Does the breakaway brakes system require maintenance?

[shortcircuit]

[font size="3" face="comic sans ms"]F.Y.I.

My brakes draw 8-1/2 amps on the breakaway battery when activated.[/font]

[daplumbr]

fasteddieb, Do something immediately about the "hot skin" condition of your trailer. Something is not right and that is a potentially very dangerous situation. You may have "only" 12V AC now, but whatever is causing that may get worse, or be intermittent, or enough to shock you. Here's an article about the problem:

http://www.noshockzone.org/rv-electrical-safety-part-iv-–-hot-skin/

If you can't isolate the problem right away, using your meter and NOT your chin, unplug the shore power until you can get things fully tested. 

[fasteddieb]

Thanks.

My next step is to unplug and see if there's voltage between the ground wire of the extension cord and earth ground.

The outlet is in a boathouse fed by a breaker panel. The wiring all looks pretty old and kind of jury-rigged.

I'll take pictures.

[fasteddieb]

To avoid the hijack, spinning off to a new thread: "Hot Skin?".

[charliem]

[quote source="/post/10596/thread" timestamp="1431262889" author="@fasteddieb"]Thanks.

My next step is to unplug and see if there's voltage between the ground wire of the extension cord and earth ground.

The outlet is in a boathouse fed by a breaker panel. The wiring all looks pretty old and kind of jury-rigged.

I'll take pictures. [/quote][font size="3"]F. Eddie[/font],

[font size="3"]That may not be a conclusive test. The leakage path may be in the TT, therefore not present when you unplug. The leakage in the TT is normal and acceptable. The safety ground is supposed to protect against that, but appears not to in your case. If you have one of those cheap 3 light testers it should show the lack of ground fault. You could try to walk the line back, leaving the TT connected, and test at each connection, but that's difficult. Accessing the ground wire and testing to a real ground at each point would require creativity. If you disconnected the TT line where it first adapts to 15A and then run a continuity test to the house ground that  might work. Bottom line, when connected, the trailer frame should be solidly connected to the house ground stake.  Interesting problem.
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[fasteddieb]

As an on-topic update...

...my breakaway battery came up to 13.18v after charging overnight. Probably a good thing to check quarterly or before long trips.

And back home on our very long extension cord, frame to earth ground measured .5vac.  

I will still probably get in the habit of driving a ground stake regardless.

[gnies]

Similar thread for your reference

http://livinlite.proboards.com/thread/523/brake-battery

[whoofit]

I take it some of you don't have the same safety brake system as I do. Mine requires the large automotive battery and has no small one. This label is present on the hitch.  
http://rs1312.pbsrc.com/albums/t521/minuteman1965/Mobile%20Uploads/14317019499351200095377_zpso5qeql4a.jpg~320x480

[charliem]

[quote source="/post/10850/thread" timestamp="1431702453" author="@whoofit"]I take it some of you don't have the same safety brake system as I do. Mine requires the large automotive battery and has no small one. This label is present on the hitch.  
http://rs1312.pbsrc.com/albums/t521/minuteman1965/Mobile%20Uploads/14317019499351200095377_zpso5qeql4a.jpg~320x480[/quote][font size="3"]Apparently there is a variation in what comes out of the factory. You are better off with the main battery serving this purpose. It will stay charged from the converter and/or the TV. I will eventually connect mine that way too. I don't know why LL adds the small battery unless it's from their heritage of small bike haulers.  [/font]

[whoofit]

Sounds like it, Charlie. I like it this way but understand how the small battery version can be good too. One less thing to think about.

[peislander]

I received the Tekonsha Breakaway Battery Charger unit I had ordered to replace my factory supplied non-charging system that has a bad battery. Next task will be figuring out how to install it. The instructions assume you didn't already have a system. Likewise the video tutorial at eTrailer.com doesn't apply directly to my situation. I want to reuse the existing wiring if possible.

One noteworthy thing I see in the Tekonsha instructions is the recommendation that breakaway switches be replaced every three to five years. The switch Tekonsha provided is identical to the one already on the trailer -- so if you trust their advice you'll replace your switch every 3-5 years even if you don't upgrade your system. The Tekonsha unit also uses the same battery type as the non-charging unit installed by Livinlite. Regarding the battery they note it under normal conditions it has a service life of 4 to 5 years and that service life is considerably reduced if the battery is exposed to temperatures above 86-degrees F. They also note any charging should be limited to 1.2amps. Of course all this information is stuff that Livinlite should have provided. None of it is in my user manual or in the equipment product manuals they provided me when I purchased. 

[david]

I finally decided to look into the break away battery on my trailer. I bought the unit in early March last year and it may have been on the dealer's lot for several months before that, and who knows how long the battery sat in LL's stock before they built the unit. So I am figuring it was about 18-24 months old.

The battery was dead and read 9 volts. But when I pulled the break away switch and put the brake load on, it dropped to zero, as you would expect with a dead battery. I hooked it up to a 1 amp trickle charger and it jumped to 13.3 v but took almost no current. After an hour I disconnected the charger and the voltage immediately dropped to 11.7V. So it is toast.

I decided to buy a new one- $14 with free shipping on Amazon. I will try to take care of it better this time. I am not going to jumper it to the main battery as Charlie and I suggested. But I will hook it up to the converter to recharge once or twice each year. If it won't stay charged that way, then I will forget it and jumper the break away switch to the main DC buss in the junction box as Charlie suggested.

I will report at the end of the season how this worked out.

David

[tinkeringtechie]

My Camplite didn't come with a breakaway battery (though it has holes where it should have been). I suspect that the dealer took off for me and that's alright with me because I'd rather maintain and charge a single battery. But... my landscape trailer came with a nifty little unit that seems better than the stock LL backup battery:[a href="http://postimg.org/image/q9q5fxq6p/"]

[ammobob]

Looks like there are several types of replacements out there for around $40 with led indicators and charging systems built in. Etrailers and Amazon both have the Hopkins 20119 and installation seems simple enough. Tekomsha makes one too. They are made for RVs and work on single and duel axle trailers.

[charliem]

[quote timestamp="1432667579" author="@david" source="/post/11442/thread"]
The battery was dead and read 9 volts. But when I pulled the break away switch and put the brake load on, it dropped to zero, as you would expect with a dead battery. I hooked it up to a 1 amp trickle charger and it jumped to 13.3 v but took almost no current. After an hour I disconnected the charger and the voltage immediately dropped to 11.7V. So it is toast.

David[/quote][font size="3"]Sir,

I respectfully ask what do you have against toast? I, and many others, consider toast a part of our daily lives, especially when covered with butter, Garlic and Basil. I suggest that in the future you refer to such failures as having "gone South".

Yours truly from the Toast Appreciation Gestapo (HOA).
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