 BRAKE NOW! — Ensuring your trailer brakes fill the legal requirements — by Pierre Barnard
AFTER the March issue of SKI-BOAT appeared on the shelves, I had numerous phone calls from readers who were not aware of all the issues involved in trailers’ braking systems. (See Towing — legal or illegal?, SKI-BOAT March/April 2009.)
“Ice-cold Bodies”, manufacturers of refrigerated trucks and trailers, also phoned to informed me that they have obtained the agency for Carlisle braking systems from American-based company Carlisle Industrial Brake & Friction.
Carlisle braking systems are not new to South Africa, and many trailer manufacturers are currently fitting these systems to their trailers. The photographs of the braking system used by Mallards, which appeared in the article in the previous issue, were in fact of a Carlisle braking system.
To explain how the system works is very simple — if you’re technically minded.
FEATURES
The Carlisle trailer brake actuator is a microprocessor-based 12 volt DC system for use on single-, double- and triple-axle trailers equipped with hydraulic brakes. The Carlisle actuator kit consists of a trailer-mounted actuator, a 17 amp-hour trailer brake battery, an emergency breakaway switch, and an in-cab controller.
The Carlisle actuator is unique in that it is totally trailer mounted. The actuator connects to the wiring on the trailer and does not require any modifications or additions to the wiring on the tow vehicle. Any vehicle that can connect to the trailer and power the trailer’s lights can make use of the Carlisle trailer brake actuator.
In-cab control is provided by a pendant that plugs into the cigarette lighter on the tow vehicle. No modifications to tow vehicle or the tow vehicle’s wiring are required to make the in-cab control unit operate correctly.
Numerous vehicles can share a single trailer brake control by simply moving the in-cab control from one to another. Additional in-cab control units are available and are compatible with all Carlisle trailer brake actuators. The actual brake actuator stays with the trailer where it is mounted.
Read the full story in the May/June 2009 issue of SKI-BOAT
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