Trailer break-away systems

Gdetrailer wrote:

westend wrote:
I have a similar system to the Hopkins breakaway system on my TT. I use a small 8ah sealed lead acid battery. I chose to do it that way since the breakaway switch is "mission critical" and I wanted the separation from the TT's power circuits. If the house batteries become drained, the breakaway system is still operable.

Presently, the breakaway battery is recharged by my tow vehicle and the house batteries are not. That will be changed in the Spring so that all power from the tow vehicle is shared. It involves some wiring and diode installation. I have solar and haven't traveled far so my house batteries are charged adequately by the solar. I guess a guy could buy a small solar module for the breakaway system, also but that is really overkill, IMO.

While redundancy often can be a "good thing" in this case not so.

Gel cells often have a bad habit of showing "good" when in fact they are not. The test button only checks to see if the battery has voltage, doesn't really present much (if any) load on the battery (ran into this while getting my flat bed trailer ready for annual inspection).

Battery would test OK but when the breakaway pin was pulled the battery dropped below 10V and the brakes never locked.

Another concern I have is the extremely limited Ahr rating of the gel battery. Mine is a 5Ahr 12V which with two axles is just enough battery to hold for the required 10 minutes.

Granted PA doesn't time this during the annual inspections instead they pull the pin and check that all wheels lock up. I would rather have a larger capacity battery (I have a pair of 6V GC batts in my TT) which would not be so close to the minimum required time.

I'd agree, a gel cell wouldn't be a good choice. That's why I use a 12V AGM for the breakaway. I find many of them offered on the used market. Some commercial enterprises are on a one or two year replacement schedule, thus making the used market flush with them. Even new ones can be had for around $20. You've reminded me, though, I should install a meter panel or test light so I can see at a glance the state of charge. I've been using a meter and an indicator would eliminate a step or two.