Camper trailer electric brakes, proving they work disconnected from the vehicle.

My Prodigy does the same sometimes Usually dirty pins or loose wires in the connector between car and trailer.


Pays to dismantle connecors and retighten screws every 6 months or so as they do loosen

The only snags I've had to troubleshoot in the same setup were.....1. Loose pins in the connection plugs (as Graham said) - in mine, one brass screw was rolling around in the male connector and providing an intermittent fault. 2. Dodgy magnet - it was probably 80% worn, but had a faulty circuit within - once I put new magnets on, that issue was well fixed - no $ harm, seeing that they would have been required soon anyway. Can't recall the exact error readout. It was a brake specialist that tipped me off to the latter issue - makes sense, re the absolute thrashing that such un-suspended componentry would get on terrain such as corrugations.

Hi Darian / Graham,
Great information, thanks. What do "worn magnets" look like? I bought the camper trailer a while ago now, I know the trailer has done some klms despite being in great condition, the shoes are worn and a bit scored due to dirt / gravel / dust ingress so I'm suspecting that replacing them would be a good start. I'll check the electrical connector again, all the pins seem to be OK, the screws are all tight this was what I checked first, all the lights work etc.
I was wondering if the voltage at the pin increased up to the car voltage, not sure if the voltage starts at zero and increases with the amount of braking effort applied to the vehicle brakes because of the way the Tekonsha brake controller works. If I applied the straight 12 volts to the pin would the brakes lock seeing it's the full voltage?
Thanks to both people who have replied so far, great stuff.

Hi
As everyone has stated, check your connector first, we had problems with the Indicator Lights on the Van, they would work intermittently, I was allways checking the Bulbs ect, had the Test Light out checking the Square Plug on the vehicle, and couldn't find the problem,then I was reading where a bloke had a similar problem and he used a small screw driver to spread the Male Plugs on the Caravan Connector just enough to make them a snug fit, thats all it took to fix my problem.

Cheers

Martyn

Since I have had the Patrol, and had a Tekonsha Prodigy fitted, I have had nothing but trouble.. ie never know if the trailer brakes work or dont work..
Kinda got them going, after sooking to the autolec, who installed then.. he came around and did a lift the back wheel of the CT, and rolled the tyre test..
When I had the Navara, the same autolec fitted a Voyager, and once I tuned it, it was simply brilliant .. Same CT... makes me wonder ??????

I had basically replaced everything on the CT.. before the trip..
Kinda didn't help when I smashed the plug to bits, on the Gibb River Road, late August. .. I repaired things at Drysdale River Station, but they were basically non existant from then on till I got back to Alice, on the return trip..

I had also drowned the plug with diesel, for 1/2 hr driving out from Kunawaratji, as I passed flashing lights on the controller as a loose plug, but our long range fuel tank had schyte itself.. thought that the shorting may have caused the Prodigy to die.. but it still seems to only 1/2 work...


As you can see, I have had a bit of trouble, with the electrics..

Once home I simply could not get brakes at all, so I made the decision to replace the main power wire from the rear of the controller, to the plug, and also from the plug to the magnets. I rechecked the earth back to the battery that I powered the controller from..
Have also replaced the magnets..

Now I have sort of got brakes..

Next step is to try another controller..
I have not run a bypass wire to the magnets, thanks to the opthers for the tip !

Wish me luck,... I suppose I have something to be gratefull for.. as I have had something to do on my days off work .. hehehehe

Cheers
Bucky

Hi Forumites,
Progress after last night, I checked the magnet by putting 12 v onto the correct pin in the socket, I attached a small screw driver to the magnet and it stayed in place, I then removed the power and the screw driver fell off, so from that I deduce that the circuit on the nearside wheel is good, worn but good.
I checked the pin on the vehicle, ignition on and pressure on the brake pedal, I put a wooden block to keep the pedal depressed whilst I checked the voltage at the trailer connection socket, yeap I have 12V so now I've spread the pins a bit and when I get everything back together I'll connect one to the other. Mind you I do like the idea of having a 4 meter cable with a socket and a plug on it to check with the trailer and vehicle disconnected, that's a great idea, thanks ior that.

Had electric brakes on the trak shack, ended up removing them, as the coanstant off road use flogged out the cross in the magnet where it is mounted and the tolerences differenece can either lock up a wheel or not work to its max performance. Now only use the mechanical overide, which were also fitted from factory, and now can adust the brakes in the cable without having to jack up a wheel and adjust the shoes. Col