ebrakes (breakaway switch) as a short term anti theft measure

[brettstoner]

Theyre just magnets, but Ive got to wonder if they are meant to stay energized for long periods of time.

I normally wrap chains through the wheel spokes and put a lock on the chain.

Take a wheel off.

This is what I do! I use the largest Abus security chain that fits through my spoke and chain it through the axle and to signs, trees, posts, etc. Put the highest security shielded padlock on it. Don't buy anything at Lowes or HD. Masterlock and regular chain are poor security. Or just take a tire off....

 

[bigpup1]

Sounds to me like it is time to get outa Dodge. If you find yourself living in such a hostile environment that you loose sleep over life, limb and your property you might reconsider more that what what size chain you are going to purchase.... d

 

[DanMKE]

Bal should make a wheel leveler/lock combo...I'm picturing a heavy duty leveler with an option to lock it to the wheel, so it ends up functioning like the lock they put on cars for unpaid tickets!

 

[RichRL]

I have read several times that leaving the breakaway switch engaged can cause the magnets to heat up and burn out, and disable the brakes.

 

[nitrohorse]

If you're going to remove a tire, might be a good idea to remove the spare too...

 

[Anthony Hitchings]

If you're going to remove a tire, might be a good idea to remove the spare too...

spares are currently in the gated rear yard.

Camper is back in gated front yard while I wait for another pair of wheel spacers to try out, 5mm this time, each side.

 

[Anthony Hitchings]

I have read several times that leaving the breakaway switch engaged can cause the magnets to heat up and burn out, and disable the brakes.

yes - which is why I will test them for heating when I find my spare magnet

 

[Sjm9911]

yes - which is why I will test them for heating when I find my spare magnet

Moght be the wire that burns up? They are a really small guage. So, while temporary applied power is ok, constant voltage might heat them to the point of failure.

 

[Anthony Hitchings]

Moght be the wire that burns up? They are a really small guage. So, while temporary applied power is ok, constant voltage might heat them to the point of failure.

ots only 3 amps, that really not much. You put 2A thru your iphone cord !!

 

[Sjm9911]

I think my phone cord is bigger guage, lol. I just know that when i would work on the old lionel stuff, that the smaller 22 guage wires would sometimes fry if you set the transformer too high. ( this was older wire, not newly wired stuff). And while not remembering what guage was on the conection to the brake magnet itself, i do recall that it was tiny.

 

[Brian Hovander]

tonite the trailer lives outside in Oakland, CA (in our cul-de-sac) . We have a big ugly tongue lock that a bolt cutter cannot defeat. Since I do have a 100AH battery inside the camper, I was thinking of pulling the breakaway switch (removing the pull unit completely) and leave the brakes energized overnight.

Ifta thief wants to chain up the tonge and tow it away - I don't want to make it easy for them

at 3.2 amps each magnet, thats 6.4 amps total.

My Renogy bettery has 100AH capacity which is 15.6 hours.

If I pull the breakaway switch before I retire the battery still has a good charge when I arise and check to see if the trailer is stil lthere !!

FWIW - I am one person who has had his 4x8 utility trailer stolen from the street - on the other side of the fence in front of our bedroom window. They used a bolt cutter on the padlock. So I know that there are folks out there in the market for a trailer.

AND

One of our up-the-hill neighbors had their tongue-locked (and a wheel lock) very nice ($$$) teardrop stolen from curbside in front of their house.

Any comments??

DUH! it never occurred to me (easy to do since we are at home and the camper is in front of the garage)

Pulling the breakaway switch would send quite a bit of power to the magnets. I would think this could burn up something due to the large amount of current going there.

I have the beefy tongue lock and use a case-hardened motorcycle chain to have the frame secured with a beefy lock to an Aircraft-type tiedown built into the concrete slab it rests on. Hopefully, other advice will help figure out how to best secure the trailer.

 

[Anthony Hitchings]

Pulling the breakaway switch would send quite a bit of power to the magnets. I would think this could burn up something due to the large amount of current going there.

I have the beefy tongue lock and use a case-hardened motorcycle chain to have the frame secured with a beefy lock to an Aircraft-type tiedown built into the concrete slab it rests on. Hopefully, other advice will help figure out how to best secure the trailer.

3 amps is not a lot of curent.

 

[Sjm9911]

3 amps is not a lot of curent.

Just looked ot up and not going further then this. So dont know if its correct or not. But it makes scense. 3 is average, max is doubble that. And no its not a lot but may be enough to cook the wires. Max would be applied as an emergency measure, normal would not, as most dont have the gain maxed out.

 

[Sjm9911]

https://www.etrailer.com/question-42798.html
Opps, forgot this.

 

[Sjm9911]

Ok and thinking on it more. If i remember corectly, stranded wire can carry less then solid wire, and superflex wire even less. The wire i just conected ( last year?) to the new brakes looked like super flex by feel. And was way smaller then the wires i joined them too. Almost way too small. I ran what e trailor recomended, and after making the conection thought it was overkill for what it was powering. But what do I know.

 

[Anthony Hitchings]

3 amps is not average - its the full current. Actually - it quickly dropped to 2.56 amps using my spare magnet and a Mighty Max 22 AH test battery. the magnet got very hot - so I stopped the test.

BTW - I detest my Sperry autoranging DVM, because it beeps and shows stupid readings periodically, whereas my manually switched DVM by Spery is just fine. Needless to say, the manual version is discontinued.

 

[Dave2514g]

The brake uses a coil to produce a magnetic field. Any coil will have a duty cycle (an amount of allowable on time vs. off time.) If you leave the brakes on overnight the coils would either burn out completely, or shorten the lifespan drastically. Do not do this. Hopefully you can come up with a better anti theft deterrent. I've never left any locking device or anything on my trailer to ward off thieves. Maybe I'm naive, but never given it any thought.... Everyone leaves their trailers in their laneways here in the warm months and I haven't seen any locks on the tongues or anything. I figure someone would steal a nice travel trailer before they look at my popup, but I don't know anyone that's ever had anything go missing on this street... knock on wood

 

[Grandpa Don]

I've often thought I would use the ebrakes on my camper to help prevent theft. I have not done this yet, but what I was going to do was anchoring the pull lanyards to a fixed object outside of the camper. If someone tried to move the camper it would pull the lanyard and activate the brakes. Some ebrake systems rely on the camper battery, but others like mine, have their own built-in battery. I guess this would work.

 

[brettstoner]

Also if you live in an area concerned about security I would invest in GPS tracking. I have a remote automatic lawnmower that mows my grass everyday. I installed a GPS tracker inside it and about 6 months later it got stolen out of my front yard. I got an alert on my phone while I was at work. Called the police, gave them the location, turned the alarm noise on, and they found it in the back of a pickup truck. I pay $3 bucks a month for the internet service for it. Well worth it. By the time I came home from work my lawnmower was back on my porch. Thanks Maumee PD!

 

[Anthony Hitchings]

Also if you live in an area concerned about security I would invest in GPS tracking. I have a remote automatic lawnmower that mows my grass everyday. I installed a GPS tracker inside it and about 6 months later it got stolen out of my front yard. I got an alert on my phone while I was at work. Called the police, gave them the location, turned the alarm noise on, and they found it in the back of a pickup truck. I pay $3 bucks a month for the internet service for it. Well worth it. By the time I came home from work my lawnmower was back on my porch. Thanks Maumee PD!

this technology would be great for the modern modular tool storage system that contractors have adopted. We get regular tool thefts in daylight out of the back of workers trucks here in Oakland, CA. The gps is signal not blocked by plastic and the device could be in a top tray or part container.