With the recent changes in law and the great and enhanced safety benefits of either EBS or ABS braking systems for heavy transport prime movers and trailers there is more again to think about with correct component selection. I want to concentrate here for a moment of the electrical lead that connects the prime mover to the trailer/s in the combination.
Nothing ever seems to be easy, these braking systems are sophisticated and they come in both 12 and also 24 volt native DC power systems. Australia is one of only a very small handful of countries that have truck and trailer combinations that have either Multi-Volt (12-24VDC) or voltage specific 12 or 24VDC systems.
The plugs and sockets and coiled cables are manufactured to ADR standards. These standards include either a 12 or 24 volt plugs and sockets. They both have differing key ways so they cannot be inter-mated 12VDC in to 24VDC or vice a versa. This is design to stop the unsuspecting transport operator hooking up non compatible system voltages. It also stops very expensive equipment damage.
Recent progression in technology means there are multi-volt 12-24VDC now available on the market, this has driven the manufacture of EBS/ABS sockets and plugs that are marketed as “Multi Volt”. While they are very convenient and if used with multi-volt capable systems it can be very expensive if you miss-match voltages and plug them together, you will blow up the EBS controller.
Multi-Volt plugs and sockets are not ADR approved. They can cause enormous grief. More info can be found here ABS/EBS Plugs and Sockets.