Safety Features
Background
Many of the collisions involving commercial vehicles are rear-end collisions caused by the heavy vehicle being invisible to approaching traffic.
The most common defects in these instances are found to have been blown bulbs, fuses, LED lamps and defective wiring in the trailer lights.
Cape Town based TSS (Trailer Safety Systems) has designed and developed a range of products that alerts the driver of faulty truck/trailer lights and allows him to stay visible by switching over to an alternative circuit if he can not rectify the problem immediately.
Product Overview
TSS is available as a standard unit or in combination with a 12- to 24-Volt inverter with an automatic 12-Volt backup and monitoring device. This unit is ideal for 12-Volt trucks towing 24-Volt trailers. Should the electronic inverter fail while driving, the TSS unit automatically reverts to 12-Volt, thus ensuring that the rear lights keep working.
How it works
The TSS unit is mounted in the cab or on the truck near the fuse box or in the toolbox for easy access. It is connected into the electrical cable harness so that all power or current passes through this unit to the truck and trailer lamps.
If a short or open circuit occurs in the truck or trailer lamps, the monitoring unit indicates which particular circuit is at fault, and a warning buzzer is activated (or via optional dash mount lights).
If the problem cannot be rectified immediately, the driver simply switches over to the alternative circuit on the TSS unit to power up the rear lamps on the trailer. This enables the driver to safely reach the nearest depot or workshop where proper repairs may be carried out, eliminating the need for time-consuming, risky and expensive road-side repairs.
Under normal conditions, only the main switch remains on. The voltage selector switch (depending on the trailer lamp voltage) will be set to 12- or 24-Volts. If for any reason a circuit is at fault, the dash mount lights and a warning buzzer are activated. Day or night, rear lamps are being constantly monitored and the driver is immediately alerted of any truck and trailer light failures.
Safety Features
Short Circuit Protection
All TSS units are fitted with our unique Short Circuit Detector modules so that no open or short circuit escapes notice.
In the event of a short, the particular circuit will simply switch off to prevent further damage to the wiring or the TSS unit itself. This is very important where petrol, methanol and other highly combustible fluids are transported in tankers. Prevents fires started by sparks or glowing cables after an accident. Furthermore the Short Circuit Detector reduces the risk of short circuit damage to the wiring, stalk switches and other equipment which is caused by incorrect fuse replacement
Auto Tail Light Backup
Another important feature of the unit is that the system automatically switches on the stoplights at reduced power whenever tail light failure is detected.
Using the brakes while the auto-backup feature is active will switch the stop lights on at full power as usual – motorists behind the truck will always be able to see truck and trailer.
Lamp Alarm
Should a LED or filament lamp on any circuit go faulty the unit will give a visual and audible indication of fast flash on indicator circuits and alarm buzzer on stop and tail lamps.
Bypass
In case of a failure on the control side of a circuit whether on the horse or anywhere else, any other circuit can be switched on to bypass the faulty circuit. This will ensure that the trailer will always have some lights on and be visible.
Additional features
As the unit makes use of state of the art micro controllers, upgrades and custom setups will always be available via the RS-232 port.