confusion with electric breakaway systems.

[VinceGU05]

just had a tadem trailer made and legal to carry 3 ton. 4 wheel electric brakes and all with an electric breakaway system also apparently needed for legalities.
 now they fitted safety chains the required length ( which isnt long) and the break away cable would be easy double the length of the safety chains, so my question is, how is the cable breakaway system going to work if i have to have safety chains fitted? anyone got some ideas?

[raider]

Just reading a bit about them, I think the cable is there for a complete failure of your system. So if your trailer comes off the ball and then by chance the chains fail ,  the breakaway cable will then become taut and it will activate the trailer brakes. Mind you I wouldn't want to come around a corner and find a trailer sitting in the road although it is probably better than it being a missile.
Raider

[VinceGU05]

ok ta. yeah the trailer people didnt know. come to think of it, the didnt know much at all. i am running a McHitch on it.. love it. they have never seen or heard of it.

[steve.j]

The breakaway system only comes into play if you completely lose the trailer. When that happens, the cable pulls the clip out of the little black box attached to your drawbar, locking the brakes on full, and keeping them locked. Their supposed to keep them looked for a minimum time (15mins I think, or until you put the clip back in).
You don't want your brakes to lock on in the case of a hitch failure when the chains are still attached. At speed, that could turn very nasty, very quickly.
Any trailer over 2 ton I think is required to have a breakaway system.
Because that breakaway cable is quite long, just keep in mind when you hook up, to make sure it cant drag on the road.
In case your not aware, the control box has a battery in it, their should be a test button on there to check battery condition. Had to put a new battery in one of ours recently, cost about $20.

[HEM19X]

The breakaway system only comes into play if you completely lose the trailer. When that happens, the cable pulls the clip out of the little black box attached to your drawbar, locking the brakes on full, and keeping them locked. Their supposed to keep them looked for a minimum time (15mins I think, or until you put the clip back in).
You don't want your brakes to lock on in the case of a hitch failure when the chains are still attached. At speed, that could turn very nasty, very quickly.
Any trailer over 2 ton I think is required to have a breakaway system.
Because that breakaway cable is quite long, just keep in mind when you hook up, to make sure it cant drag on the road.
In case your not aware, the control box has a battery in it, their should be a test button on there to check battery condition. Had to put a new battery in one of ours recently, cost about $20.

The only other thing to add is that you now are required to also have a monitor in the cab of the tow vehicle to indicate that the breakaway battery is fully charged.. AND using the breakaway to keep the trailer in it's place [rather than say the handbreak] will quickly flatten the battery

Oh and lastly, it's a good idea to have a spare one... just in case some Bas$$$$ decides to take it!!!

[steve.j]

The only other thing to add is that you now are required to also have a monitor in the cab of the tow vehicle to indicate that the breakaway battery is fully charged..

Is this now an AUS-wide rule or is it still NSW only ?
I'm in WA, none of our vehicles have monitors and we have 5 Heavy trailers and vans all rego'd in the last few years without requiring any form of in cab battery monitor.

[Marschy]

I've only just bought my van in Adelaide, not aware of this being legislated in SA.

[achjimmy]

It's not it's only for us New South Welshmen. But rest assured the rest of the countries noddies will pounce on the opportunity to copy and paste a piece of legislation to justify there jobs.

[Supersi]

I've just renewed the rego on a "heavy" trailer in NSW, that is one with a breakaway system (over 2tonne gvm). There was no requirement for a battery monitor system.

It's a good point though as the breakaway system is dependent on the battery mounted on the trailer being charged. I believe it's reasonable to say that a lot of vehicles towing heavy trailers (the city 4wd and horse float as an example) don't have any form of charge system connected through the auxiliary pin on the trailer electrical plug.  No charge in the battery = no power to activate the brakes in the extreme of a trailer braking away from the tow vehicle. 

[VinceGU05]

I guess I am lucky with it hooked up to a car battery which operated the hydraulics fir the tipper.

So the hitch has to fail along with the chains and then the breakaway system can do its thing.

[achjimmy]

Such trailers, if fitted with electrically actuated braking systems, must be equipped with a device which applies the brakes in the event of a breakaway from the towing vehicle and maintains application for at least fifteen minutes. It is essential therefore, that an energy source, such as a battery, be carried on the trailer and that means be provided to ensure that the battery is maintained in a fully energised condition. In this regard, it will be satisfactory if any trailer-mounted battery is constantly charged by the towing vehicle and a warning device is fitted to warn the driver (from the normal driving position) if the trailer battery charge falls to such a level as to render the trailer brakes incapable of meeting the requirements


Whenever a trailer is presented for inspection, the towing vehicle must be equipped with a compatible charging system which is connected to the trailer and is fully operable. Any vehicle not so equipped must be rejected



http://rvelectronics.com.au/image/data/FOR%20NSW%20REGULATIONS%20CLICK%20HERE.pdf