Problems with electric trailer brakes

Submitted: Monday, Apr 20, 2009 at 12:45
ThreadID: 68037 Views:6899 Replies:8 FollowUps:1
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I have a new trailer trailer that I bought a few months back. It is a 7x5, off road and weighs empty about 400kg.

It has electic brakes fitted but in my opinion they don't seem to work very well. When driving at about 40km with trailer empty and applying full power through the brake controller (it displays about 14V) I can feel the trailer drag back on the car a bit but not significantly and I can't lock the trailer wheels like the instructions with the controller suggest I should.

I think I should get much better braking than that as I have the controller set at full power when the trailer is empty, which means I cannot increase braking force as trialer load increases.

I have a Tekonsha Prodigy brake controller in the car wired with heavy cable and earth cable all the way back to the battery. When operating the override on the controller I get 12v at the connector (engine off) so I belive the car wiring is correct.

I get 10v at the trailer wheel if I put 12v across the pins in the plug.

The trailer also has a manual override coupling which when engaged is very effective so I deduce that the actual brakes work and it must be the electric activation that is the problem.

The manufacturer hass been of little help.

Can anyone tell what level of braking to expect with electric brakes and any ideas where else the problem may be?

Many thanks,

Chris
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