Tow trailer brakes

[burgiebill]

Will the trailer brakes activate when stationary? Or do they need to be going a certain speed. Mine don’t work when stationary.

[madmaxmutt]

Originally Posted by burgiebill

Will the trailer brakes activate when stationary? Or do they need to be going a certain speed. Mine don’t work when stationary.

In a quiet area, you should be able to hear the magnets when someone depresses the tow vehicle brakes. Do this with the vehicle off, but the key turned. They are not parking brakes, though.

[burgiebill]

Originally Posted by madmaxmutt

In a quiet area, you should be able to hear the magnets when someone depresses the tow vehicle brakes. Do this with the vehicle off, but the key turned. They are not parking brakes, though.

I did just that. No sounds. I did find a couple wireS mice got to but don’t think from the diagram they we involved.im check them tomorrow, thanks

[Nature Ist]

Electric trailer brakes operate when the magnets receive an electric current which activates the magnet, it is then pulled against the drum by that magnetic pull, it then causes the arm it is attached to pull outward with centrifugal force which puts pressure on the brake shoes. This requires the wheels to be in motion. The centrifugal force will not be present unless the wheels are rotating.
As stated above, if you listen carefully, you may be able to hear the sound of the magnets being activated when someone in the tow vehicle manually applies the brake controller. It may be a clicking sound; once applied you can sometimes hear a humming from the magnets.
If you were asking because you wanted to know if they will act as a parking brake, the answer is NO, they cannot be relied upon for that purpose. The easiest way to check is to tow the unit slowly and apply the brakes manually, you should feel them pulling back. To do this, you can also increase the gain on the controller setting to apply more braking power. The brakes should stop you from a very slow "walking" speed when you operate the manual control

[namusmc65]

What I did was jack one wheel off the ground at a time, spin the wheel and apply brakes. They should come to a stop fairly quickly. Then you can adjust them if need be.

[Jagiven]

It depends on your brake controller. My old controller, always applied a lot of power to the brakes. Not uncommon for me to lock up my TT brakes, especially on loose soil.

My new P3, is well programmed proportional controller. At higher speeds I can feel them kick in. At low speeds like pulling out of my driveway, the brakes never lock up. They always did with the old controller. I have never lifted a tire to confirm, the still apply power to the brakes, I assume they do, just enough to stop me, and hold my position.

[Scott91370]

On mine I can squeeze the brake lever and let off the truck brake pedal and the trailer brakes are applied not letting me move.
So yes, on my trucks/trailer they do work when stationary.

[us71na]

Pull the pin from the emergency break away switch. The brakes should come on if there is a battery connected.

[Nature Ist]

Some important points that need to be understood: when your electric brakes receive current while the vehicle is stationary they will likely make some clicking or humming noise, but the actual brake function does not apply the brakes to the extent of any holding power unless the vehicle is put in motion by the tow vehicle. Even if you lock the brakes by engaging them while in motion, as soon as you take your foot off the brake pedal or release the manual brake controller, the magnets will release and the brake shoes will disengage. This is why you can never rely on the electric brakes as a parking brake. If you pull the emergency breakaway cable the safety switch will apply full power to the brakes, but you should not leave the safety breakaway switch engaged for very long, and certainly never to act as a parking brake. Not only would that drain your battery, but there have been many cases where current caused the wires to overheat if left activated too long. The wires can, and will, burn out, which could be a fire hazard.

[hummy]

Nature knows his stuff! He's right on with his comments

[MIKE_JAYCO_22RB]

Are Jayco Feather TT electric brakes only on the driver's side brake drums or all four wheels?

I ask because on my 2023 Jay Feather 22RB only the driver side trailer brakes appear to be wired. The passenger side brakes are not wired but have capped pig tail connectors coming from each of those two brake plates.

[stinger608]

Originally Posted by MIKE_JAYCO_22RB

Are Jayco Feather TT electric brakes only on the driver's side brake drums or all four wheels?

I ask because on my 2023 Jay Feather 22RB only the driver side trailer brakes appear to be wired. The passenger side brakes are not wired but have capped pig tail connectors coming from each of those two brake plates.

If your trailer is still under warranty, call the dealer!!!

The factory "forgot" to wire up the passenger side. Both sides should have brakes wired.

[MIKE_JAYCO_22RB]

Thanks

[Nature Ist]

The wires feeding the brakes come through the underbelly on the driver's side, then go through the axle to the passenger's side. The capped connections should show 2 leads connected. If you look closely you should be able to see wires coming out of the axle on near each wheel, they should be connected to the leads the go into the brake backing plates on each wheel.
A closeup photo in the post would be helpful if you cannot determine yourself.

[MIKE_JAYCO_22RB]

Thanks for the quick response. Unfortunately I failed to take any photos when I saw this issue.

The trailer is now at the dealership for verification of the issue and to be fixed if necessary.

[bankr63]

Originally Posted by Jagiven

It depends on your brake controller. My old controller, always applied a lot of power to the brakes. Not uncommon for me to lock up my TT brakes, especially on loose soil.

My new P3, is well programmed proportional controller. At higher speeds I can feel them kick in. At low speeds like pulling out of my driveway, the brakes never lock up. They always did with the old controller. I have never lifted a tire to confirm, the still apply power to the brakes, I assume they do, just enough to stop me, and hold my position.

Originally Posted by Scott91370

On mine I can squeeze the brake lever and let off the truck brake pedal and the trailer brakes are applied not letting me move.
So yes, on my trucks/trailer they do work when stationary.

I just wanted to confirm HOW you are applying your brakes. As @Jagiven notes, a proportional brake controller is speed sensitive and if the trailer is not moving, will not apply any power to the trailer brakes IF you hit the brake pedal in the TV. As @Scott91370 notes, if you pull the lever on the controller itself it will apply power regardless of speed.

This is true only of proportional controllers. Less expensive controllers apply the full voltage of the setting when the brake pedal is engaged possibly with a bit of delay if the controller has that control.

Easy to confirm if you have a display on the controller. My Nissan controller (which is actually the Prodigy P3 - someone at Nissan forgot to take the logo off the chart in the manual) has a display that shows how much force is applied. Stopping at a light it will slowly drop the power until it is at 0.0 when I am standing still. If I hit the lever while standing still, the output will rise to whatever the max is set to.