Check your breakaway battery

[Rick Kirchner]

In July I replaced my 10 year old breakaway battery. Yesterday I was replacing the impossibly stuffed junction box with a nifty 3d printed one with a terminal strip in it, and removed the breakaway box to bet better drill access. Tonight I thought I should put the thing on a real charger, but I couldn't figure out the polarity of the plug (black and white wires vs black and red, and white was ground on other parts of the trailer)

Opened the box and the positive terminal had snapped off down inside the battery.

So, in addition to a new battery, I'll be putting a large dollop of glue on the terminals and securing the wires after hookup.

[DanW]

Also functionally test the emergency breakaway switch by pulling out the plug via the cable to make sure it activates the trailer brake.

[cory mcleod]

Great advice. My battery seems to go bad about every 5 years. Probably because I have long periods without using the trailer or charging it. Thankfully it was under $40 last time (which probably means it will be $100 next time).