Thread: Electric Trailer Brakes

Electric Brakes(suit 10" Hubdrum)

Item description Unit Price(inc.GST)
10" x 2&1/4" Electric brake assembly pair $224.00
12" x 2" Electric brake assembly pair $280.00
Electric brake flange kit ea $14.00
Electric brake controller 2 or 4 wheel ea $140.00
Electric brake break away unit 2 or 4 wheel ea $190.00
Cable adjuster ea $10.00
4mm winching cable (10 mtr coil) ea $30.00
4mm wire cable clips ea $1.60

Firstly I dont know about electric brakes (sorry). However, I do know hydraulic brakes are great when they are setup right (at least in the UK).

Why are electric brakes so popular in Aus? (sorry to hijack the thread)

thx
Jon

Originally Posted by Yorkshire_Jon

Firstly I dont know about electric brakes (sorry). However, I do know hydraulic brakes are great when they are setup right (at least in the UK).

Why are electric brakes so popular in Aus? (sorry to hijack the thread)

thx
Jon

Anything over 2 tonne GVM has to have all-wheel brakes and a break-away system. By far the most economical way of doing this is electric.

I've recently replaced all the brakes on our float, from the mounts out, so backing plates, shoes, arm, adjuster,and 10"drum. Reused the cleaned and repacked bearings. All the gear for four $507.00

Originally Posted by Jock The Rock

Is this a good price for a controller, keep in mind it comes with fitting kit?

ELECTRIC TRAILER BRAKE CONTROLLER REDARC REMOTE HEAD | eBay

Or should I shop around?

I bought an intelligent Tekonsha P3 (now $139 on ebay) rather than a dumb Redarc. Whilst I haven't used it yet, I consider smartness is preferred, especially in abnormal situations.

Originally Posted by Yorkshire_Jon

Firstly I dont know about electric brakes (sorry). However, I do know hydraulic brakes are great when they are setup right (at least in the UK).

Why are electric brakes so popular in Aus? (sorry to hijack the thread)

thx
Jon

Because most hydraulic brake systems are over-ride, the tow vehicle has to brake, closing the coupling and activating the hydraulic master cylinder, which causes the trailer brakes to come on, opening up the coupling and releasing the trailer brakes, the tow continues to brake and the coupling closes, the master cyl etc etc. You get a series of intermittant brake applications of the trailer and they are always after the tow car brakes. Over-ride systems never brake the trailer before the tow vehicle brakes.

Electric brakes (and electric/air over hydraulic and vacuum over hydraulic) can be controlled from the drivers position, can be set to activate before the tow vehicle brakes come on so pulling the trailer-tow up in a straight line and can even be used manually to overcome fish-tailing when the combination becomes unbalanced. These are things that an over-ride system (hydraulic or mechanical) can never do .

Just out of interest, how many trains have over-ride braking systems?

BTW: Do you know how electric brakes work? There is an electro magnet inside the drum, this is connected via a mechanical linkage to the brake shoes. The electric controller supplies current to the magnet, which pulls it up against the back face of the brake drum, which then tries to rotate the magnet along with the drum and this rotation is transferred to the linkages which push the shoes onto the braking surface of the drum. The more voltage the harder the magnet tries to grasp the drum and the more force is applied to the shoes. (As you can guess the brakes are directional (sided) and don't work well in reverse.)

Originally Posted by Graeme

I bought an intelligent Tekonsha P3 (now $139 on ebay) rather than a dumb Redarc. Whilst I haven't used it yet, I consider smartness is preferred, especially in abnormal situations.

What do you mean by smart and dumb?

Is the Redarc manual variation and the Tekonsha load sensing?

Originally Posted by Graeme

I bought an intelligent Tekonsha P3 (now $139 on ebay) rather than a dumb Redarc. Whilst I haven't used it yet, I consider smartness is preferred, especially in abnormal situations.

I am using the P3 now on a camper trailer. Very flexable and easy to adjust. My mum and dad pinched the trailer for three months "grey nomads" trip and I put a P3 on their car. 6000km odd trip later they liked the P3, they had electric brakes on other trailers before they retired and said the P3 was easily the best they had ever used. I can find little if any reports of issues with the P3 while pleanty of very loud problems with some of the others brands which are twice the price or more than you paid.