Electrical trailor brakes

[R Schra]

Hi,

Can anybody give me some advice on those US of A electrical trailorbrakes? We bought a new Vermeer BC2000 with those american style axles under it and need to get it working behind a tractor and tipping trailor. (low speed 40km/hr) Here in europe we use air brakes or hydraulic brakes. How does that electrical braking works and or how is it activated from the towing vehicle? Does the vehicle have a kinda (hydraulic/air)valve to give a electrical brake impuls to the trailor or just connected to the brake lights?

Any info or forwarded to the info would be welcome.

Regards Ronald (netherlands)

 

[Thor's Hammer]

Ronald, speak to Dave at Liston Equipment, as he can fit the kit to your vehicles for you.
http://liston.ait-s03.avondaleit.co.uk/news.php?id=130

 

[R Schra]

Thx Thor,

I will look into it.

Ronald

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

Basically, your vehicle has a electronic brake controller installed, which has a variable setting you adjust while you brake. The adjustment is done by feel. then once adjusted you can leave it alone until you change the load. They also have a panic button which puts on full brake when pressed.
The voltage comes from your brake lights.
Here, they now require you have a battery on the trailer with a break away cable that will activate the trailer brakes if it becomes detached.

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

Yep, that makes more sense.

 

[a_lopa]

http://www.tekonsha.com/tevoyagerintro.html

 

[Koa Man]

The best electric brake controller is the Tekonsha Prodigy. I previously had a Jordan, another top of the line controller, but I like the Prodigy much better.

 

[ROLLACOSTA]

Why not speak direct to Vermeer Europe..

 

[Yellowdog]

Hi,

Can anybody give me some advice on those US of A electrical trailorbrakes? We bought a new Vermeer BC2000 with those american style axles
Regards Ronald (netherlands)

Hi Ronald,

The BC2000, at least in the US, has electric brakes that are controlled through a brake controller. I imagine you can pick up a brake controller that will wire into your vehicle though it may be that European style brake controllers are only available there. The brake controller will allow you to adjust the output (electrical output) which will activate and control the magnets in the brakes.

Hope this helps..

Jason

 

[R Schra]

Hi Jason,

Thanks for bringing it up again. Friday the 13th i drove with our truck and semi-trailor to the importer to get the chipper. Only the machine self is made fit the european CEE standards. The axles are the ones from factory. I looked them up in the spare part cataloque and we have the heavy duty? axles/brakes with those 17.5 inch rims. (standard would be 16 inch or so) The brakes are build more durable as it looks to me.

In europe we dont have electric brake controllers. I guess i have to get them shipped in. I also asked the importer about these brakes and they dont know sh!t about it. Or dont want to know (as those brakes are not proven to our standards) I think a big liabillity issue.

All lights are wired to fit our trucks and if im correct it should be possible to hook up a controller on the chipper so it works on all tractors/trucks we have.

When i look to a tekonsha wiring diagram its only a + and - feed wire we can take from the chippers batteries, and the brake signal we can get from the brakelights wires. (we do not have the brakes an indicator lights in one bulb)

The only thing i havent figured out yet is how those magnets activate the lever that control the braking shoes. Also that break away wire at the eye/hook, how does that activate the brakes when the chipper suddenly disconnects????

I think we will get it working.... no prob. Just the need to get such a controller.

Pic of the chipper attached.

Ronald

Hi Ronald,

The BC2000, at least in the US, has electric brakes that are controlled through a brake controller. I imagine you can pick up a brake controller that will wire into your vehicle though it may be that European style brake controllers are only available there. The brake controller will allow you to adjust the output (electrical output) which will activate and control the magnets in the brakes.

Hope this helps..

Jason

 

[rotty_rott]

The way the electric brakes work is that when the controller sees voltage from the brake light circuit it sends 12V from the battery to the electromagnets located inside the drums. The magnets are then drawn into the spinning drum and the drum pulls the magnet to the rear (if travelingforward) which applies leverage to the lever attached to the magnet which then pushes the shoes outward against the drum. Hope this makes sense to ya.

Mike

 

[DeanBrown3D]

Get an Inertia brake controller. They are the best IMHO and lots of people have told me the same thing. The faster you stop, the more it brakes, to match your own braking. I've found even with a huge trailer load of wood that I can brake just the same with the trailer, in fact its almost as if its not even there. There is one control on mine to tell it how strongly to brake, and there is another control that tell it about a delay of some kind, but I never had to touch that one. When the trailer is light, I turn down the first one, and when its heavy I turn it up.

A heavy trailer can stop you faster than you can stop yourself with no trailer, if its setup right.

Dean

 

[BIG JAKE]

Hi,

Can anybody give me some advice on those US of A electrical trailorbrakes? We bought a new Vermeer BC2000 with those american style axles under it and need to get it working behind a tractor and tipping trailor. (low speed 40km/hr) Here in europe we use air brakes or hydraulic brakes. How does that electrical braking works and or how is it activated from the towing vehicle? Does the vehicle have a kinda (hydraulic/air)valve to give a electrical brake impuls to the trailor or just connected to the brake lights?

Any info or forwarded to the info would be welcome.

Regards Ronald (netherlands)

There is a hydraulic controller option also. I have one not currently installed hanging in my garage-but it is the same size as electronic controllers and works the same way but the difference is it's proportional. Changes drive signal depending on how much pedal pressure is applied. You have to install a tee into one of the master cyl lines at the master cylinder(usually the front disc brake line not the rear). A line from the tee goes to where-ever the brake controller is mounted. The downside is having to bleed the thing after install but the beauty is there is no inertia sensor to get jacked up and fail if you run rough dirt roads all the time. It has a gain adjust so you can set the trailer brakes any way you like. Not sure if it will affect anti-lock brakes systems. Don't know if they still make them either. But after a Tekonsha failed I put that thing on and it worked really well.

 

[Big Woody]

The best electric brake controller is the Tekonsha Prodigy. I previously had a Jordan, another top of the line controller, but I like the Prodigy much better.

THis is correct. I also have a Prodigy in my Excursion as well as the Tekonsha Sentinal in my Bronco which I bought years earlier. The prodigy operates off an accelerometer (solid state device) which detects deceleration better than other methods. Accelerometers are designed to measure acceleration and deceleration and have been around in engineering testing labs for a long time. Nothing better right now. Check this out for some further discussion. RV website forums are the place to go for info like this.

http://www.rv.net/forums/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/16782125/gotomsg/16782572.cfm

 

[BIG JAKE]

There is a hydraulic controller option also. I have one not currently installed hanging in my garage-but it is the same size as electronic controllers and works the same way but the difference is it's proportional. Changes drive signal depending on how much pedal pressure is applied. You have to install a tee into one of the master cyl lines at the master cylinder(usually the front disc brake line not the rear). A line from the tee goes to where-ever the brake controller is mounted. The downside is having to bleed the thing after install but the beauty is there is no inertia sensor to get jacked up and fail if you run rough dirt roads all the time. It has a gain adjust so you can set the trailer brakes any way you like. Not sure if it will affect anti-lock brakes systems. Don't know if they still make them either. But after a Tekonsha failed I put that thing on and it worked really well.

Check out this link:http://www.rv.net/forums/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/742176.cfm.

It explains how the different controller types work-. It also states the hydraulic actuated controllers are no longer made(I didn't see any either). I installed a electric version on my current truck because of the anti-lock issue. I should have stated the older Tekonsha that failed was pendulum type-couldn't take logging road punishment. I may try one of these new ones also. Might find an old hydraulic actuated though. I kept mine because it was a great controller.