Will a Dead Battery In the Breakaway Box Cause Trailer Brakes to Not Disengage?

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Question:

I have a horse trailer that is not used often. The last time I used the trailer I hooked up very early in the morning. Had a problem with the lights coming on at first but, when I had the trailer wires properly hooked up I was ready to leave the property and when I turned the lights on the tow vehicle on the trailer brakes would not disengage. When I unhooked the trailer light cable the brakes disengaged and I was able to drive but I didnt have any trailer lights. After driving in the dark for about 20 miles I reattached the light cable and the lights and brakes worked for the remainder of the trip. The question is whether a dead battery in the Breakaway box would cause the trailer brakes to not disengage?

asked by: Ken L

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Expert Reply:

A dead battery would not be the cause of your brakes not disengaging. A dead battery would have the complete opposite effect on your brakes. A dead battery wouldn't send the electric signal to engage the electric brakes and no electric signal would mean no brakes at all from the breakaway standpoint, but you will still have brake signal from your brake controller.

When you connect your tow vehicle, that will send signal to your trailer brakes only when the brakes are engaged on your vehicle or with the manual override on your brake controller. It is interesting that other systems didn't work and then eventually did...this leads me to believe you may have a short somewhere in your wiring system. I would suggest you charge your breakaway battery so that it works in a crisis situation and use a circuit tester like # PTW2993 to test all your connections at the vehicle side connection first and then your trailer. Make sure to use a good ground when testing and make sure you have a good ground connection at your trailer for your wiring that is clear of debris, rust, or corrosion.

If there is moisture, like from a thick morning dew, or any corrosion inside of the trailer connector that could keep the lights from working properly. I would suggest you put dielectric grease like # LT37534 on your connection terminals to seal out moisture and prevent corrosion.

expert reply by: Jason S

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Answer 1

When testing the HydraStar Electric Over Hydraulic Actuator part #HBA-10 it is a three pronged approach. The first step when no wires are connected to anything is to attach the white to ground and the black to 12V positive in this configuration the…

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Answer 2

I do have an option for you but we don't carry Vision LED so the only option we could offer is a full replacement like the Bright Way Push-to-Test Trailer Breakaway Kit part #3802346 which is a very comparable system. It has a side mount…

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Answer 3

If your breakaway battery is dead, your brakes should operate while connected to your vehicle's 7-way trailer connector. If your brakes are not operating, then it sounds like you might have a short in the brake wiring of the trailer. Battery…

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Answer 4

The break away system on a trailer would typically have its own battery, like that shown with part #20400. The reason that pulling your break away switch does not actuate your brakes is that it is not wired correctly. The break away switch should be…

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Answer 5

When adjusting the height of a pin box such as #LC1191191 it is important to support the pin box when removing the bolts. I recommend 2 or 3 buddies to give you a hand and make sure no one is beneath the pin box while raising or lowering it. With the…

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Answer 6

Choosing the right height setting for your 5th wheel hitch is a combination of a few different variables. First of all you want your towing setup to be as level as possible. With your Montana High Country 340BH level you will want to measure from the…

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Answer 7

It sounds like there is a short somewhere in the system that is drawing power and draining the battery. The brake controller you have should only draw a few milliamps of power when not in use. The most likely shorts are a short to ground and a short…

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Answer 8

The brake controllers available now either are only on when they are activated, or a have a timed shut-off or idle state after a certain time period. Some of the older brake controllers never shut-off, but they did not drain battery power as the only…

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Answer 9

You can test the function of the slider's troublesome hydraulic actuator cylinder by swapping the wiring between the two cylinders. If the bad one now works (when connected to the wiring for the other) then you know the issue is not the cylinder,…

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Answer 10

Yes, it is indeed likely that your trailer breakaway batteries were depleted from the accidental tripping of the breakaway switch (but good for you for doing the yard work!). If your main trailer batteries have a charge line to feed the breakaway…

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Answer 11

If you already have a breakaway switch and trying to find its power source, It is possible that someone could have wired the breakaway switch directly to the main battery on the trailer but it does not come like that from the factory. The breakaway…

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Answer 12

There are two accepted ways of wiring a 6-way trailer connector. One uses the center pin as the 12-volt power accessory feed, the other uses the center pin for the brake output circuit. It sounds as if your trailer and adapter are wired differently,…

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Will a Dead Battery In the Breakaway Box Cause Trailer Brakes to Not Disengage?

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