Trailer Brakes Not Staying On
Our travel trailer just started loosing brakes as we travel. A couple of days ago I lost the trailer brakes a couple of hours into or drive. That night I noticed that the plastic pin that connects to ...
Forum Discussion
For a bit more information…
My brake contrôler is a Tenonsha Sentinel. Our tow vehicle is a 2003 Ford Excursion and I’m assuming the brake contrôler was purchased and installed early in the life of this vehicle by the original owner.
Our trailer is a 2015 Rockwood Signature Ultralite by Forest River model # 8327SS. My brother bought it new. It has more than 20k towing miles on it.
For this controller… generally when you hook up the trailer cord there is a steady green light that is illuminated letting you know everything is working correctly. If that green light flashes it indicates a direct short or an excessive current request. If brakes are applied when the green light is flashing, the additional lights (meant to indicate firmer trailer breaking) all flash and you feel no trailer braking so you know that the brakes are not working.
On my drive yesterday…
-We hooked up and initially the controller had a stead green light indicating everything was fine.
-Before moving the trailer the contrôler began blinking a single green light noting a short or excessive current request.
- I crawled under the trailer to once again check the grounds and the see if there could be a visible problem, I checked the connections to the batteries, and I took a screw driver and moved all the contacts closer. I plugged in a 7 pin tester and it showed no problems. Green light was still blinking. I pulled the break-away plastic pin and reinserted it and the green light on the contrôler went to steady green.
-As we began driving… Initially the steady green light was on for 30 minutes, then the light flashed indicating a short etc., then the light went steady green again for an hour, then the flashing started and stayed on for more than an hour when I pulled over and unplugged the break-away plastic pin and re-inserted it. this brought the steady green light back on for a while then the controller really did some weird stuff… went completely dark for 30 seconds, came back on with a steady green light, then flashed and did this cycle at random times. Last 30 minutes of the pull yesterday was a flashing green light again indicating no trailer brakes functioning (and it felt this way too).
Could the previous problem with the break-away switch (that I have replaced) have damaged the controller? Should I look at replacing that? Could I maybe have gotten a faulty new break-away switch and think about replacing that? We have towed this trailer from coast to coast with no braking problems until these past few days.
My brake contrôler is a Tenonsha Sentinel. Our tow vehicle is a 2003 Ford Excursion and I’m assuming the brake contrôler was purchased and installed early in the life of this vehicle by the original owner.
Our trailer is a 2015 Rockwood Signature Ultralite by Forest River model # 8327SS. My brother bought it new. It has more than 20k towing miles on it.
For this controller… generally when you hook up the trailer cord there is a steady green light that is illuminated letting you know everything is working correctly. If that green light flashes it indicates a direct short or an excessive current request. If brakes are applied when the green light is flashing, the additional lights (meant to indicate firmer trailer breaking) all flash and you feel no trailer braking so you know that the brakes are not working.
On my drive yesterday…
-We hooked up and initially the controller had a stead green light indicating everything was fine.
-Before moving the trailer the contrôler began blinking a single green light noting a short or excessive current request.
- I crawled under the trailer to once again check the grounds and the see if there could be a visible problem, I checked the connections to the batteries, and I took a screw driver and moved all the contacts closer. I plugged in a 7 pin tester and it showed no problems. Green light was still blinking. I pulled the break-away plastic pin and reinserted it and the green light on the contrôler went to steady green.
-As we began driving… Initially the steady green light was on for 30 minutes, then the light flashed indicating a short etc., then the light went steady green again for an hour, then the flashing started and stayed on for more than an hour when I pulled over and unplugged the break-away plastic pin and re-inserted it. this brought the steady green light back on for a while then the controller really did some weird stuff… went completely dark for 30 seconds, came back on with a steady green light, then flashed and did this cycle at random times. Last 30 minutes of the pull yesterday was a flashing green light again indicating no trailer brakes functioning (and it felt this way too).
Could the previous problem with the break-away switch (that I have replaced) have damaged the controller? Should I look at replacing that? Could I maybe have gotten a faulty new break-away switch and think about replacing that? We have towed this trailer from coast to coast with no braking problems until these past few days.
