Battery Emergency Brake Breakaway

Sorry, that is supposed to read

but is it likely just to be a case of recharging the power supply to the emergency brake?
not - it is likely

The breakaway system should charge when connected to the car and in some states you require an indicator in the cabin of the towing vehicle to show the charge status of the breakaway battery. Of course like any other battery when not in use it requires maintenance by charging on a regular basis or trickle charging.

You say it has been laid up for 12 months and I guess without being maintained so it is likely that the battery is dead. I would get the battery tested to see if it can be recovered and if it can - fully charged up or if not replaced.

In either case the battery will require maintenance when not in use.

Garry

Hi. I have a 2010 Sterling and when hooked up to 240v the Setec control unit charges the breakaway and the on board batteries together. There is a button on the breakaway controller that you push to tell the state of charge. Mine is under the lounge in where the Setec and house battery are. Bob.

From what I understand the emergency braking function in this application performs the same as the 'maxi brakes" on a semi but instead of air brakes the system energizes the electric trailer/caravan brakes in the event of a tow coupling failure that allows the towed vehicle to head off on its own. On our van the battery in the breakaway unit failed because it had never been wired to the battery charger that keeps the 'house' batteries up to speed. As these batteries are charged both from 240volts via the "smartcharger" when at home or from a generator or caravan park supply and an Anderson plug from the vehicle while being towed I have connected the emergency brakeaway unit to these batteries (2x 105ah AGM deep cycle). The original battery fitted to the emergency unit was a 7ah. Even if these 2 "house' batteries were only 1/2 charged (unlikely) they would still give the caravan brakes more than enough power for an emergency application.

Cheers
Pop