Stressfree anchor winch / Electric Trailer brakes

 
Good evening everyone,

Have purchased a second hand boat recently and absolutely stoked with it. Couple of things that have me buggered however are the following:

 

Stressfree anchor winch has just recently started to struggle to pull the anchor rope up, seems to be slipping as its trying to wind in, I can still manage to get the anchor up with short bursts/pushes of the button but seems to be getting worse. have found it hard to find any troubleshooting questions anywere for these particular winches, will call them up monday if no one has any advice as I hear their customer service is bloody good.

 

My electric trailer brakes work in reverse, when brakes are applied and in manual override mode (have the tow pro elite 3 installed), however when I am driving forward they do not, I have had another vehicle hook onto the trailer and the same problem is evident, I have gone as far as swapping the brake and reverse wires over in the trailer plug and suprise suprise the electric brakes work when driving forward but not in reverse now. All the trailer lights are functioning as they should when braking when im driving forward so the wire that should be powering the actuator I assume is not damaged or faulty.

Has anyone got any kind of advice for me on these things? electric trailer brake conversations and threads are never ending but I haven't come accross this problem on anything in my searches....

 

Cheers

 


Belly Fish's picture

Posts: 499

Date Joined: 09/03/12

Electric Trailer Brakes

Sat, 2021-10-23 23:27

I had exactly the same issue when I bought my new 200 series cruiser....electric brakes would only work in reverse with all other trailer lights etc working fine.

I tried everything, but couldn't figure it out.

Eventually took it to an auto electrician and he said that the trailer plug harness didn't have the power wire for electric brakes installed.  Brand new car from Toyota, so I guess they didn't wire it up.

They fixed it and it works fine now.  

BTW, why it worked in reverse still has me stumped, but I'm sure someone will know why

 

Posts: 7

Date Joined: 06/04/21

Electric Trailer Brakes

Mon, 2021-10-25 08:41

 It is bizzare isnt it ?

 

The thing that has me cursing is the fact the redarc brake controller has a dedicated wire to battery to power the controller up which has the blue and red wire come out of the controller and transfer into the trailer plug. I initially thought I had cocked the installation up however rang up Redarc and they suggested I try the lightbulb test to see if the controller is infact powering the plug. which it was. It's a great test which eliminates the controller and wiring on the car... Think the auto sparky might be getting a call up

Tim's picture

Posts: 2496

Date Joined: 26/09/06

Power

Sun, 2021-10-24 12:17

The dedicated power wire that is needed for the brakes is often wired into the reverse pins as they arent often used on trailers.

That would be why they work in reverse and not forward.

You will likely need to get an auto elec to run a dedicated power feed to the plug for the brakes. Usually need to be a 30amp capability or there abouts direct from the battery

 

Posts: 7

Date Joined: 06/04/21

Power

Mon, 2021-10-25 08:43

 G'day Tim,

 

Thanks for the reply, I mentioned to Belly that the Redarc controller has its own dedicated battery wire which powers it then feeds the red and blue wire into the trailer plug from the controller....

 

 

Tim's picture

Posts: 2496

Date Joined: 26/09/06

Power

Mon, 2021-10-25 20:06

The dedicated power supply is directly to the trailer not through the brake controller.

 

Belly Fish's picture

Posts: 499

Date Joined: 09/03/12

Makes sense Tim

Sun, 2021-10-24 17:10

As soon as I described the symptom to the auto electrician he knew exactly what the problem was 

Posts: 573

Date Joined: 23/04/14

Need a dedicated power wire

Mon, 2021-10-25 09:13

Not 100% sure for electric-only brakes but if they are electric over hydraulic then you need a dedicated high amp power supply wire for the brakes. 

As Tim mentioned, and I have done this on a previous trailer, mostly the reverse pin is not used on the trailer plug so it gets used as the brake unit power supply but the standard size cable is not suitable.

The red and blue wires from the Redarc controller are different; I think you'll find they provide the signals for the brake unit but you still need a separate power supply.

____________________________________________________________________________

 

 

Posts: 7

Date Joined: 06/04/21

Need a dedicated power wire

Mon, 2021-10-25 10:34

Im picking up what your putting down now, just pulled out the manual and it does infact mention a seperate power feed wire with a detailed diagram.

 

Thanks for enlightening me everybody. appreciate it.

 

 

 

 

Posts: 7

Date Joined: 06/04/21

Power wire

Mon, 2021-11-15 14:16

Just an FYI

 

Had the pin2 on trailer plug wired up to battery to give it the constant power. Brakes work a treat now. (just be careful if you leave the plug in while parked up overnight it keeps charging the breakaway battery)

 

Thanks for all the help.

 

Tim's picture

Posts: 2496

Date Joined: 26/09/06

Good

Mon, 2021-11-15 21:08

Good to hear you got it sorted.

The constant charge is an issue but not hard to pull the plug when you remember.

I had thought of adding some sort of isolator but it seemed to much work for the benefit in the end