Hayes Brake Controller Problem

[alan0043]

Hi Everyone,

 

I have installed a Hayes controller. It is air actuated. Today is the first day that I could start up the truck from when I installed the controller. The problem is when I release the brakes on the truck that the manual lever on the controller will move to the right and the LED light will come on. I believe that the trailer brakes are being actuated when this happens. The only thing that I can think of, did I tap into the correct air line for the brakes. The line that I tapped into has a plastic part with 2 wires coming off of this plastic part. This plastic part is at the end of this air line. I placed a tee in this air line. And the one end goes to the controller and the other end goes to this plastic part. I was hoping that plastic part was the brake light switch. Were do I start looking ? I want to be on the road for the ECR by April 7th..

 

Thank for any help,

Al

[Alie&Jim's Carrilite]

Somewhere behind the gauge display/ dash there should be another one of those transducers. My dash has 2 of them- 1 works like you just found out, and the other just works. If I remember right, it was in the original factory bundle that was attached across the firewall. Mine was all the way to the left.

[alan0043]

Somewhere behind the gauge display/ dash there should be another one of those transducers. My dash has 2 of them- 1 works like you just found out, and the other just works. If I remember right, it was in the original factory bundle that was attached across the firewall. Mine was all the way to the left.

 

Hi Jim,

 

It looks like I need to open up the gauge display again. The first transducer was to the right of center. I will try to look to the left of center to see what I can find. Do you remember what color the air line was ?

 

Thanks for your help,

Al

[Jim & Wilma]

Al, is this description in the Resource Guide any help?

[Alie&Jim's Carrilite]

That should help him. Halfway down the page, Brakesmart install for a Gen 1 shows the transducer with the brakesmart sensor tee'd in on the left side of the dash. My truck (gen 1 also) had another transducer on the right side as well.

 

All my lines were black. Several small lines off the gauges are red and green but they just tee into other lines.

[alan0043]

Hi Everyone,

 

Here is an update. I opened up the dash with the gauges. I looked to the left of center and found no second transducer. I looked around. The only that I can see on the left side is a main wire bundle all zipped tied up. The air line that I tapped into that had the transducer was orange. I did find a black air line on the right side but there was nothing at the end of it. The line looked like it was open on the end. It was coiled up looking like a spring. My truck is a Gen 1. It is a factory single VLN 420. Do you think being a factory single has anything to do with my problem ? How do I solve this problem ?

 

After a good look at the air line diagram, I think that I have tapped into the park/daytime running light switch. If the diagram is color coded that air line is orange. It looks like that line puts air to the brake cans. Time for breakfast. I will give a good look around the brake valve area. From what I see on the diagram, it looks like the stop light switch should be there some where. More updates later.

 

Thanks for the help everyone,

Al

[rickeieio]

I think I tapped into the line going to the brake pressure gauge.

[alan0043]

I think I tapped into the line going to the brake pressure gauge.

 

My truck has no brake pressure gauge. Thanks for the idea.

 

Al

[alan0043]

Hi Everyone,

 

I have printed out the air line diagram from the resource guide. I can not find the transducer for the stoplight switch behind the gauges in the dash. The dash area seems to have only one transducer and that transducer is the one for park/daytime running light switch. Is there any airline that I can tap into that is in the dash area or do I need to go under the hood ? If I have to go under the hood what air line would be best ? Would the stoplight switch transducer be under the hood ?

 

Looking at the diagram item #16 the manifold tractor protection valve, it shows that the stoplight switch comes off of item #16. If the manifold tractor protection valve is under the hood, I do not see the stoplight switch coming from it.

 

Al

[SuiteSuccess]

Al,

 

I have the Maxbrake but I "T'd" into the 1/4" black line in the engine compartment and ran through existing rubber grommet into the dash area and connected. Here is a pic. To be sure it worked correctly, I aired truck up to 60 psi while I had my thumb on line and had wife step lightly then harder on brake and noted that air flow proportionately increased. It did and everything seems to work fine.

[Darryl&Rita]

that transducer is the one for park/daytime running light switch.

 

Am I the only one scratching my head on this?

[Alie&Jim's Carrilite]

Got me stumped..... You can Tee into either the front or rear brake lines. At the back of the cab do you still have the commercial trailer air lines? Probably capped off but the air line for the commercial trailer brakes would work as well.

[ICPete]

Alan,

 

The Tractor Protection Valve (item 16 in the schematic) is located at the rear of the cab, just above the fuel tank on the driver's side. Mine has the 1/4-inch black tube going forward to get to the stoplight switch, but I haven't looked inside my dash to see where the stoplight switch (transducer) actually lives. There may be a chance it has been relocated in your truck for some reason. The advantage of using that stoplight circuit, as explained in the instructions on the HHRV Resource page, is that it works even if one of the two service brake circuits fails, since it gets pressure with a logical "or" from the brake circuits.

 

I know it's a bear, but perhaps you should try to trace that 1/4-inch tubing forward from your tractor protection valve.

 

In the following photo, the stoplight switch tubing is the black line coming off the very bottom of the TPV, going forward and down at a 45-degree angle (there's some white paint on the first inch of this tubing, from the person who re-painted the truck):

 

 

HTH,

Pete

[alan0043]

Thank Pete for the picture. My truck does not have the tractor valve protection on it any more.

 

I really would like to tap into the stoplight switch for the main reason that the resource guide gives.

 

Sorry for all the questions. I have another one. How I do I test the air line to know if I got the correct line ? I think I found the correct air line on the firewall. But I don't want to cut into another line finding out that I am wrong again.

 

 

Al

[Nigel]

You should be able to disconnect the line by pushing in the collet and pulling the line out. Do your test and push the line back in to reconnect.

 

Nigel

[Mark and Dale Bruss]

An imperfect but functional source is to tap either the Red or Green Lines on the Service Brake valve on the firewall and feed it in as the Black line that goes to the Brake Light Switch. If the Tailor Protection Valve was removed, then something line that should have been done already.

[alan0043]

Hi Everyone,

 

I think I found the correct air line under the hood. There was a 1/4" black line going to what I think is the stoplight switch. This switch is on the firewall. For my test. I applied the brakes and watched the Jackalopee to see if the brake LED's would light up. So far so good. The LED's lite up. Then I disconnected the wires going to the stoplight transducer and watched the Jackalopee again and no LED's lite up this time. Reconnected the wires to the transducer and watched the Jackalopee again. The LED's lite up again. So I think I have found the correct line. If I am no right, please let me know. I do not want to cut another wrong line. Does it make any difference where I put my tee in this black line that I found for the brake controller ? I have a 1/4" air line snaked threw the firewall right now. I am going to wait till Friday to make the connections.

 

Al

[ICPete]

Alan,

It sure sounds like you found the right line!

No, it doesn't matter where along that line you tap in with a tee fitting.

Pete

[alan0043]

Alan,

It sure sounds like you found the right line!

No, it doesn't matter where along that line you tap in with a tee fitting.

Pete

 

Hi Pete,

 

Thanks for the help. I will report back later after I get the job done. I will take a look at the Jackalopee to see what it is doing for my testing again.

 

Pete are you going to the ECR this year ?

 

Thanks again for the help,

Al

[alan0043]

Hi Everyone,

 

I want to 'Thank' everyone for their help and patience with me on this project. It is so nice to have the forum for help. I would not know who to talk to in my area for help. Now if I could only know how to post pictures easily it would make describing problems better. The next big project is to do a pre-trip inspection. I am hoping to start that today before the weather makes a change. The weather people are talking about the four letter word that starts with 's'. lol.

 

Thank you everyone for the help and patience,

Al

[ICPete]

Hi Al,

 

No I won't be at the ECR this year, but do hope to attend the Hutchinson rally in October.

 

To upload photos, here are the steps in a nutshell:

 

1. You need to have a digital camera or a cell phone that takes pictures.

2. You need to know how to transfer the photo to an online storage site such as Shutterfly or Dropbox. I use the latter, but Shutterfly and similar photo-sharing websites are free. You set up your free account and then they make it pretty simple to upload your photos and create albums. There is also Google Drive, Microsoft One-Drive, and many other similar online free storage sites.

3. Once you have a photo uploaded to the storage site, find it and right-click. There should be an option to copy a link to the photo; either a "public" link or any other link that a person could click on to get to your photo. [They provide this linking capability as it is an easy way to share a photo or other file; you just copy the link into an email, for example, and your recipient can click on that link to get to your online photo file.]

4. Having copied that link to the clipboard (i.e., just click "copy" or use the option mentioned in step 3), start a new message or edit your previous message on this discussion board. Find the icon that looks like a picture in a frame; when you hover your mouse over the correct icon, it will state "Image" in the popup text. Clicking on that icon will present you with a field labelled "URL". Hit CTRL-V or right-click and select "Paste". That should place the link to your photo in the URL box.

5. Click "OK" and your image should appear in the body of your message.

6. If you prefer to have the image as something someone can click on and then view outside the message, then instead of using the "Image" icon, use the "Link" icon that is two places to the left of it. In that case the URL you insert will take them to your Shutterfly page for that photo.

 

Note: If you choose to use the "Image" method in step 4 above, you need to ensure the photo will not be too large before inserting it into the message body. In that case use a photo editor (Shutterfly may have a means to do this) to resize the photo file to somewhere around 1200 pixels wide maximum, then save it to Shutterfly with a new name. Then use that resized photo to generate the URL link.

 

See; it's really easy! It's just not simple!

 

Pete

[Mark and Dale Bruss]

You could also follow the Photo posting help in the Resource Guide, Posting Forum Photos.