Do I Need a New Breakaway Switch and a Separate Battery Pack for my Brake Controller?

Question:

5th wheel - 2020 Jayco Pinnacle 32RLTS. 5th wheel has breakaway switch from factory. Towing vehicle - 2020 GMC 3500 Denali with Factory Brake controller. Question: Why do I need the breakaway switch in the kit installed and not use the factory Jayco breakaway switch on 5th wheel? Question: Why do I need a a separate battery pack when I could use the on board 12 volt batteries in 5th wheel? Thank you.

asked by: Joe G

Helpful Expert Reply:

For your first question, I did confirm with Hydrastar that you can use your factory Jayco breakaway switch while using the Electric Over Hydraulic Actuator Kit for Disc Brakes # HBA16-252-82. For wiring your OEM switch, one of the wires will go to the battery and one of the wires will go to the yellow wire from the actuator.

As far as the separate battery, the reason why you need a separate battery pack with the breakaway is because it is not recommended to have a battery dedicated only to the breakaway. This is because if the 5th-wheel battery fails, you will still have a power source for the brakes for safety reasons just in case you are unaware if the 5th-wheel battery was depleted.

expert reply by: Bob C