braking controller inside caravan.
Submitted: Monday, Jul 01, 2013 at 09:54
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cj, wid & the rugrats
Hello caravanning guru's.
We are hiring a caravan(jayco expanda) and are planning a little interstate trip. We have installed a tekonsha brake system to our '10 pajero. Apparently the caravan we are planning to hire has the brake controller inside the caravan. We installed the brake controller before we heard about this set-up. After some investigation we heard this set-up could be illegal? Having said that, we would really like to be able to control the caravan brakes from inside the cab(adjustments and park brake as
well as emergency braking).
Any info or experiences please?
thanks
Reply By: Nomadic Navara - Monday, Jul 01, 2013 at 10:40
Monday, Jul 01, 2013 at 10:40
There are some brake controllers that have the main guts of the controller buried in the trailer and a small radio linked remote control in the cab of the tug. Tekonsha have this sort of set-up but it is not available in Oz (probably something to do with the radio frequency not compatible with our bands.) The other one I know of is the Redarc unit. For preference I would not use this one as it is nao a proportional type.
They may have fitted one of those Redarc units in the van and will give you a remote to carry with you. You may need power fed to pin 2 of your trailer socket for it to work. If not and they are taking the power for it from an internal battery then if the battery gets a little flat then you will not have brakes. Not a good situation.
If you have a good proportional controller in your tug I suggest you get them to revert the van to standard brake wiring whilst you have the van. You will have much better van brakes if you get this done.
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Reply By: The Bantam - Monday, Jul 01, 2013 at 23:31
Monday, Jul 01, 2013 at 23:31
It is all to common to see trailers fitted with the controller in the trailer or on the drawbar.
to put it frankly...this is piss @#%$ poor
The other issue with these controllers fitted in or on the trailers is that are almost without exception cheap non enertia operated controllers that provide only a fixed amount of braking effort.
If the trailer you are hiring is a relativly small unit and you don't expect much of the braking system...it will probably be fine......it would not be for me.
It should be a relatively straight forward matter to bypass the controler in or on the trailer, the problem iis the trailer probably will not be wired properly for electric brakes, they will almost certainly be running off the brake light circuit in the trailer plug.
if all this sounds rough.....damn straight....but there are thousands of trailers on the roads like this.
Seriously, I'd be looking for a trailer that will work with a proper controler
cheers
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