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Breakaway Battery and Switch

R

rebrecs

Member
I changed the breakway battery, housing, and switch recently on a 16 ft. enclosed (cargo) trailer. Until I changed it, I had been hooking it up religiously for years - but had never stopped to think about what is involved in an actual trailer breakaway. The intended purpose of a breakaway system, as it is stated, sounds like a great idea, but in the anatomy of an actual breakaway - when exactly should that pin get pulled?
First, I think the main hitch comes uncoupled. The tongue comes off of the ball, but the chains are still hooked up, and the electrical cable is still hooked up. Is that the instant in which the pin should get pulled ?
Or, is the expectation that the pin gets pulled after all hitches and chains have failed and the trailer is free running?
Those two scenarios require different computations for how long the switch pin wire has to be. ( i.e. "when" should it activate )
 
I always ran the cable the same length as the safety chains , if they stretch out on a hitch disconnect the brakes will apply . It may help what could be a "Really bad day" , to just a "Bad Day ".
J5 Bombardier
 
J5 Bombardier said:
I always ran the cable the same length as the safety chains , if they stretch out on a hitch disconnect the brakes will apply . It may help what could be a "Really bad day" , to just a "Bad Day ".
J5 Bombardier
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That makes sense to me. Or even a little before they get all the way stretched out. But, yeah. Good answer, thank you. I haven't heard a better answer so I'm going with that.

So, from reading your name - you a pilot ?
 
Back in my younger days I worked a government contract that involved a lot of trailering. I was driving down a country road in Arkansas when my friend looked out his window and said, there goes a trailer that looks just like ours. He was right. Our trailer passed us.
 
rebrecs said:
That makes sense to me. Or even a little before they get all the way stretched out. But, yeah. Good answer, thank you. I haven't heard a better answer so I'm going with that.

So, from reading your name - you a pilot ?
Click to expand...
More of a "Snow Pilot" ,but I have gotten my Bombardiers up to 25 M.P.H ........going downhill.
J5 Bombardier
 
J5 Bombardier said:
More of a "Snow Pilot" ,but I have gotten my Bombardiers up to 25 M.P.H ........going downhill.
J5 Bombardier
Click to expand...
Dumb me ... I have since learned what a J5 is. Very cool. 25 mph seems really fast for that.
To me, "Bombardier" has always been instantly synonymous with the CRJ/100 airplane. Sorry !!
Now I have to go back and watch the Jack Nicholson "weirdo-with-an-axe" movie - I think he might have been driving one of those J5's
 
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