electric trailer brakes

grizz02 · Oct 9, 2019

bought a used deckover tandem axle trailer I put fresh electric brakes on it complete new units , wired it up and nothing , no humming , no stopping , I spent part of a day trying to figure it out , went on line and found out there is a break in period on the magnets , you must pull it at 40mph then using the over ride slow it down to 20 mph , rinse and repeat up to 30 times , well it worked brakes now stop fine , just thought I would pass this along

kcm.MN · Oct 9, 2019

That sounds crazy!

Is that normal??

morepower02 · Oct 9, 2019

(quoted from post at 19:24:53 10/09/19) That sounds crazy!

Is that normal??

No. Not in the least.

TGP · Oct 9, 2019

That is not crazy.

There are articles in service manuals, and on trailer parts web sites that say the same thing.

It's called burnishing the service.

Tom

Bob Harvey · Oct 9, 2019

I spent a couple of hours supervising the 2 guys that are in charge of launching and de-launching my clients sailboat. The starboard trailer brake was seized. As far as I know, the brake system has never been used - duh. Nice fellas, but had absolutely no clue how to fix. With my instructions (and a trip home to get some tools - 10Kms.) We (me not getting my hands dirty - OK a little) got the job done - sorta - the son was directed to put the wheel back on - he went ahead, BUT, he had the nuts on the wrong way. Hey ! I get paid for this shirt.

Hobo,NC · Oct 9, 2019

I understand breaking in the brake linings BUT the magnets should apply the shoes... I always jack the wheels up if it locks the wheel when I override it then its good to go...

You just put new brakes on it the trailer is jacked up you use a battery to apply them are back a truck up to it what am I missing...

mjbrown · Oct 9, 2019

Perhaps to take up adjustment? Either
mechanical or electronic learning?
I drove trailers with electric brakes for
decades and I never had to do that.

jon f mn · Oct 10, 2019

Never heard of that either,
but could have been rust on
the drums that needed to be
cleaned off.

Geo-TH,In · Oct 10, 2019

"OHM, OHM, OHM ON THE RANGE"
My electric brake magnets have 4 ohms each.
4 ohms in parallel = 1 ohm

Get the ohm meter out and measure resistance.

use a 12v battery and connect it to brakes, should get 12 amps.

I used an extension cord, which has an extra layer of protection, to run new wires to my brakes.

The brake adjustment, on my trailer, are mechanical. I need to check the adjustment. Trailer wants to pull truck sideways a little under heavy braking.

My brake controler has a digital readout. Under normal braking 2v is enough. 4-5v is hard braking.

John T · Oct 10, 2019

It makes sense to break in, smooth out and seat and remove any rust or contaminants from the mechanical components (including face of the magnets) but, of course the electro magnets themselves don't require a break in period. When a new set of pads or rotors are installed on conventional brakes a similar occurrence (initial break in, smoothing and seating and rust or glaze removal) takes place and I see how the same can take place on electric/magnet trailer brakes, NOT A PROBLEM.

John T

Leroy · Oct 10, 2019

Never heard of something like that either. Put complete new assemblys on trailer that did not have brakes before and nothing like that. Never heard a sound on the magnets on any of 6 different trailers with brakes. Butthey do have to be adjusted when put on like any other brake. Sounds like they were not adjusted when put on and took the magnets that long to bring them into adjustment. And one poster that said rust, should be no rust on new drums to have to get cleaned off.

grizz02 · Oct 10, 2019

no rust brand new units , and adjusted up tight then backed off a couple of clicks , LOOK IT UP, I did and educated my self , I was just trying to help others that might run into the same problem , I was not asking for uninformed opinions

sotxbill · Oct 10, 2019

(quoted from post at 06:04:16 10/10/19) "OHM, OHM, OHM ON THE RANGE"
My electric brake magnets have 4 ohms each.
4 ohms in parallel = 1 ohm

Get the ohm meter out and measure resistance.

use a 12v battery and connect it to brakes, should get 12 amps.

I used an extension cord, which has an extra layer of protection, to run new wires to my brakes.

The brake adjustment, on my trailer, are mechanical. I need to check the adjustment. Trailer wants to pull truck sideways a little under heavy braking.

My brake controler has a digital readout. Under normal braking 2v is enough. 4-5v is hard braking.

iirc.....

my dexter brakes are a smidgen less than 3 ohms per magnet. Meaning that two in parallel will show around 1.4 ohms for one axle.... and then with two axles in parallel will measure less than one ohm. Add a bit of wire resistance and your pretty close to one ohm. '' on the GD10k dually axles on my gooseneck.

RobCons · Oct 10, 2019

Its a standard thing for self adjusting brakes. When installing you should adjust them to where they strart scrapping. Assemble and use. The self adjusting mechanism will do the rest in the first several stops. The automatic adjuster works in forward travel not reverse.

electric trailer brakes

grizz02

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kcm.MN

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morepower02

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TGP

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Bob Harvey

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Hobo,NC

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mjbrown

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jon f mn

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Geo-TH,In

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John T

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Leroy

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grizz02

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sotxbill

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RobCons

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