Learning about the Breakaway Switch

[bvansnell]

We were returning from a camping trip recently and leaving a parking lot which had a very sharp turn in it. I heard a slight pop, and noticed that the Prodigy brake controller light was flashing "C". Normally it shows a steady "C". We stopped about a mile further along the road and I found that the pin had pulled out of the breakaway switch and the brakes on the trailer were fully on and hot. I put the pin back in place and the brakes came off.

One lesson for me was to make sure that the cable on the breakaway switch is loose enough that a sharp turn does not pull the pin out.

A second lesson was to pay attention to the brake controller light.

Brian

[gbaglo]

Reace showed me to put a loop ( first half of a granny knot ) in the cable so that it doesn't drag on the ground, but so that if it is pulled, the loop will tighten, adding length to the cable.

baglo

[escape artist]

Hi: bvansnell... You got a lot further than I did. I was backing into a camp site and jack knifed the trailer !!! Thought I backed into a tree as the trailer wouldn't budge. When I got out of the truck I noticed the breakaway pin laying in the box of the pickup :
Now I use the brake controller to do a pullaway trailer brake test before leaving home. "Our Escape Hatch" won't move while squeezing the controller and the accelerator too!!! Alf
escape artist N.S. of Lake Erie

[Donna D.]

I have one of these: http://www.fastwaytrailer.com/zip/

[MMarvin]

On our Casita, the breakaway cable was so long, I had to loop it through the eye on the hitch and then back to the breakaway switch. When I got tired of doing that, I made a few loops in it and bound them with a cable tie. It worked like gbaglo said, if it was pulled, it just slipped though the cable tie. Perfect, self-adjusting.

By the way, you should pull that pin out and lube it to prevent it seizing in the switch. The pin is brass so it won't corrode but I have read it can glue itself in there so tight that when you need it to pull out, it just breaks the switch instead.

Marv