Brake issues resolved....but.....

westend wrote:
FWIW, I replaced the daisy chain brake wiring on my trailer with 14 ga. in a star configuration. I chose to have both the ground and positive phase installed in conduit to a termination strip on the tongue (enclosed). That is one pair of wires for each brake plate. My brakes work fine and it is easy to diagnose an electrical fault.

Any gauge wire 16 AWG or larger will handle the current to engage 4 brakes. 16 ga will have more voltage drop than 12 or 10. You will need to decide how much voltage drop is going to affect your brake system. I would suggest that replacing the shoes or adjusting them will bring 100 times better results than increasing a 15' wire to a larger gauge.

Very good idea with the individual wires for each magnet to aid in troubleshooting. I should have done that when I rewired mine, but maybe the way I have done it, will be ok for troubleshooting any future issues. I will just have to crawl under the camper.

I did replace all the brake assemblies when I corrected the wiring short. The assemblies have the magnets as well as shoes and all mechanical parts, and I adjusted the brakes properly. I'm very happy with the performance of the brakes at this point. I just wondered if a larger blue wire from the controller would improve it any, considering my rig is a fifth wheel that is about 10k gvwr.....more or less. I haven't checked the voltage that is delivered from the controller since replacing the wires. Will put that on my to do list. I do know that with the controller (Prodigy P2) set to about 10 volts and gain set to b3 .....the rig stops very well.