Brakes locking on when reversing
I wonder if someone with greater technical knowledge than me can explain this situation? We arrived at the Broadway site on Sunday - note the temperature was 30 degrees plus. I decided to use the motor mover to position the van rather than driving over the grass strip between pitches opposite. As the van turned through 90 degrees - everything was fine but then, as the van went straight back, the brakes seemed to lock on and it was going nowhere! Moved the brake lever up and down a couple of times but it didn't make any difference. Eventually managed to get the MM disconnected and with the help of other campers, managed to push our very heavy Bailey Barcelona onto the pitch - much to the relief of the other four cars/vans waiting behind me. The following morning, when leaving and having changed the handset battery, the MM behaved faultlessly. Could the very hot weather have had anything to do with the braking mechanism being activated?
Comments
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The fact you were able to push such a heavy van onto the pitch, suggests the brakes were not engaged. Was the mover trying to drive, or not making any noise at all. We have occasionally had interference problems with ours, either somebody using a mover close by, or at one site a known problem due to a radio transmitter. When this has occurred the mover just cuts out, every thing is on, just no communication. Either that, or as you said it worked after charging the battery, it could just have had insufficient power to transmit.
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From your description it sounds more like your battery has been drained of enough amps to render the MM useless.
And has been recharged overnight on ehu.
if your brakes had locked on how did you manage to move on to pitch manually.
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Another possibility, another point to check is was your fridge on 12v setting before arrival.
your element on fridge could short circuit causing battery to drain.
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Yes MM and all connected via wiring and sockets that can corrode and short with each other or could even be a problem with the tow cars wiring.
should blow a fuse I know but not always.
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Thanks for the comments - just let me clarify a few points. The battery was fully charged and the MM worked fine through the turn until it came to go straight back. Then, although the MM was still working, it seemed that the brakes were being applied and the more the mover tried to push, the harder the brakes came on and it was almost as if the mover was trying to tip the van up. Yes, I agree - how did we manage to push the van if the brakes were applied - clearly they can't have been - as evidenced by the fact that once the MM was disengaged, it was comparatively easy for four of us the push the van with no resistance apart from the weight of the van. I wondered if it was something to do with the brake shoes being hot and had expanded against the drums but if this was the case, we wouldn't have been able to push it! I am now thinking that something weird was happening with the signal from the handset which was cured when I changed the handset battery (although the old one had only been in for a few weeks).
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