Electric break problem !

hi bucky,

i had the same problem some time ago, we had a small fleet of off road hire campers and thay all started to do the things you discribe. to cut a long story short it was traced to faulty earthing of the brake controlers, once the controlers were re earthed to the trailers we never had another problem, (the controlers were mounted on the trailers ).
i hope this helps you, good luck !

johno.

Hi unlike the previous writer you only have one trailer so if I were you I would install the controller in your vehicle but as previously mention good wiring is a premium. Do not rely on any body parts as returns (earth). All wiring is to be continuous and of a heavy enough gauge to carry the current

How old is the brake control unit. There was a batch of faulty Voyagers a while back, but I think the main indicator of a faulty unit was the brake lights activating when the brakes weren't activated - even when just sitting in the driveway.

Derek may be able to shed some light, he deals with them. I changed my Voyager over to a Prodigy, very happy with it. I changed it cos I was curious what everyone raved about, not cos I had a problem with it. It is still giving good service to a mate of mine.

Dave

Make sure you have a good earth wire to plug (5mm) and is earthed to chassis good
Cheers
Charlie

This was happening on a friends new pioneer trailer using a Hayman Reece brake controller.

The problem was fixed by adjusting the brakes in the trailer - they had bedded in and had too much clearance, we think it was causing them to get stuck on the cam and locking on.

His electrics are a bit haywire as well, his rig has had many alterations and is a bit of an electrical nightmare, but while it works he won't fix it.

When I wired mine up, I ran 5mm wire from controller to the brakes, with a 5mm return earth to the vehicle battery, giving a complete circuit. the trailer is additionally earthed throught the anderson plug which feeds the Camper battery, and this is 8 b&s cable again from front to back. No reliance on chassis earth at all, and have had no problems at all.

some weird experts here - the brake shoes in an alko setup are only the handbrake, or can be used for manual override.

The electric braking is done by the magnet running on the face of the drum, not the shoes on the rim..........

to those who corrected me, I thank you - not trying to be a smart arse here, just learning like everyone else.

I'll be having words with my local alko rep who, two weeks ago - sold me the maintenance kit for my trailer - and gave me the aforementioned misinformation.
"You won't need shoes mate, they only work when the park brake is engaged - only the magnets do any work"????

I thought going straight to the manufacturer to get the right information would have been enough - perhaps not.

Once again thanks, I've learn't more off this thread than from the blokes who sell the stuff.

C.J.

Hi i have a T/S as well and took the electric brakes of all together and use the mechanical cable system already fitted. I found that where the brakes fit into the magnet gets flogged out and cannot be adjusted out. Also have had problems with stones getting into the drum through the air vent facing forward and have solved the prob by fittiing a mud flap the full width on the back of the wagon. Have spoken to T/S about this to see if they have a disc break set up but no luck Col

Bucky,

You may have a couple of problems here. One of 'em, the brake shoes, will be fixed when you re-grind the drums and get oversize shoes. But bear in mind, one of the biggest causes of brakes locking up, grabbing etc is badly adjusted brake shoes. If the brake lining is not kept right up to the brake drum, the brakes, when applied, tend to come on slowly and relatively ineffectively in the first half second or so . Then, due to the "self-wrapping action" of the brake shoe and it's lining, the lining is "dragged" in to the drum with much greater force than it should be normally. This "self-wrapping" action happens very suddenly and can be vicious. It literally "slams the brakes" for you. It also wears down the leading edge of the brake lining a lot more than the other, trailing edge. Well adjusted, but worn, linings will show a pretty even lining surface. One that hasn't been adjusted regularly will taper off at one end, the leading edge - that's where the "self-wrapping" has been occurring. "Self-wrapping action" is also known as "Self-servo action".

So when you've had the brakes done, make sure you keep on top of the brake adjustment.

Note: It is possible to recover the brake linings if they have suffered as described above by constantly adjusting 'em so that the lining is running right next to the drum all the time. But it's a pain doing this all the time and it takes months to get the linings right again.

I've read your description of how the Tekonsha is mounted and it appears to be in to much of a horizontal plane. However your description isn't too good here. Is the Tekonsha more horizontal than vertical? i.e, is almost lying down rather than almost standing up? If it's the former case, then I reckon the controller is incorrectly mounted and that could be adding to your problem. There is a limit to how 'how flat' the Tekonsha can be monuted. I THINK it's 75 degrees, but I'm not sure. I'll have to check. I also remember that the Voyager is more sensitive to its mounting plane than the later Tekonsha Prodigy. I've used both and not a prob with either but I reckon the Prodigy is the best of the two. It seems to be more progressive and adjustable than the Voyager.

Hope this helps.

I'll try find the manual for mine and get back on here if you still need it. Let us know how you go.

Bilbo