What did you do to your Ranger today? (Part Deux!)

[Killakittie]

Drove the truck 520 miles on a 9 hour trip today. AC worked great, no vibration just a cramped leg after about 7 hours on the road.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Had the Choptop out for a spin, lol

 

[JohnnyO]

Collected a second consecutive 3rd Place award at the Carlisle Ford Nationals. Then I drove three hours home in a monsoon and the Ranger isn't nearly as clean as it was yesterday.

 

[ekrampitzjr]

Actually yesterday, I drove the Ranger to Point Lookout, Maryland, to catch a vessel to Smith Island. Had a good time and the truck hit 175,000 miles during the trip.

 

[scotts90ranger]

The '97 jumpstarted two vehicles in the yard today... moved the parts camry and the dumb '00 Explorer with all it's electronic gizmos that drag the battery down had to be jumped... oh and I moved the '90 so I could mow where it was...

 

[scotts90ranger]

Somewhat Ranger related but my Ranger trailer that I moved last night is definitely overloaded or a leaf spring broke... apparently it doesn't like being fully loaded with my lumber stash for some reason... one side the top of the wheel arch is even with the top of the tire and the other side has 1" of room, not on the bump stops but it isn't happy . I'm not upset on that $75 purchase... by the time I put my canopy on it and decided to keep my salvaged pallet wood from work in it it's been very handy, that lumber took up way too much floor space

 

[UnionThug]

New shoes

 

[Rick W]

Oh, wise ones….

I have an electric trailer brake controller wiring question. After I do the little repairs to the RangerRanger from the Carlisle trip, my next priority is to install the electric brakes on the two remaining axles under the step trailer.

I know how to wire up the brake controller, and I know how to connect it all to the trailer, I have all the instructions and I’ve done it before.

My question is, how do you fuse that brake controller? If you blow the fuse, you lose the brakes. Yes/no?

I’ve looked online, and every place says to run the power wire directly to the battery terminal, and not to run it anywhere in the fuse block. That makes sense to me. Then it says (different sources) to put in a 20 amp or a 30 amp fuse. And then on down the line.

Here’s my question: what if the fuse blows? Then you just don’t have any breaks at all.

Out of the wild Blue, I was thinking of using a 20 amp resetting circuit breaker that I robbed out of an old Ford/Lincoln fuse panel, and I was going to look if I could find a 30 amp circuit breaker that automatically resets. But that leads to the same problem, if you overheat it and pop the circuit breaker, until it resets,you just lose all the brakes.

Soooo, out of the blue again, I was thinking of fusing it with a 30 amp fuse, but running a bypass-the-fuse wire to a panic switch so if the fuse blows, I could flip the switch and have brakes. I’d rather burn something up in the circuit, then wear my trailer as a hat.

What am I missing?

BTW, the 96 F250 is just pre-wired so you can plug in the trailer brake controller. I think the 97 Road Ranger is also pre-wired, but I still have the same question.

Any and all comments or welcome.

 

[Curious Hound]

If your fuse blows, that is because of a problem, most likely a short to ground somewhere. The fuse blows, thereby protecting the rest of your vehicle's electrical system from the short circuit. This is a good thing. Your vehicle will still operate and you will still have vehicle brakes. You can still stop. Just not as quickly.

I would strongly recommend NOT creating a bypass circuit. That would negate the whole idea of protecting your vehicle from the short circuit fault.

I would also recommend NOT oversizing the fuse. Do what the manufacturer dictates. Oversizing the fuse could expose the rest of the vehicle to damage from the high current of a fault. Also, the purpose of the fuse or any overcurrent protection is to prevent melted or burnt wiring and other circuit components in the event of a high fault current. Basically, it's there to prevent burning your truck to the ground.

If there is no fuse built into the brake controller, put it in line between the controller and the battery. I believe their direction to get your circuit directly from the battery is because many people would just pick the closest, easiest power source they can find. That source may be supplied by a fuse that is too small, which might blow prematurely, rendering the brake controller and some other circuit useless. Furthermore, adding the brake controller to the other circuit would overload that circuit and increase the risk of a blown fuse and no brakes.

So, to summarize;
1. Build a fresh new dedicated circuit right from the battery.
2. Protect that circuit with the correctly sized fuse as recommended by the brake controller manufacturer.
3. You can use a resettable circuit breaker if you want. But, a simple fuse and fuse holders are fine. Do quality work and you run no risk of blowing a fuse unless something physically damages your wiring.

 

[superj]

I would rmuch rather pop a fuse then melt wires. Everytime it happened to me, the car filled with smoke and i thought i was done.

Use the fuse

 

[Rick W]

If your fuse blows, that is because of a problem, most likely a short to ground somewhere. The fuse blows, thereby protecting the rest of your vehicle's electrical system from the short circuit. This is a good thing. Your vehicle will still operate and you will still have vehicle brakes. You can still stop. Just not as quickly.

I would strongly recommend NOT creating a bypass circuit. That would negate the whole idea of protecting your vehicle from the short circuit fault.

I would also recommend NOT oversizing the fuse. Do what the manufacturer dictates. Oversizing the fuse could expose the rest of the vehicle to damage from the high current of a fault. Also, the purpose of the fuse or any overcurrent protection is to prevent melted or burnt wiring and other circuit components in the event of a high fault current. Basically, it's there to prevent burning your truck to the ground.

If there is no fuse built into the brake controller, put it in line between the controller and the battery. I believe their direction to get your circuit directly from the battery is because many people would just pick the closest, easiest power source they can find. That source may be supplied by a fuse that is too small, which might blow prematurely, rendering the brake controller and some other circuit useless. Furthermore, adding the brake controller to the other circuit would overload that circuit and increase the risk of a blown fuse and no brakes.

So, to summarize;
1. Build a fresh new dedicated circuit right from the battery.
2. Protect that circuit with the correctly sized fuse as recommended by the brake controller manufacturer.
3. You can use a resettable circuit breaker if you want. But, a simple fuse and fuse holders are fine. Do quality work and you run no risk of blowing a fuse unless something physically damages your wiring.

Gee, you all almost make it sound like I might cut corners on one of my builds. Where did you ever get that idea?

But seriously, thanks, all good advice. I actually do know everything you’re talking about. I don’t fool around with any of the safety stuff, just the screwy lights and whatever, and all of them are still protected. With all the driving in the past few days, I just got to thinking about “what if?” I don’t really have any big plans to carry anything very heavy, I already did it once, it’s just the one item I want to be positive about the way I set it up that truck and trailer.

When I put in the circuits in the truck and through the trailer for the axles, I used top quality oversized wire, double checking all of my connections and such, and also being doubly careful about any place the wire may be chafed in the routing.

I will have three brake axles on the controller, and I’m planning another car trailer that will have three axles, so with the extra axle on the Ranger, it would be four axles. The controller I have is rated for that.

Again, I just got to thinking about the “what if?” and trying to get ideas, more minds involved.

 

[Curious Hound]

Gee, you all almost make it sound like I might cut corners on one of my builds.

Not trying to do that. Just trying to help you understand why or why not on certain things. We like you too much to let you burn the truck down or get hurt in an accident.

 

[Rick W]

Not trying to do that. Just trying to help you understand why or why not on certain things. We like you too much to let you burn the truck down or get hurt in an accident.

Are you speaking in code?

 

[holyford86]

Started stripping out the cab that'll eventually get swapped onto my 86, I've got some rust repair ahead of me but at least it isn't structural repairs, other than a minor issue on the radiator support

 

[pjtoledo]

oil change on both of 'em.