If you have a camper or van with electric brakes, this will interest you, and probably applies to all brands of brake controllers.
We had a Tekonsha Voyager brake unit, and it worked
well on all the units we owned over the years.
On the latest van, with tandem
wheels, it was a bit erratic, so we bought the Prodigy – the best unit they make.
The Prodigy installed simply, and with the van on the driveway it behaved exactly as per the manual, when using the manual lever on the unit, or with the brake pedal.
When rolling backwards, or driving backwards, it performed exactly as per the manual, with both the manual lever or the brake pedal.
But, as soon as you drive forward, the van had no brakes, and the unit gave error codes.
A quick check on the Internet gave the suggestion – check the wires inside the hubs.
I sent a question to Tekonsha – who were very quick to reply – and they gave the same advice.
Taking the wheel and hub off – a quick look inside – and the wires appeared fine.
Grabbed one of the wires and turned it over, and sure enough, the insulation had been rubbed off exposing the wires – which would be shorting out when power is applied.
The wires inside the hubs are clipped onto the brake actuator arm, which is a rectangular length of steel (ie sharp edges).
As the magnet is energized, it moves pulling the wires – which rub on one edge of the arm, eventually wearing the insulation away – an inevitable fault.
Now here is the issue – the standard model brake controller will just keep pouring the power in, perhaps causing the insulation to catch fire. The newer (electronic) model simply refuses to work, and just gives error codes.
Just glad it didn't first happen going down the
Toowoomba range or similar.
So – a word of wisdom – pull off the hubs on your Van or camper and take a careful look at the brake wires.
.........................................Keith
nb - with the wire fixed, the prodigy has worked brilliantly, and I will now be checking all 4
wheels.