Brake wire chaffing problem

[tknick]

I posted earlier about a problem I thought I was having with my prodigy controller.  turns out, it was a shorted magnet wire.  took the wheel/hub off and found the short.  Wrapped the wire in electrical tape and thought I had the problem solved.  About an hour into my next trip, the problem resurfaced, only worse.  I think I've seen every error message the prodigy can display.  I assume the problem is the same although I haven't actually had a chance to open the wheel/hub assembly.  The real question is what is chaffing the wire?  The short is only evindent when the wheels are turing at/above around 20 MPH.  at slow speeds, no problem.  When I looked at the assembly last time, the wires came in through the back of the hub and on the back side of the brake assembly.  Since the wires do not come anywhere near the exterior of the hub and the rotating part of the hub, what is chaffing the wire?  If it is the action of the brake magnets/pads expanding into the hub, how can I protect them from future problems since the electrical tape obviously didn't work.  I was thinking about some the the plastic wire loom, but more interested in solving the problem versus delaying it's return.  BTW this problem only happens with the right brake.  Left side is fine.

Any help would be great.

travis

[Recumbentman]

I had a similar problem with my brake wires. I crawled under and behind my wheel assembly and found all of my brake wires broke in two. I am not sure if something chewed on it or if the wires chaffed from the axle. someone mentioned to me that sometimes in the assembly process they route the wires in such a way that they get pinched. I could see how if the wires are to short and the axle moves up and down from road conditions, that the wires could break because of not enough slack. anyway I added more wire to mine and secured it under the trailer. I also added wire sleeving to it, just in case it was some rodent chewing on it.
Good luck and give us an update on what you find.  :yikes:

[wavery]

Electrical tape is not very helpful when it comes to chafe.

You may want to consider replacing that wire and running it through a piece of plastic tubing. Usually, there is a rubber grommet in the hole in the backing plate. Yours must be missing.

[tlhdoc]

I had my one brake working intermittently and then not at all.  It ended up that the U bracket was pinching the brake wires when towing.