Community Forums

manderson2228 · 06-18-2017, 11:05 AM

So i bought the patriot braking system and it's been nothing but a headache. I have a fairly steep hill exiting my neighborhood and each time i leave the damn thing goes into a timeout mode forcing me to pull over and reset it.. Well doing this everytime i leave is beyond annoying. In addition to that it constantly timing out and re-connecting. Anyone have any ideas on this. I am about to call blue ox but I am close to just dumping this thing and buying something else. I'm towing with a jeep wrangler 2004.

Mac99 · 06-18-2017, 12:32 PM

Consider changing to the SMI Stay in Play Duo system.
Once installed, all you have to do to go is flip a switch.

Pigman1 · 06-19-2017, 01:17 AM

A number of years ago I did just that. after it failed for the third time, and the last failure was on the way to Alaska. It had already been back to the factory twice for repair and God knows what else and I was not about to sit around waitiing for the next fix and then next failure. A prime piece of garbage.

TomandGloria · 06-19-2017, 05:54 AM

Probably the worst device I used. It applied the brakes to my former toad (Saturn wagon) and cost me $1600 in repairs. I had used it for a year with no problems until that day. When I called Blue Ox and told them about the issue, their answer was huh, shouldn't have done that.

Went with SMI stay n play till we bought Ventana. Now we have M & G and it is even better. Would not have anything else from now on.

manderson2228 · 06-19-2017, 06:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TomandGloria

Probably the worst device I used. It applied the brakes to my former toad (Saturn wagon) and cost me $1600 in repairs. I had used it for a year with no problems until that day. When I called Blue Ox and told them about the issue, their answer was huh, shouldn't have done that.

Went with SMI stay n play till we bought Ventana. Now we have M & G and it is even better. Would not have anything else from now on.

What is this M&G one?

manderson2228 · 06-19-2017, 06:51 AM

I am thinking about just swapping it our for the rvibrake3. I think i would be happier. I need to call blue ox and see what they say.

pcurt23 · 06-19-2017, 07:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by manderson2228

I am thinking about just swapping it our for the rvibrake3. I think i would be happier. I need to call blue ox and see what they say.

I just started with the rvibrake3. The brake unit itself is easy to use but the supporting 7" tablet and communications hub are a pain. The hub needs power inside the coach and the tablet is just too big. I am not sure why every supplier thinks you are going to be the center of their universe along with daily emails.

I had a brake buddy for years until it gave up the ghost but it was never good in the cold and I live in michigan.

TomandGloria · 06-19-2017, 09:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by manderson2228

What is this M&G one?

Designed for application to the master cylinder on your toad. I hook the air line at the back of the coach to the receptacle at the front of the truck and that's it. No switch to throw, knob to adjust, or cylinder on top of brake pedal. Its a great system and I highly recommend it.

dennis45 · 06-19-2017, 09:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by manderson2228

So i bought the patriot braking system and it's been nothing but a headache. I have a fairly steep hill exiting my neighborhood and each time i leave the damn thing goes into a timeout mode forcing me to pull over and reset it.. Well doing this everytime i leave is beyond annoying. In addition to that it constantly timing out and re-connecting. Anyone have any ideas on this. I am about to call blue ox but I am close to just dumping this thing and buying something else. I'm towing with a jeep wrangler 2004.

I don't quite understand what you mean by timing out and resetting. I've had a Patriot for about seven years and many thousands of miles. The internal battery failed after about the third year while on our way to Alaska. Blueox set me a new unit to our next stop prepaid with a prepaid slip to return the old one. I paid just over half the cost of a new one.
The replacement is a much improved device. The claw is a much better design to hook up and disconnect. The set up goes much smoother. Previous unit would fail during set up and had to start over. The new unit has never failed.
It defaults to 5 on the gain but I've found it tends to overbrake at 5 so I dial it back to 3 and it works like a charm. I do get a beep once in a while indicating a loss of communication from the dash indicator. This is a momentary thing and has not caused any functional issues.
I found a call to Blueox was very helpful to go through the set up procedure. Before you ditch it, a call to them might save you some headache.

manderson2228 · 06-19-2017, 10:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dennis45

I don't quite understand what you mean by timing out and resetting. I've had a Patriot for about seven years and many thousands of miles.

The unit itself says "Braking timeout" on it, and then the unit in the rv reads a flashing 8 with the error LED lite up. When it does this it's not applying any braking anymore. So i have to pull over, go in the toad, turn off the patriot, back on, and re calibrate. Mine seems to default to 5 as well.

dennis45 · 06-19-2017, 11:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by manderson2228

The unit itself says "Braking timeout" on it, and then the unit in the rv reads a flashing 8 with the error LED lite up. When it does this it's not applying any braking anymore. So i have to pull over, go in the toad, turn off the patriot, back on, and re calibrate. Mine seems to default to 5 as well.

I can see where that would get old in a hurry. I've not run into that one. If I recall my error code was 4.
Like I said, the replacement after the internal battery failure has been flawless (touch wood) for the past three plus years.
Good luck with your solution whichever way you decide to go.

hilgert · 06-22-2017, 09:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pcurt23

I just started with the rvibrake3. The brake unit itself is easy to use but the supporting 7" tablet and communications hub are a pain. The hub needs power inside the coach and the tablet is just too big. I am not sure why every supplier thinks you are going to be the center of their universe along with daily emails.

I had a brake buddy for years until it gave up the ghost but it was never good in the cold and I live in michigan.

I have the RViBrake3 as well...and really like it. You don't have to use the tablet if you don't want...it's just a super easy way to change braking force on-the-fly (while in motion) if your want, and to monitor braking. In fact, when I ordered my RViBrake3 they did not have tablets in stock, so I had them send it to me anyway and I just configured it manually (easy to do with voice prompts from the unit). The tablet came a week or two later. I do agree that the tablet could have been much smaller and accomplished the same objective.

dennis45 · 06-22-2017, 10:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by manderson2228

The unit itself says "Braking timeout" on it, and then the unit in the rv reads a flashing 8 with the error LED lite up. When it does this it's not applying any braking anymore. So i have to pull over, go in the toad, turn off the patriot, back on, and re calibrate. Mine seems to default to 5 as well.

Just curious, have you called Blueox? If so, what was their response?

hilgert · 06-22-2017, 11:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by manderson2228

I am thinking about just swapping it our for the rvibrake3. I think i would be happier. I need to call blue ox and see what they say.

Watch this video and I think you'll be convinced the RViBrake3 is the way to go (at least over the Patriot):

https://youtu.be/uyw8c3GN9vY

RViBrake is run by the guy (Dan) who invented the original Brake Buddy. He sold the business, and due to non-compete had to wait a few years before he could again sell a competing product. I talked to Dan a couple of months ago before I purchased my RViBrake3 and he talked a bit more about his background as well as the design of the RViBrake3. Being an engineer myself, from my conversations I'm confident Dan and his team know their stuff...this is a solid system, and very well designed.

I asked Dan about the SMI Stay-IN-Play DUO system, which was the other one I was considering. SMI is a more permanent non-portable install that also (like the RViBrake) used pneumatics. Dan had nice things to say about SMI...he said it's a good system if you want a permanent install. However the RViBrake is portable (can be moved to any vehicle with no mods), and has updatable firmware if/when an update is needed. I did not want to drill holes in my brand new 2107 F-150, and at some point in time we will get a Jeep as an additional towed vehicle, so no-holes and portable won out. Wires were run through existing holes.

It handles my F-150 nicely (about 5500 lbs when we load it for towing...it's sort of our "drivable trailer"). I typically use the 2nd or 3rd brake force setting...but it's easily changeable on-the-fly from the tablet (which again is not required to use at all if you never change settings on-the-fly and don't feel the need to monitor braking).