Check Your Breakaway Switch

[jkwilson]

I was doing a pre-trip check and hung my clamp-on meter on one of the breakaway wires and pulled the tether. Nothing!

Played around and stuck a screwdriver in the opening and got a connection. Worked the contacts up and down a few times but still no connection without help from the screwdriver.

I replaced the original Conntek switch with a Curt switch and it works fine. I did a post-mortem on the Conntek switch, and I was not impressed. Simple switch with two springs pushing the contacts together when the pin is pulled. But when you pull one back, the other one doesn’t move. There is not any pressure on the springs when the pin is pulled, and the contacts are not quite touching each other. No dirt or rust on the springs to impede movement. Apparently the springs are made of cheap metal or are just too short to start with.

Though I haven’t disassembled a Curt switch, there is a distinctive click when the contacts touch each other so I believe it’s a much better design.

[more tired since retired]

You might consider getting an extra pin. Somehow broke one in the switch, so no functioning. I was able to remove the pin and had a real problem finding a replacement. When I did, bought 2 so I had a spare.

[orbsah]

Hi all - I found this thread after experiencing a similar issue w/ my breakaway. Maybe I need some education; Here's the story. . . . Prepping for first trip of the season and I've never checked the breakaway switch on my nearly one-year-old Solitude. So I yanked it and sure enough, heard the hydraulic unit kick in, then after about 3 seconds, re-inserted the pin. But I thought, wow, that seemed to take a lot of force to pull out, so I pulled the pin again. Again, the hydraulic unit kicked in and all good (re-inserted after a few seconds). Then I thought I should show my wife how this works just so she knows. So I pulled the pin for the third time with her watching and nothing - the hydraulic unit didn't kick on.

After some troubleshooting I determined the switch went bad. Replaced the switch w/ a Curt model (as mentioned above) and everything is working fine now.

Afterwards, I took a closer look at the original switch and found the contacts were significantly corroded. Checked w/ an ohm meter and no continuity when the pin was pulled. I then took a small jewelry file and cleaned the contacts and got it to work (I wish I was smart enough to do that before replacing it).

Did I do something wrong here? Again, my trailer is less than a year old, but of course who knows how old the switch was when it was installed at the factory. Could there have been some arcing at the contacts when I pulled the pin those first 2 times which contributed to the contamination? Should those contacts be cleaned as part of regular maintenance? I'd appreciate any insight. Thanks!

[jkwilson]

Filing electrical contacts can be a problem. Things are often copper or brass plated steel or aluminum. The plating is very thin and easy to file or sand through. A dollar bill is good for cleaning if there is room, or a liquid contact cleaner are better choices.