I have a Brake Safe 5000 Series system fitted to my caravan. On testing its operation three days ago, prior to taking off on a trip, pulling the pin from the A-frame switch failed to activate the brakes and lights. The battery test showed it had a low charge. I took the battery out of the box installed inside the front boot of the caravan to recharge the battery. When fully charged, I reinstalled the battery in its box and clipped on the front cover of the box.
On pressing the battery test button on the outside of the box, the low charge light came on again; and extraction of the pin again failed to activate the brakes and lights on the van.
On removing the Brake Safe battery again, it tested almost fully charged. I gave the battery another boost on the charger and returned the battery to its box.
Again the battery charge indicator gave a low result and extraction of the pin again failed to activate brakes or lights.
I would appreciate any comment on this problem. Is the equipment itself faulty and needs to be replaced?
How are you testing battery state of charge? Sometimes batteries will show full voltage but have no capability to produce enough amps. With it fully charged watch the voltage as you pull the pin. It should drop a little.
Otherwise, can you follow the wiring from the pin to the Brakesafe? Briidge the connections to simulate pulling the pin. My pin switch failed giviing a similar symptom. Look for the most obvious and easiest to check first.
Try connecting the leads to the van battery and do the brakaway test to see what happens, I was going to relocate my Brake Safe 5000 to a more accessible position but decided to just connect it directly to the van battery.
As Are We Lost Stated put a multimeter on the terminals as you pull the pin. If the voltage drops considerably then your battery is probably dead. I usually do the test running an air compressor and you can see the voltage drop very quickly.
I think what Dicko is saying is that whilst your battery is connected to the system connect your charger to the battery and turn it on. When you then pull the pin the voltage is maintained and you can then determine whether it is the circuit or the battery. Which is another way of testing it.
-- Edited by TimTim on Monday 15th of April 2024 12:53:45 AM
