Da Brakes!

[Arkansas1]

OK it finally happened was doing a preflight inspection and was checking brakes and my prodigy said that I had an "OL" message looking to see what this message means and I found out that this meant an overload has occured, I then called the Prodigy folks for there take and was told that I had a magnet on one of the brakes going out as the rig was surging while applying the brakes, so has any body went down this road before and if so what is involved for the do-it-yourselfer !
Your input much appreaciated!
Mike

 

[57chevyconvt]

I have had a problem with the wiring insulation that goes to the magnet being cut by the sharp edges of the brake shoe which resulted in a direct ground. You might ask the brake controller folks if this would give the same fault code.

 

[hoefler]

Any short will cause an overload situation, bad magnets, cut wires, bare wires, etc.. Check the wiring from pig tail to the brakes. If the brakes wires run inside the axles, this is the first place I would look. They are notorious for rubbing the insulation off the wires when run in the axles. Take a VOM, set it to DC voltage, hook the leads red to the battery positive in the pig tail, hook the black to the brake contact in the pig tail. If it is shorted the voltage reading will be high. Has some one watch the meter will you wiggle the wires, when the voltage drops or flickers, you have found the area of the short.

 

[cookie]

I had that same thing happen. Twice. When you have a fault on the controller, it shuts down and you no longer have trailer brakes.
For me it was a bad magnet in both cases. Had them replaced under warranty and all was good. It is not a hard job to change them out.
As others above have said, you could have a short in a wire that would show the same fault.
My solution to end mechanical and electrical problems was to install disk brakes.

Peace
Dave

 

[Robert-n-Marion_Wengler]

Adj. the brakes

 

[Arkansas1]

Found it! and a big thanks for those who gave their advice, it was in fact a worn wire, it appears that one of the wires going to the magnet had moved around enough that it made contact with the hub and would move on occasions just enough to make it touch from time to time thus causing the overload message, fixed now and ready once again for the road.
Once again a BIG OLE THANK YOU to each of you for your valued input.
Best Wishes to all!
Mike