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Re: towing

To: "W. R. Gibbons" <gibbons@northpole.med.uvm.edu>
Subject: Re: towing
From: Chip Old <fold@mail.bcpl.lib.md.us>
Date: Tue, 28 May 1996 12:07:20 -0400 (EDT)
On Tue, 28 May 1996, W. R. Gibbons wrote:

> Another respondant likes a controller that is actuated by the brake 
> lights of the tow vehicle.  Unless there is something there that I don't 
> understand, it seems to me this would be an on/off system.  I'd prefer a 
> system that applied the trailer brakes in proportion to the application 
> of the tow vehicle brakes.  I tried a Sekonic electronic unit that used a 
> pendulum to sense the tow vehicle deceleration, and hated it.  If the 
> sensitivity was set low, the trailer did not do its share of braking.  If 
> it was set high, the trailer braked well on the level, but going downhill 
> the trailer could take over.  I would apply the truck brakes, the trailer 
> brakes would go on, but because the slope affected the pendulum, the 
> trailer would brake so hard that releasing the truck brakes would not 
> have any effect and we would grind to a stop.  The horse hated that as 
> did anyone behind me.
 
I was the "another respondant".  That's what you get for opting for a
Sekonic controller instead of a Kelsey-Hayes.  The latter is pretty much
standard equipment among horse towers in my area and enjoys a very good
reputation.  The unit is activated by current from the brake light switch,
and braking force is modulated by the internal pendulum which senses both
gradient and deceleration.  The Sekonic and all others I've seen work the
same way.

If the controller is connected correctly and if the brake light switch
works correctly, there is power to the controller and therefore power to
the rheostat/pendulum assembly and therefore
braking at the trailor only when you apply the tow vehicle brakes.  If
yours continued to brake the trailor after you took your foot off the
brake, then either the unit was installed incorrectly so it always had
power, or your stoplight switch was defective, or the brake shoes on the
trailor were not retracting, or you're one of those people who rides
around with his foot always resting on the brake pedal.  :-)
 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Chip Old                      1948 M.G. TC  TC6710  NEMGTR #2271
Cub Hill, Maryland            1962 Triumph TR4  CT3154LO (daily driver)
fold@mail.bcpl.lib.md.us
 
If cars had evolved as fast as computers have, by now they'd cost a
quarter, run for a year on a half-gallon of gas, and explode once a day. 


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