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Flat Brake Battery


Mr Wato

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Hi to all

Can anyone help with the breakaway battery charging system ????

I have had the van plugged in full a couple of days now and the 12v switch for the brake battery on, but the battery still seems to be flat....

I am supposed to be going over the pits tommorro to licence it... Hope they dont check the breakaway brakes !!!

any help would be great

thanks Phil

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Hi Phil,

Don't have my van as yet, patiently waiting for December so winging it a bit here.

You have not said if it was ever charging, most common cause would be no 12v supply to the charging pin of the caravan/trailer socket of the car (pin 2 on 7 pin plugs, black wire designated as reversing light but should have been connected for charging when the brake controller was fitted to your vehicle. I don't believe you need to operate any switches on the breakaway controller to initiate the charging.

It may be possible that the breakaway battery will only charge when the vehicle ignition key is on Acc. or On (running), not really too sure, a tester on pin 2 of the vehicle will cear that up.

It is also entirely possible that the breakaway controller is connected to the caravan's 12v system to get its' charge circuit, but that does not seem to be the case. A quick check of where the wiring goes will answer that.

Best of luck, I'm sure it will be tested over the pits.

John :thumbsup:

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Hi Phil,

Check owners manual that came with van, the battery should be replaced every two years. Easy to replace & available from Dick Smith's or Tandy for about $50

CU down the road

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Hi Phil,

I've just had to replace my battery spent all last trip away trying to charge it off the van batteries and still no good decided for around $35 from Jaycar in the Gabba was easier to get a new one.

King.

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Hi all

thanks for info

the van is brand new only towed from the truck depot home..... bought a new battery anyway but has still not fixed the problem... spoke to Tom at Kedron all a bit confused... on going... i think there is a prob with breakaway charge system..

Anyway got it licenced today and fitted brand new private number plate which reads OUR SHACK

heading south tomorro for the weekend just to try out the mattress... ok and the fridge

cheers Phil

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I`m remembering I had a problem with our breakaway not charging, traced it to a missing wire in the tow vehicles trailer plug that charges the batteryfor the break away unit :confused: !

Rick.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Phil,

We had the breakaway battery go flat on our van (only 12 months old) for no reason, caused all sorts of problems to brake controller. Had an auto electrician look at it at Longreach couldn't find anything wrong except the battery was flat. Charged battery and all has been well since. Use a loww amp charger to the red and black terminals on breakaway unit. When the battery was recharged the problems with the controller dissapeared. I occasionally put the charger on the unit if we are not mobile for awhile.

Bill.

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I had to replace my breakaway battery when we were in Darwin, battery flat & as dead as a dodo.

Whilst fitting new battery refered to owners manual, I believe that my unit has possibly been incorrectly wired at the factory.

I have made up a short fused jumper lead to go from the breakaway control unit 'charging point' to the nearest AGM battery....all good now....will have wiring checked when next at Brendale.

Hope this helps

CU down the road

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We had this problem also Tony and fixed it in the same way you did. All good now, although I believe Breakaway don't recommend wiring direct to the house battery.

Pays to check on this little unit every now and then.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Tony,

I don't think there is anything wrong with wiring the brakesafe to the house batteries other than if the pin is pulled accidently the brakes will be activated for as long as there is charge in the battery. The small battery is used in the unit as it will go flat in about 15 - 20 minutes and not cook the magnets in the brakes.

Bill.

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HI all

I had a problem with brake controler and rang the manufactures in Adelaide. I was going to connect directly to the house batteries and was told that if the switch is pulled out the batteries will supply power for long enough to cause fire in the magnets (approx 1-11/2 hours)

Lionel

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That makes a lot of sense Lionel.

I imagine it must draw a fairly high current, so if it doesn't cause a fire it will probably flatten the batteries in a pretty short time. Some bright spark may think it's funny to go pulling the switch on vans as a joke or you may inadvertently pull it out and having a 15 minute power supply seems the safer option. Previously I thought it was a good idea to hook it up to the main batteries but I won't be doing it now. :thumbsup:

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Hi

I had the same problem a flat battery and was having a whinge to my brother (a phoenix owner) he advised that the breakaway battery is charged from the tug and it was a common problem if the van has been sitting idle for some time as mine was.

I charged the battery and all is ok, :pray: but I now keep an eye on it.

I guess as with all batteries the older it is the less charge it holds.

Bryan :thumbsup:

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