Went on a test run with my cargo trailer with electric brakes and sure enough the brake controller is activated and causing the trailer brakes to come on. This does not have the relay in the side compartment as some. Anyone know what the relay I can unplug looks like and says on it? How many prongs will it have?
Thanks
Some have found relay, under the carpeted panel at the drivers seat feet area, remove it, and you may find it. Screws are buried in the carpet.
Sometimes we mounted it there. You can trace the wires down to the brake light switches in the lower compartment. You may be able to disconnect them.
If Aubrey is still at MOT give him a call.
Chris
Will my trailer brake lights still come on with it disconnected
Mine was where gracerace said, behind the panel left of the steering column by my feet
Are saying you can get at the switches from inside. My floor is tiled.
Yup, see those crimp ends? Those are the 3 added on wires.
We installed them above and below, depended what day it was!
That is not one of my installs, would have had heat shrink!
Chris
No, it's the piece that is vertical in front of brake and gas pedal.
Chris
Ok. So I'm confused. I thought it was a plug in relay? Do I just remove those 3 crimped wires and store them? 2 whites and a red?
Just take either 2 wires off one of the lugs and tape them up, that will break the circuit.
Either two wires as in both white wires? or just one white wire?
The relay, is what sends a brake signal to the brake light switch's from the retarder joy stick. Removing the relay, or disconnecting the white wires will do the trick, if you can't find the relay.
You can see Keith's relay unplugged in his picture
Chris
If the relay is disconnected will the retarder still take the trans out of cruise.
Great. Thanks. I'll look today
No, that is the beauty of it.
I think I will add another pressure switch for the trailer brake controller
And the 2 white wires that I'm storing should be coming from the joy stick area next to he driver?
A friend of mine thinks my Prodigy P2 brake controller has a setting called hydraulic that will fix the problem. I'll try it and report back
White wires come from the relay to the brake light switch.
Prodigy P2 controller, is not going to solve the problem.
If you don't/can't remove the brake light signal form the retarder, then I suggest you do what " Old guy" said. Add another pressure switch for the brake control.
Chris
Chris
Well, that sucks. Mine must be behind the drivers left kick panel below the retarder joystick panel. How does this come out. It appears to be a solid piece of wood without screws? Don't find anything above the foot pedals that resembles a brake switch with white wires
There are maybe 4 to 6 screws in the carpet. Use a magnet to find them. They are square head drive. It's the vertical panel in front of the brake and gas pedal, not below retarder joy stick
Chris
Ok. I'll look again
One thing not mentioned. With the retarder separated from the brake lights, the retarder will make the coach act like it has an active cruise control.
I find that when the cruise is set, and the joy stick is in the middle position, the coach maintains a steady speed, even going down hill.
I normally run at the legal speed limit, or 5 miles per mile over. This way as the coach speeds up on a down hill run, it slows the coach nicely maintaining the legal speed limit, where cops usually set up speed traps.
Just sayin'
Chris
This issue was a problem with the old US Brake System. Their solution was to place a Diode at the brake pedal between the brake light and the brake system. This caused the restriction of back flow from retarder to brake lights and permitted the flow when brake pedal pressed. I have one on my coach since new and works like a charm. I don't need it any more because I use SMI system.
Good info, but that is not what the issue is here.
The retarder, is sending a signal directly to the brake light switch, which causes the brake lights to activate.
The brake control needs a signal from brake activation to work.
Most early coaches, like my 97, and his 96 had, had the joy stick added as an option, either at the factory, but most likely at the dealer. Later as the coaches started coming from the factory with the joy stick standard, they were wired differently.
Chris
Your not understanding what I said. with the diode the retarder works normally but does not send signal any more to brake lights . Only brake pedal send signal to brake lights. Thus your brake controller works as it should, and retarder works as it should. My son owns a rv repair shop and does this every time someone has a problem. Only issue is brake lights don't go on when retarder is on. If your using brakes and retarder then the prodigy also works with lights.
Ok. I'm going to pull the panel in front of the brake and gas pedals. Unfortunately the previous owner placed luxury vinyl on the floor and up the vertical panel. Hopefully I can get the paneling off and then the factory panel to expose the brake switch. I hope that is where this is.
Awesome, that makes more sense. Same ending, if you can't unplug the relay.
Thanks for input
Cheers
Chris
The original panel on the left probably looked like this. These photos are from my 97 but the 95 was the same. Hopefully the previous owner simply tiled the removable panel. The original was attached with velcro and takes a pretty good pull to get it loose. Then you can get to the area you want to access.
As Chris indicated the panel to the right of the removable panel is screwed in. The last three photos show mine. The arrows point to the screws.
jor
Found them behind the washer reservoir bottle in genny radiator access door. Only two leads not heat shrunk, so I'll try them
I see my brake air switches from underneath the coach but so far I have no idea how I can reach them. I may find another place
to install the brake controller air switch.
As mentioned here, when my retarder comes on during a downhill, it kicks the cruise off, so when I hit the bottom, I have to resume the cruise for the coach to continue as before. Personally I have no issue with the brake likes coming on due to the retarder, but I don't want it to cancel the cruise control.
I gather that the retarder signals the brake lights by being connected directly to the same terminal as the brake light switch output. What I'm curious about is where does the cruise control get the signal that the brake lights have come on?
What I'm thinking is to move the retarder brake output downstream of the cruise disable connection, and using a diode, keep the brake lights working but not turning off the cruise. Has anyone done anything like this? No need to reinvent the wheel if it's already been figured out and done.
Couldn't just a separate brake switch/spring that see's the movement of the brake peddle be satisfactory to set the brake controller. I'm actually using the brake light and retarder circuit to additionally activate radiator fans to hi during retarder or brake use I will be leaving circuit active although it does get annoying having retarder trip cruise control. That was my plan to set electric brakes.
Scott
We just put a dash switch to optionally NOT activate brake lights when retarder is activated, mainly for the reason Keith found. Easy run pair of wires down to front wall of bay under driver's seat, where retarder brake light relay is located.