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Electric Handbrakes... Again!
scootz - 21/4/11 at 04:59 PM

Following on from Matt's post about rubbish electric handbrakes...

I'm really struggling to find a mounting point for a conventional handbrake lever in the reverse-trike chassis. There's just not the space! So how about using an electric unit on my trike? I don't care about it's real-world capabilities... as long as it can hold the vehicle on an MSVA and subsequent MOT test, then I really don't care how useful it is otherwise!

I've never seen one in the flesh though... just pics. So does anyone know roughly what size a typical car-derived linear actuator is? Also, is it simply a case of wiring an electric feed to it and pressing a button so that Robert can be your fathers brother?

Cheers!

matt_gsxr - 21/4/11 at 05:07 PM

the VW and Audi ones have a complicated control module and to do things like winding them back you need a special service tool, which talks via the cars CAN bus (or something).

(EP21 Electric Parking Brake Service Reset Tool)


The renault scenic and jag motors look simpler and seem to just yank on a cable, but I might be wrong.

kipper - 21/4/11 at 05:50 PM

Hi scootz,
I will show you my answer on my three wheeler tomorrow, now go to bed or you will be late in the Morning
Denis.

Do you think I will be able to do handbrake turns with the hand brake working on the front wheels?????????

[Edited on 21/4/11 by kipper]

bj928 - 21/4/11 at 05:51 PM

the one on the ford S max or maybe C max, one of them anyway, looks like it might work well on kits, but not sure how its controlled

iank - 21/4/11 at 05:56 PM

Surely it would be simpler to mount an umberella style handle in the dash (e.g. 2CV) and use a bowden cable to route it to the brake(s).

designer - 21/4/11 at 06:05 PM

I've always prefered the umbrella type handbrake, use a Jaguar one mostly as it is so compact.

scootz - 21/4/11 at 06:25 PM

Cheers guys!

I had thought of the under-dash brake, but couldn't find one with a 'simple' design. That one in your pic looks the biz though Ian!

Denis... van is loaded and I'm about to have my tea, take a shower, then bed! On the road for 4!

See you in the morning!

StevieB - 21/4/11 at 07:27 PM

quote:
Originally posted by kipper
Do you think I will be able to do handbrake turns with the hand brake working on the front wheels?????????

[Edited on 21/4/11 by kipper]


A whole new stunt - the handbrake stoppy

Simon - 21/4/11 at 07:34 PM

My Espace has an electric handbrake, but you can't have it I'm afraid

ATB

Simon

Ivan - 21/4/11 at 07:51 PM

quote:
Originally posted by iank
Surely it would be simpler to mount an umberella style handle in the dash (e.g. 2CV) and use a bowden cable to route it to the brake(s).



At first glance I thought ^^^^^ was a half a pickaxe to be used as an anchor and thought "now that's lateral thinking and given the state of the roads no one would notice another hole in the road when you pull away"

JAG - 21/4/11 at 08:39 PM

Hi,

Electrically operated park brakes come in two basic flavours;

1) "cable puller" - this is a pair of standard park brake calipers with a cable attached. The cable is pulled by a motor which is controlled by a very simple control system. Quite noisy in operation but relatively easy to fit on a kit. You can get these from Jaguars, some LandRovers (Disco - I think) and plenty of other stuff.

2) "motor on caliper" - this type has an electric motor on each caliper and both are controlled by a dedicated ECU. The orientation of the ECU is important (it's got an accelerometer inside) and it is programmed to suit the vehicle it's fitted to. Hence it's difficult to transplant to a kit car.

Both do the service brake, the hydraulic bit, as well as the park brake. They provide a really strong park brake with some clever features. The main reason they're becoming so common is the same reason that Scootz wants one - they free up a lot of space inside the car.

scootz - 21/4/11 at 09:03 PM

Cheers Jag... any idea of the size of a typical actuator?

mangogrooveworkshop - 21/4/11 at 09:47 PM

Scoots call Pheonix
He has one lying unused in my garage in fife

JAG - 22/4/11 at 07:15 AM

"cable puller" units are about 4" in diameter and about 12" long. They attach to the end of the normal park brake cables. Although the cables are usually only about 3' long so the unit sits under the transmission tunnel area.

The "motor-on-caliper" type have an electric motor attached to the side of the caliper body. It's mounted parallel to the hydraulic piston and quite tight-in. There's also a gearbox on the back of the piston body. The motor is in a casing and about 3" in diameter and about 4-5" long. The separate ECU is about 8"x8"x2" thick.

In fact I found this picture of a TRW "motor-on-caliper" set-up;



There's an electrical connection between the loom, ECU and both calipers and the usual hydraulic pipe.

[Edited on 22/4/11 by JAG]

scootz - 22/4/11 at 05:51 PM

Cheers... and would I be right in guessing that the 'cable-puller' doesn't need any fancy ECU electrickery?

JAG - 22/4/11 at 09:11 PM

"cable pullers" still have an ECU. However it's not as clever as the "motor-on-caliper" set up and isn't quite so vehicle specific. Thus it's less sensitive to being transplanted