Caravan breakaway safety brake

This may help.

http://www.rvelectronics.com.au/files/files/5_Breaksafe-Fitting-Instructions.pdf

Yes, Mike you need to ensure battery is in a good and charged state as part of your pre travel and regular maintenance while travelling. Some have their own very small battery, whereas others in caravans like ours are connected to the battery bank which is charged by solar panels, so we are always aware of the state of our batteries.

The pin is very easy to pull to test it, but it will flatten its battery if left out. The pin can be pushed back again, but i find this hard to do and have to call on my husband to push it in.

We have had accidental pulling of the pin on a couple of occasions - a sort of inadvertent testing O: !

The cable should be connected to the tow vehicle separate to the tow bar, but this is not always practical and may expose the cable to accidental pulling of the pin while travelling. It should also be a suitable length to pull readily if the van detaches. The cable should be in good condition so replace if it shows signs of wear or rust. On our first big trip after purchasing our caravan second hand, the cable broke without pulling the pin when the tow bar broke. Fortunately the safety chains did their job.

Motherhen

The pin can become brittle over time and break when trying to pull it out or re-inset it.

To give it a helping hand, after you pull the pin, give the inside of the unit a quick spray with wd40 or inox. this will help the pin to slide a little easier and keep the contacts clean and rustfree.

What make is it There is usually a unit in a forward cupboard somewhere.

A common make is a Breaksafe 5000.

These have a separate battery which charges off pin 2 from your car.

You should check that Pin 2 has 12 volt on it and not reversing lights as some have.
If not change it over Not hard to do just find a permanent 12 volt down the back of the car.

The unit has its own trickle charger built in.
As already said you can pull the pin to test it but watch as it comes out as it only goes in one way.

ALWAYS connect it to a different part of the car than the towbar.

Mine is connected to a ring on the chassis which is completely on its own so should the towbar fall off the car the van will stop.

The requiremnt is for it to lock the brakes on for 15 mins so be aware if connected to your house battery and someone walks past and accidentally hooks the cable and pulls the pin out you will ruin your batteries and probably burn out the magnets in the brakes.

If you do not have a battery in the van (most vans today have one to power the 12v lights etc) then the breakaway switch won't do anything anyway.
If the van has come away from the tow vehicle to activate the breakaway switch, the 7 pin connector will have been disconnected as well so you can not rely on the vehicle battery.