Braking or lack of it

On the road from the Green Bay area to Eau Claire and from there to Prior Lake we got an alarm from our supplemental braking system on the Jeep that we had a low battery.  This meant the system was not working properly and we really did not have a supplemental braking system.  The purpose of the system is to apply brakes to the Jeep when it is in tow and we apply the brakes in the RV.  It is a safety system that is required in many states and in Canada.  We bought it as a safety feature and to reduce ware on the RV brakes.  Now it stopped working.  We still have brakes but it is entirely up to the RV to stop both vehicles.

The brake pack plugs into the 12 volt DC plug in the Jeep for power.  The RVi web site (maker of the braking system) said the DC plug may not be providing enough power to the unit and therefore causing the "low battery" alarm.  The solution was to order and install a direct power line to the battery.  Before I spent the money and did that I took the Jeep to a dealer and had the system tested and it tested out fine.  The dealer did tell me that the wiring for the DC outlet had a lower gauge wire than the braking system specified and that the direct wire would solve that.  They could do it but for considerably more than me buying the kit and doing it myself.  So I got the kit and installed it.  Many of you know that I am not really a car guy so I was a little concerned, but it was simple.  We tested the braking system and got the alarm again.  So I contacted the manufacturer.  They had me plug in the unit and the guy listened to it start up over the phone.  He immediately determine the vacuum seal was leaking and that would cause it to recharge too often and thus drain the battery.  Good news, there are 2 solutions.

One solution is that I could return the brake pack, they would repair it and send it back to me at no charge. The process would take about 2 weeks.  The other solution is that I could upgrade to the new and improved RVi2 and I could have that new pack in a few days.  It also would give me a 4 year warranty.  Because we were scheduled to leave MN in a few days and liking the idea of a new unit rather than a rebuilt one I went for the upgrade.

On the 17th we hooked everything up and drove about 2.5 hours with no problem with the braking system.