You would normally see a small box with a motorcycle size battery or lawn tractor battery in it for the break away switch to use on utility trailers or car haulers with electric brakes.

That's the point of the break away.. It's activated when the trailer has already disconnected from the vehicle and the 7 pin plug is long disconnected...

You don't necessarily want the break away to activate while it's still all attached to the vehicle would you?? I know I don't...

You also want the break away cable attached to the bumper or the frame of the vehicle and not just wrapped around the chain and attached to the hitch.. What if the hitch is the failed part?? Anyway, that's how I've been doing it and I've never had a break away situation and hope I never do...

Good luck!

Mitch

 

Thanks. So I guess I should be looking for a battery in the trailer then, probably behind the hitch in the frame under the trailer. No place inside for it that I can see. Anyway, I'm sorry if I've hi-jacked this thread. This is all good information that people should have if they aren't too familiar with the workings of trailers. Assumptions can make for a bad situation. When I hook up my chains I cross them under the hitch and attach them on each side to the hitch receivers retainers for the chains. Then I run the cable for the breakaway switch thru one of the retainers and back to the hitch. I then put the loop of the cable under the safety pin, make a loop then put the pin in the latch to secure the hitch to the ball. That allows me enough slack for turns, but short enough to pull the safety pin out of the breakaway switch. Again, thanks for the info.

 

I tell all my customers to get a snap to put on the break away cable so they can attach it to the truck frame. On my truck I put a D ring on the frame so I can snap the break away cable to it. I have never seen a factory trailer with electric brakes that did not have a battery. On most it is a small plastic box mounted inside the A arms on the hitch or on the front of the trailer body between the frame rails. Probably about 3in X 7in X 7in, a replacement battery kit with the box runs about 35 bucks a battery runs about 20 bucks. http://www.trailerpartsdepot.com/ite...atus=0&Tp=&Bc=

At the bottom of the page you can see some breakaway cables setup like I mentioned. Most of the battery box setups are very small.

 

We had a customer who unhooked his trailer last year and pulled the break away. This killed his battery and when he hooked the trailer up to tow it. The brakes burned up before his charge fuse blew.

 

Just to be clear, the battery and breakaway switch are only required on trailers with over 2000 (IIRC! Correct me if I'm wrong.) pounds GVW. It's not required on ALL trailers.

 

The maximum legal trailer weight without brakes varies from state to state and province to province.

 

Yes there is only one set of DOT legal for electric brakes that requires a battery and break away switch. The rules making brakes mandatory vary from State to State but can't be more than DOT minimum which without looking it up is 2600lbs. One side note is if the brakes are installed they must be functional. A friend of mine a few years back got popped for seat belts in has 37 coupe. He fought the ticket because seat belts were not installed in the car and were not required by law which is true. However he lost because the judge said since he installed seat belts the had to be legal and his were not installed to the rules. I got pulled over one time for not wearing mine properly the cop said the belt had to adjusted to fit correctly even though I was wearing it.

 

You're exactly right about the seat belts! When I bought my 1951 truck,
I had a heck of a time trying to find out exactly what the law was here in
Florida. Even the local antique car club people had no idea! LEOs all said
that "You HAVE to wear a seat belt and shoulder harness". But it turns out
that if your vehicle came with seat belts OR if you added them, then you
must wear them. If the car didn't came with any and none have been added
then you're NOT required to wear them. You are NOT required to add seat
belts to an antique vehicle.

I think most states have similar laws but YMMV! I printed out a copy of
the relevant laws and keep a copy in my truck.

 

I wish I had kept my 51 Ford pickup. But when dad sold my hemi and my brother shot out the windows with his BB gun I gave up and sold it.

 

This may be a little out of date, but the issue of
"disconnected" is if Ford does not "turn on" the ITBC in the computer of the truck, then it will display "disconnected" or something similar.

 

I have a 2013 f150 and I know its probably still under warranty but I really don't have time to take it to the dealer on the other side of town to get it looked at. I have towing package, well when I hook up my utility trailer the lights weren't working, tried to hook the trailer to another truck boom the lights work. Check my fuse box and nothing needed replaced, however there are these fuses and per my manual they are three on for each light and something else but they are not fuses they are relays, how do I tell if they are bad or not.

 

You need a test light. The easiest way to check your tow vehicle is turn on the headlights and 4 way emergency flashers. This will engage all the light circuits on your trailer so you won't need to start the vehicle or have someone turn on signals or hit the brake.

On your 7 way truck plug check the 11 o'clock position. It should be hot.
Check the 3 and 9 o'clock positions... they should be flashing. If these are doing that than there is no problem with the truck side trailer lighting. If they aren't working you need further investigation into your fuses and relays or possibly connection under your truck.

Many times we see issues like yours and it is still a ground issue on the trailer. Newer vehicles require good wiring grounds on the trailer where older vehicles would commonly ground out on the trailer ball... which would appear in testing just fine but would flicker or turn on or off when traveling with the trailer.

Be aware that even though you have a warranty most dealers charge a warranty service fee of up to $250. So that possible fuse could be very expensive at the dealership.

 

x2 on what Osprey said. 99% of the lighting issues that I find both in the car and on trailers are due to poor grounds! The trailer ball is NOT a reliable ground. Don't even waste your time trying to use it! Run a good ground wire and be done with it. Hell, the frame of the car isn't a decent ground either and that's what most manufacturer's use. Get a good jumper with GOOD clips on it and connect one end to the negative side of the battery and then connect the other end to one of the defective lights and see if it works then. Also check your bulbs and make sure that there is NO corrosion on them or inside of their sockets!!!!! MANY are now using bulbs with aluminium bases and they're not worth a DAMM. Put aluminium and steel together and I GUARANTEE that you'll have corrosion! Spend the extra money and get SOLID brass base bulbs. I can't even find them locally so I order them online and just buy box of 10 or 12. I can buy a box full with shipping for about what you'd pay for for 4 S****Y bulbs locally.

 

My 2014 works with E and EOH setups