Break safe unit- Pulling out the lead?

skins · Senior Member

Break safe unit- Pulling out the lead?

herks · Veteran Member

No, No and No. This is not what it is designed for and would only hold the brakes on for less than 30 mins.

The fact that you have your main batteries on charge is irrelevant as the breakaway battery is only charged by your car when driving.

Hope this helps.

Ta John

Craig1 · Guru

Camec say 20 minutes I think for brake activation limit. They then say do not charge battery for more than 8 ? hours at a time. Our van uses lots of power if left permanently on with the charger " charging". Have not yet worked out why yet, but the power consumption meter prove it was.It showed battery full, but still consumed somehow.

skins · Senior Member

The first No convinced me. I'll now give myself an uppercut after reading your explanation as to why. Many thanks

The Belmont Bear · Guru

herks wrote:
No, No and No. This is not what it is designed for and would only hold the brakes on for less than 30 mins.
The fact that you have your main batteries on charge is irrelevant as the breakaway battery is only charged by your car when driving.

Hope this helps.
Ta John

John are you sure that the breakaway battery will only charge via your car ? Last month I took my van out of storage after I had been out of the country for 9 months when I hooked it up to the tug the brakesafe battery monitor which is fitted in the dash started to sound and the low battery warning light came on. I checked the breakaway unit itself in the front boot of the van and the red warning light confirmed what the in car monitor was telling me - the battery was flat. I then parked the van on the footpath in front of our house and plugged it into the mains over night when I came out the next morning the breakaway unit showed that the battery was charged and the monitor in the car was indicating that all was good to go. Why I'm asking the question is that I had also left the car hooked to the van including the Anderson and 12 pin plugs I had assumed until your comment that the battery had recharged via the mains supply not the car.

I believe that NSW is the only state that requires a breakaway monitor to be fitted in your tow vehicle when towing vans over a certain size. I never even thought to check the battery's charge in the storage yard even though I was pretty sure that I had double and triple checked everything before moving off. Without that monitor sounding I wouldn't have even been aware that I had a problem and that could have proved to be quite hazardous if we had been leaving on our trip straight from there.

Cheers

BB

-- Edited by The Belmont Bear on Wednesday 27th of June 2018 11:20:48 PM

-- Edited by The Belmont Bear on Wednesday 27th of June 2018 11:34:05 PM

SouthernComfort · Guru

I've always understood the breakaway battery charges from the fixed solar on my van. The van is covered with a tarp but I have a open panel in it for the solar. I regularly check the van whilst in storage and the breakaway monitor always indicates that it's charging, as does the monitor for the main battery. Whenever I hook the car up, the breakaway indicator on the A bar gives me 2 green lights i.e. good to go. Maybe I too am misunderstanding something?

-- Edited by SouthernComfort on Thursday 28th of June 2018 08:07:31 AM

Dougwe · Chief one feather

My Camec unit has a small switch, off, car, van battery. I can charge via van battery or car. It is off while I am staying put for a while but I do turn it to van once a week for 6 hours at a time then off again.

This time last year I found it wasn't even connected to anything and was FLAT so had it wired up the way I mentioned above.

diggerop · Senior Member

I don't think that having your brakes activated and humming away for a few months would be a good idea even if you can keep the power up to them. I don't know if they get warm or even hot when activated for some time but if I get caught at roadworks and sometimes at traffic lights I'll pull on the handbrake and release the foot brake just in case.

wasn_me · Guru

If the van is parked up for some time & your worried about somebody backing up & driving away with it, remove the coupling, 4 bolts. I do this with my box trailer that is stored in the front yard. Cheers Pete

deverall11 · Guru

Dougwe wrote:
My Camec unit has a small switch, off, car, van battery. I can charge via van battery or car. It is off while I am staying put for a while but I do turn it to van once a week for 6 hours at a time then off again.

This time last year I found it wasn't even connected to anything and was FLAT so had it wired up the way I mentioned above.

Mine does too Chief, except when I checked the wiring, 'van battery' was same as car. In other words no charge. pls check yours.

Larry

Dougwe · Chief one feather

All good this end Larry. All tested and works as I said. I have only just turned it off today as had it on earlier.

Roving-Dutchy · Guru

wasn_me wrote:
If the van is parked up for some time & your worried about somebody backing up & driving away with it, remove the coupling, 4 bolts. I do this with my box trailer that is stored in the front yard. Cheers Pete

Thieves use the chains looped over the tow ball, then couple up when down the road, it's more than likely they have checked the van or trailer out to see what's needed for a clean getaway.

Cheers

David

SouthernComfort · Guru

A that's needed is good hitch clamp lock (the type that encases the lock) and a wheel clamp. Neither can be removed with bolt cutters, van can't be towed.

Treecrest · Veteran Member

Breakaway battery charging wiring is hit and miss - a few manufacturers wire it to the van plug, but most leave it up to you to charge the battery via your own charger - but don't tell you!

Onedodger · Guru

In our van the breakaway battery is charged from the house battery.

The monitor in the tug is wireless.

I have pulled the plug and the wifi monitor squeals quite loud.

Warren-Pat_01 · Guru

Ian, I fitted a TRIGG coupling hoping that would deter most thieves who would be after the common ball coupled vans. Between that & the base plate of the van there are 25mm spacers that level the van nicely. I slip the chains under the coupling & hook them together with a good padlock meaning that of the chains were to be cut, the thieves would need extra lengths of chain & more D/Bow shackles to remove the van.
I believe the "Purple" company produces a good ball lock - it's expensive but then so is your van.

The TRIGG coupling was mainly chosen for its off road handling, not the theft issue.

Members of the forum - what gauge of wire do you suggest I wire may break-away switch to the van brakes? Is so-called 4mm,15A (1.85mm2 wire size) suitable? I'm thinking heavier (4mm wire). My van does not have to have this system fitted but taking macca17's advice (from an earlier posting), I'm going to fit one.

Bulariver · Veteran Member

Just had a thought - if you are worried about theft, why not jack it up and remove wheels on one side and rest her on blocks - might help the tyres too??? That would stop em! Just a thought.

skins · Senior Member

Thanks everyone a bit of food for thought re making my van impossible to move

yobarr · Guru

skins wrote:
Thanks everyone a bit of food for thought re making my van impossible to move

Hi Ian....its great to see how many people have made suggestions on how to secure your van,but please dont ever think that you can make it impossible to move. I have 15mm chains through all my wheels,onto the chassis,and a big custom-made lock on the DO35 that makes it impossible to access the big padlock,but a well-organised thief would come equipped with a battery-powered disc grinder,fitted with a cutting disc.Two minutes and its all over Red Rover! Even removing wheels will not deter a determined crook,as he will just skull-drag the van onto a tilt-tray...CU. However,if one van is an obviously easier target than another,he will usually take the easier one. Every little precaution helps though. $220 gets you a GPS that puts a fence around the van,so that if it is moved through the fence,you will receive an alert on your phone.Such a GPS even lets you track the van anywhere it is taken,with some even telling you of the travel speed. I dont know that I ever will buy one,but I am still doing research into GPS systems,as a determined thief will get your van regardless.Good luck with your enquiry.Safe and happy travels to all.Cheers.

SouthernComfort · Guru

Virtually nothing will deter the absolutely determined thief, but most of them are opportunists and will look for a target of least resistance / easiest pick, therefore any of these anti-theft suggestions would at least encourage them to move on. Since you're parked on the nature strip it may be seen as a quick tow-away opportunity, so hopefully your insurance covers you for parking it in that situation.