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Campers towing cars


Nonimouse

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Is it actually "electric brakes" if the brakes are the cars normal brakes just having the pedal operated by some sort of electric actuator. Also I see no reason why a Morse cable from an overrun hitch couldn't operate the cars pedal. The servo isn't needed because that doesn't increase braking it just reduces the input required.

Mike

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I thought electric brakes weren't allowed in the uk? When I looked at getting a us import 5th wheel caravan I was told I had to have the brakes converted to air and a compressor fitted to the tow vehicle?  The guy down the road from me has a Bowden cable attachment in the grill of his panda, I guess there are different ways of doing it. 

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I am not sure why the UK is so backward as far as electric trailer brakes are concerned - in Aust and most other places we have had them for years and they work exceptionally well and in cases of emergency the trailer brakes can be operated independently of the tow vehicle - correcting bad sway etc.  Most of our caravans are twice the weight of your flimsy UK vans and 99.9% have electric trailer brakes fitted as standard.

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Maybe that's an argument to support trailer MOTs rather than banning electric? There are some absolute heaps of junk around here. I saw one where the guy had put a coil spring in the middle of the axle, I guess to get it to carry more weight, the axle was like a banana. :D Linked brakes are much better than over run. 

You used to be able to tow more than 3.5 tonne with linked brakes, I'm sure you could order a defender with trailer air brakes and a 4.5 tonne towing limit from the factory. 

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Well in Aust we do not have an issue with electric brakes where they are normal for trailers/vans over 2 tonne which is the max weight for overrun brakes here.  And yes in many of our jurisdictions there is an annual MOT for trailers over a certain weight though in some there is no requirement.

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We use these trailed vehicles at work although not in the UK, mainly VW UPs or Toyota Aygos. The cars are converted at a specialist and they use this braking setup. https://www.demco-products.com/rv-towing/supplemental-brakes/stay-in-play-duo

I'll let you guys decide whether it would be legal to use in the UK or not, but I'd say its the same or similar setup used by most camper van towing conversions you see on the roads. 

Edited by Mudmonkey
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that's interesting

I've been looking at various set ups in services, trying to see what is what, but without alarming people too much

 

My colleagues over in the DVSA are having a pogrom aimed at trailers at the moment, so they are all a bit busy for a chat

 

Edited by Nonimouse
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Saw one yesterday with an over-run setup. Had a bowden cable heading into the grill of the towed car, so I suspect some kind of attachment through to the brake pedal. It would have simplicity going for it. 

If anyone needed reasons why we don't have electric brakes, they're detailed above. The Demco setup does look pretty cool, though. 

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Every hgv in the last probably 20 years has a trailer electrical brake connection for the abs system. The brakes are still air but the abs has to be working for the trailers annual mot and 6-12 weekly safety inspection. It's not impossible but it does take maintenance at least once a decade. I think a lot of the problems with uk trailers is that they have the cheapest, nastiest connections possible in the plugs and lamp holders. If they were wired to the same standard as a car they would be better. I think sealed led until are a big improvement on filament lamp holders and the 13pin plug is a big improvement on the 7. 

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4 hours ago, FridgeFreezer said:

I'll say he's on occasion a bit of a d**k and he's not as clever as a lot of his fans think he is.

I haven't watched anything else of his yet, ........... but recently I have been a bit depressed by commercial US  tv shown here where the repetition of, and repeated intro of,  real content just wears you down that it was nice to see something American that was continuous/sequential like that. Also I didn't know anything about electric brakes until that so I learned something.

If I adopt a 'diplomatic' mode for a moment, ............. lets face it we can all be too pleased with ourselves on occasion, (pride comes before a fall etc. and sometimes it is a very short step to full dickheadhood), but without that kind of person there would be far fewer vid's and as someone who is using them to augment gaps in his memory and learning , I am overall in favour , even if it means putting up with a range of 'talent' :wacko:

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I've moved over to LED solid state lights and trailer boards, as well as an excellent set of super cheap Chinese LED magnetic trailer lights

 

Can I also suggest for You Tube entertainment you try the Welker farms channel - lost of engineering, great photography, big horsepower

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