Emergency Breakaway Switch work?

[Rustic Eagle]

How often do you confirm that your FW, TT, HTT, etc., emergency breakaway switch actually works?? Decided to adjust my TT brakes today and found that my electric breakaway switch wasn't working

I have my TT wheel bearings packed and brakes checked/adjusted every two years......, the most recent was fall of 2016. The tech told me that everything looked great and was functioning properly.

I spend my winters in the warmer southern states so I decided to check the adjustment of my TT brakes today because I put over 4,000 miles on the TT this past winter and also had to increase the gain setting on my OEM brake controller.

Once I had my TT jacked up I would first check to confirm that the brakes were functioning properly on the drum/rim that I was about to adjust......., I did this by pulling the pin on the breakaway switch to see if the brake assembly in question would "lock" the drum/rim from turning. Well, the drum/rim didn't lock......, none of them did.

With a 12v circuit tester I found that my 12 year old emergency breakaway switch wasn't working. Installed a new breakaway switch and now all four drums/rims "lock" when the pin is pulled.

I don't know if my breakaway switch was defective when I had the brake system serviced last fall because there are other ways that a RV tech can confirm functionality of the brake magnets other then using the breakaway switch method as I did. I plan to contact the RV service facility and see if testing the breakaway switch is part of the brake system inspection.

New annual PM added to my list..., confirm that the breakaway switch works

Bob

[BCK]

Thanks for the reminder!

[Marcm157]

I usually check my breakaway switch at the beginning of the season, maybe once during the season and even less often at the end of the season...