Trailer Brake

[RClark]

I thought I had a problem. Picked up my trailer after it set since Oct. Batteries were down so used the truck at high idle to get enough battery to air up the tires, fill the air suspension and hookup. Started out and had minimal braking at max. Before I ran at 5. Since the dealer had run a lot of flashes while doing a emissions recall I was ready to blame them. The closer I got to home the better the brakes worked. Conclusion, the disk brake unit need a full or near full battery to work. I had what I needed within 8 miles.

 

[Bob4x4]

Letting batteries get that low shortens their life.Since I upgraded the solar on the airstream along with a better solar controller system and also upgraded the onboard trailer covertor no more battery problems.

 

[Newsa]

Letting batteries get that low shortens their life.Since I upgraded the solar on the airstream along with a better solar controller system and also upgraded the onboard trailer covertor no more battery problems.

Airstream is going to Mars! Charge those batteries!



ihttps://www.airstream.com/blog/airstreams-project-mars-rover/ng

 

[jelag]

Bob4x4 and Sag2.... Has anything been done to improve the charging of a trailer battery system.... my last truck(05), I finally ran a 10 gauge fused wire from the battery to the trailer plug to get the charging voltage close to what the engine batteries were seeing.... before the Mod I'd start in the a.m. towing with the trailer batteries at 40% or so and by the end of the day they were maybe close to 65 - 70% and after the Mod maybe 80%... I now have a nice 13 Laramie Longhorn and am wondering if I'm going to need to make the same mod... We often travel in cold weather where we have a large electrical load at night... and a large battery pack...

 

[Bob4x4]

Still the same.My 94 did not come with the tow pkg so I wired it all from scratch.I used a large gauge wire for the power ckt. The question remains how much amperage is the 7 way connector good for?? I had a 4 way,commercial 7 way,and a 7 way rv to cover all my bases with out adapters

 

[jelag]

Bob... I also put a 10 gauge wire in the RV from the battery + & - to the trailer plug, and I can get within .3 or .4 on a digital voltmeter between the trailer batteries and the truck..... of course the issue has always been the ECM reading the battery temperature and cutting back the charging voltage.... when the charging voltage drops below 13.6 or 13.7 the trailer batteries just stop charging... they will hold their own and not discharge with the circuits that are always powered.... but I just don't get ahead and often have to start the gen set at night to continue to charge the batteries..... of course... if the batteries were at 85-90% running the gen set wouldn't be an issue...

 

[richardcoxid]

Occasionally after sitting all winter the brake drum and/or the brake armature in the drum will acquire a thin layer of corrosion (rust) that will give you the impression that the brakes aren't working. However after a few miles of driving and applying the brakes occasionally the rust will be worn off and the brakes will operate OK.

 

[jhenderson]

Not the issue here. The OP has elect/hyd disc brakes.

 

[AussieRam]

Cale size and "smart" alternators

Hi Jim, some ideas on this problem. First the wiring size - I have always used 6AWG (13.5mm2) good quality cable and run both positive and negative cables via an Anderson Plug (50amp rated) to connect to my caravan. This gives lower voltage drop and will run within 0.1 to 0.2 volts difference to the van. This is run separate to the 7 pin plug for lights and indicators etc. On the caravan side also the same cabling to the battery pack (3x 120 amphr AGM deep cycle batteries). This had worked well for 12 years running a Toyota Landcruiser 100 series. File attached with a more technical explanation. I have recently changed over to a Ram Truck, and have wired it up the same. I also have an additional 120 amphr AGM deep cycle battery in the truck to run accessories such as Engel Fridge, without having to use the cranking batteries. To account for the ECM managed alternator, I have added a relay and DC/DC charger into the circuit. Some details on this can be found at
https://www.baintech.com.au/can-i-use-a-ctek-d250s-dual-in-a-vehicle-with-a-smart-alternator This will maintain the correct voltage and current for charging the battery regardless of the input voltage. I have checked this running 13.8v from the alternator with 14.5v input to the additional battery and then to the connection to the caravan. Still to test how well it goes recharging batteries while traveling, but heading off shortly for a 3 month trip "out bush".
regards Trevor