM

IF your trailer brakes need adjusted, I can see where your trailer would roll ok and brakes NOT lockup like should happen when breakaway switch is pulled.

I jacked my trailer really hard in a campground and all of a sudden it was like the trailer was pulling really hard. My brakes grabbed but did NOT lock up when the pin was pulled. (My brakes needed adjusted)

If they had been adjusted correctly, they would have locked up.

Are you positive you didn't do something similar and not realize it??

DocBrown · 06-28-2017, 07:07 AM

I appreciate all the input. A lot of good things to consider.

It is probable the brakes need adjusting. I haven't touched them since June of 2013 right after we got the trailer.

Last night I re-connected the battery and it had a at least a partial charge. I plugged it in to fully charge the battery and will test it on the weekend when I have more time. I'm already figuring on having to get a new battery.

My dad keeps his trailer in front of ours so I won't be able to hook it up and test the brakes out until the weekend.

I'm starting to wonder if that pin only partially pulled and temporarily set the brakes, then fully came out when I backed the trailer in. Still a mystery and probably always will be.

Jagiven · 06-28-2017, 07:21 AM

Doc, I assume you have not touched the brakes since you got home. Have you had the battery checked yet? If you still have the old battery.

Connect the truck up, without connecting the 7pin (no supplemental power from the AUX connector). Pull the e-brake cable, to engage the brakes. See if you can move the HTT, without dragging it, this will let you know if the brakes are working properly. If they are fully engaged, then, walk away for a while. Come back periodically and do a pull test again, and repeat until the battery wears down and you can pull the htt, or until the battery voltage reaches 12Volts (don't want to damage a battery). I would probably check the battery voltage as you test.

It will not hurt the brakes by having the e-brake cable pulled and left on. I have done it a few times, once, someone just pulled the cable while in the driveway. I have no clue how many days it was engaged. Another time I engaged them at a campsite that was on a maga hill, to ensure we would not roll down the hill. We also kept the safety chains connected to the camper.

I am still running the oem battery in my 2012 htt, but I did have to replace my spare 2013 dated deep cycle battery this spring. The OEM battery is on the HTT and the HTT is always plugged in at home. The spare battery sits in the garage and I periodically put the trickle charger on it. This battery only comes with when we boondock. I check the water in both batteries at the same time.

The battery could be old and very week, and lost its charge rapidly.

God luck, let us know what you find out.

DocBrown · 06-28-2017, 09:07 AM

That's a great idea JA, I'll add that to my testing over the weekend. I appreciate what you said about pulling the pin. Some have made it seem like I can burn out the magnets by having the pin out too long.

Haven't tested the battery yet, no time until the weekend.

When all is said and done my biggest concern is that I have at least some brakes to slow the trailer down. We're going for a 3 night weekend only about 2 1/2 hours in a couple of weeks. After that I'll have more time to get them adjusted.

Dustdevil · 06-28-2017, 09:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mike837go

Sounds like the e-brake wiped your battery in the time it took to pull over and give things a good looking over.

However, you seem to have a rather more insidious issue... "the brakes seemed to work OK for the rest of the trip"... with the breakaway pulled and the battery dead, your brake controller was sending pulses to the magnets AND your trailer's battery.

To keep things safe, I'd be looking at a new battery, breakaway switch and careful inspection of all wiring and magnets in the braking system.

This was my first reaction, also. Breakaway key is pulled, switch closes, full battery amps delivered to the trailer brakes, hence the surge. Battery is weak, so full amp surge only lasts a short time. Breakaway engagement is undiscovered, but the charge wire is pumping 13.6 into the trailer battery, and the brake controller is driving the trailer brakes through the 7 pin connection, and trying to also recharge the battery, since the breakaway is still a closed circuit. So, trailer brakes appear to be working, although weak. Upon parking, trailer brakes are still drawing on a nearly dead battery, but are so weak they can't have much effect. So, trailer parks ok. By next morning, battery has been discharged to zero, and is likely a dead player. Key goes back in the breakaway, but it's too late.

**norty1** · 06-28-2017, 09:16 AM

That may be a good idea in a pinch but I would not want to put that load on a battery for very long.

Agree that you should know immediately if the brakes are locked up. I would still look at a having a load test on the battery and a brake adjust on all 4 brake assemblies.

DocBrown · 07-03-2017, 07:16 AM

Here's what I discovered. Brakes are for the most part fine. They do need adjustment but not much. I can lock them up on boost with the brake controller lever.

Battery is weak but not alarming so. About 13 volts. I've always thought a battery should be 14.2 or so, but after doing some reading on deep cycle batteries I'm finding that 12.7v. is a fully charged battery. So I'm not too concerned at this point. However I have not gone back to it and tested it after sitting for a while. I checked it on Sat. I'll check it again tonight or tomorrow.

Pull the pin on the breakaway switch with only the battery connected and there is no juice going to the brakes. I did not check the voltage reading between the breakaway box and the brakes. I was running out of time.

No melted or damaged wires anywhere.

Even so this all leads me to believe the breakaway box failed. These are cheap and pretty generic. I have one on order. Should arrive today.

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