Bummer overnight camp

[kjohn73]

Yesterday I got the big idea to haul the 197 out to a gravel pit and stay overnight. I smoked a few gophers and had supper, sat and read for a while, then went to bed and listened to a good book. Sometime in the early wee hours, the warning panel doohinkey down near the floor under the fridge started beeping, every 40 seconds. Oh boy! Find my reading glasses, find the flashlight, hunker down and read the tiny wee printing.

I figured it said "power low" or something to that effect. I happened to have my iPad charging on a small inverter I had wired in. I turned it off and the beeping stopped. Okay. That's rather odd, seeing as I have two big deep cycle batteries and the TT has been plugged in at home for two weeks or more. Back to bed.

A bit later, the panel starts beeping steady. What now!?! Get the reading glasses, get the flashlight, hunker down. Ah...propane is low. Well, can't do much about that now. Fridge will be cold enough to last until a reasonable hour. Beeping stops. Batteries are dead. Good. Back to bed.

When I finally did roust out, I went outside and found the little brake safety cable pulled out, laying on the ground. There had been an early morning visit from the local cattle herd, and one of them must have pulled the cable out.

Now for the sixty-four dollar question. Would the cable being pulled out cause the brakes to be applied for the whole time? I am presuming the setup works, so it should, right? Would that be enough draw to drain two big batteries?

[kjohn73]

Well, I can see why JAYCO hasn't phoned to offer me the head troubleshooter's job. I just checked the propane tanks. ONE tank was empty. I opened the other one and flipped the little selector valve over...VOILA!!! Propane flows again!! Sheesh. That just leaves the dead batteries mystery.

[Denise]

LOLOL... great story well told (loved the humor!).

I had a problem once with my emergency brake cable thingy being pulled out and the brakes did remain locked. Battery didn't drain as I was on shore power. Hope the cattle behave tonight and you sleep well

[Jagiven]

If you have a clamp on amp meter you can pull the cable and measure the amps at the battery.

A number of years ago, I was following my parent’s through farm country. A farmer’s irrigation system was sprinkling/spraying the highway as my parent’s drove through it. The water yanked the cable and locked their brakes at 55 mph.

[bayleightucker]

Perhaps smoking those gophers had something to do with you hearing strange beeping noises in the middle of the night.....happy camping!

[RedHorse1]

It's my belief that pulling the emergency brake pin will cause the brakes to activate until the pin is returned or you run completely out of power. Probably roughly equivalent to leaving the headlights, stereo and A/C fan running in the TV overnight (engine off).
Gophers huh? I'd say your original problem was too many or too few.

[Terry]

Yes, your brakes were applied until the battery went dead. Not good for your brakes or your battery - but you are probably good. Next time you hitch up, I would manually activate your brakes and make sure they are still performing fine.

[Mister Twister]

I would do a quick check of the brakes also. After being actuated for long period of time those actuators must have gotten real hot. You could have possibly damaged one or both....

Good luck hope all is ok.

[Old Blue]

I dont think that there would be anything worng with your brakes yes they were applied but the wheels were not moving therefore the pads were just touching the drums. when brakes are pushed or when the pin is pulled 12 volts goes to a magnet that then moves and brakes are applied you could have hurt a magnet or two but that is a easy fix just pull wheel then then pull the brake drum off and you will have access to the magnet .

[Seann45]

YES the safety brake being pulled will kill your batteries. You might want to think about replacing the device as the contacts can burn out being used and they might not work when you really need it.. This according to one of the mechanics at the shop I deal with.

[RoyBraddy]

Each BRAKE MAGNET will draw around 3AMPS DC from trailer battery when the emergency brakes have been activated. That will be 6AMPS for a single axle (two wheels) or 12AMPS for dual axle (four wheels)...

Hopefully your batteries survived ok as it is very hard on the deep cycle batteries to get discharged below their 50% or around 12.0VDC levels.

I do alot of camping off the power grid and watch my batteries very close from inside the camper using this homemade three meter panel that looks at the DC VOLTS for my two battery banks as well as how much DC CURRENT is being drawn by the trailer systems. Keeps me out of trouble big time... Always got to have a PLAN B...


However after saying this my electric brakes are probably directly wired to my battery bank and I would not see current being drawn if my electric brakes were activated on this meter. I would however see my DC VOLTS dropping like a rock however hehe...

Roy Ken

[kjohn73]

Brakes seem to work fine, either with truck application or controller application. The original el cheapo tires didn't do so well on the 6000+ km trip to Whitehorse and back, though. I will need to look for some tires of better quality. We gave that poor trailer a pretty good ride behind the old Sub!

[Threebutchers]

Thanks for the update....I was curious how you made out.

[Florida Camper]

Side note: clamp on ammeters do not read DC current only AC. Any measurement you get on DC is incorrect