[IRV2]

Originally Posted by flybouy

Bill I don't know how long you had the pin pulled but you can burn those magnets up using the breakaway pin while stopped for a couple of reasons. When your brake controller activates the trailer brakes it modulates the voltage according to the inertia. Typically it will apply full or near full voltage and taper it off to zero or near zero when stopped. With the trailer moving the air circulation helps to cool the brake components inside the drums. When you pull the breakaway pin it connects the brake magnets directly to the trailer battery sending full available battery voltage. The intent is if the trailer breaks away from the TV the pin should pull out applying full brakes to stop the trailer. Obviously, burning up a brake magnet is better than having the trailer rolling lose. I hope this helps explain what happened. I would suggest at the minimum check the braking with the TV before traveling at speed anywhere. You could also check each magnet with an ohm meter but If it were my trailer I would would pull the drums and visually inspect as well.

When I started asking about the batteries we had it at the house to load up for departure on Wed. I had pulled the pin on Sunday night. Monday evening when I got home the trailer batteries were dead. Obviously, since then I have travelled and returned.
If I had this information before I left it may have postponed our trip to the local Rv park about (10 miles). But because my main issue was the charging of these batteries I just didn't realize it. The fact that I had pulled the pin (breakaway) didn't occur to me until Sat night at the park.
Just to be clear I aways check my bakes when I hook up and start down the road. I get up to about 10 mph and use trailer brake to stop my TV. When I tested my brakes Wed upon departure the trailer brakes functioned normally and away we went. If they hadn't operated as expected you can be assured I would not have left my house and would have been asking the question on here as to what happened Our trip was roughly 23 miles round trip and thankfully was uneventful.
To the comments about wheel chocks I had already stated that I used them, I just pulled the pin because I thought hey why not be extra careful...:face palm:

Flybouy when I pull my drums off this Sat. and look at the magnets what should I be looking for? Thank you for sharing your knowledge!