I Swapped Out Roadmaster Invisibrake for Air Force One

[MarkMaxPayne]

I had an Invisibrake in my TOAD vehicle for about 5 years (a Fiat 500 Turbo). I loved it as well as having Roadmaster local to me (just across the river). They were great when it came to handling warranty issues as well as servicing outside of warranty. No complaints at all and would recommend to anyone.

That said, when I changed rigs from a Tiffin Wayfarer to a Newmar New Aire about a year and a half ago I found that I was having issues with excessive brake wear and overheating on my Toad's front brakes. I traced the issue to how Newmar now activates the rear brake lights during engine braking on their diesel pushers. Many of my trips are lengthy and through numerous mountain passes with steep grades. Once the engine brake kicks in the brake lights go on; probably making other drivers fear I'm riding my brakes down the grade even though I am not. I tried adjusting my Invisibrake down to almost its lowest setting and was still having issues. The automatic time-out on the Invisibrake didn't help as each time the brake lights came back on, the timer would restart. Because Newmars come pre-plumbed for TOAD air brakes, I decided to spend the $ and swap out the TOAD's Invisibrake for Demco's Air Force One.

The process was straight forward. I disconnected the equipment inside of the car (Invisibrake unit, air piston cylinder, cable, pully, brake attachment, universal wireless brake detection transmitter, etc.), leaving the wiring harnesses and brake vacuum hose in the vehicle. Then I mounted the air supply nipple bracket to my baseplate near the emergency breakaway switch, which was a pain only because I had to remove the entire front bumper from the car. With the bumper off I also repurposed the breakaway switch that was already installed.

I had previously tapped into my brake system's vacuum line with the Invisibrake and the Air Force One was able to leverage that previous work. After the T I removed the Invisibrake's vacuum hose and attached the Air Force One hose instead. I really must say that I liked the detailed instructions and photos that came with the Air Force One in terms of how to tap into the auto's factory brake vacuum hose; I wish I had such detailed examples and explanations when I did the work the first time. I located my unit sideways, leaning up against the front of my battery. Trust me when I say a Fiat 500 has little to no empty space under the hood (where is the second hood release? <grin>).

Next I hooked up the air cylinder to my brake pedal approximately where the cable used to attach on the Invisibrake. I mounted the cable mount to the firewall very near to where I had the pully mounted from the previous installation. Next came connecting the air supply hose. Since I had to run the same type of hose inside the car previously with the Invisibrake, I could have repurposed it for this installation. However, I decide to run a new line through a new location. Previously I had run through a grommet in the door jamb as that was a good run to the Invisibrake under the driver's seat, but this time I leveraged a grommet that was just above the accelerator pedal which was a better location for the Air Force One).

Lastly, I hooked up the magnetic reed switch on the air piston cylinder to the LED strip and to the wireless brake engaged transmitter. The LED brake engaged feedback strip has a long wire that routes up the A pilar and uses 3M tape to affix to the back of the rear-view mirror. Let's just say that although bright, trying to see it in my black and white rear view camera is a challenge during the day (if the rig came with better cameras it probably wouldn't be an issue). I like the Demco wireless transmitter better than Roadmaster's as it relies on the reed switch on the air cylinder vs a position angle sensor attached to the brake pedal, which can be unreliable.

With the car put back together, I tested the installation and it all worked! Yay!

Some initial thoughts comparing the units:

• Both are extremely well built and seem to function well
• I like the brake vacuum line installation instructions better with the Demco.
• I like that the Demco doesn't have cables and pullies running under the floor carpet. The mount of Air Force One's air cylinder directly to the brake arm keeps things VERY simple.
• I like that the Demco has a reed switch on the air cylinder for providing brake engaged feedback back to the rig.
• I like that Demco's brake engaged feedback wireless transmitter is easy to hook up (using the reed switch, making it easier to adjust and more reliable).
• I like that my Newmar's use of the brake lights while the engine brake is engaged will no longer trigger the TOAD's brakes.
• I like that my TOAD's brakes are engaged proportionally with how much I engage the rig's brakes.
• For my non-diesel rig the Roadmaster Invisibrake was near perfect.
• With my diesel rig already pre-plumbed for TOAD/trailer air brakes the Air Force One should address the issue I was having due to the new rig.

Now, ask me in a year after use which unit I prefer over the other. Time will tell...

Best,
-Mark

 

[SteveMA]

Good report!
After almost 100K miles towing Jeep Grand Cherokee behind 2 DP coaches with AirForce1, I suspect you will love it. Zero issue in 4 years other than the LED not ideal.

 

[NWIP]

I ran wire from the reed switch to my plug which then sends signal to a pee bulb on my dash which was installed for the invisabrake I used on previous toad.

 

[SteveMA]

Good idea. you have me thinking - Only because the contacts on the reed switches are easily burnt, you may want to add a little relay (think of it as sacrificial) and a fuse to the line before it leaves the toad and heads back to the coach...