When you are hauling materials on a dump bed, trailer, or flatbed, having an automatic tarp system is one of the biggest conveniences you can invest in. This tarp opens and closes at the touch of a button to keep whatever you are hauling protected from the elements and in place as you travel down the highway. Just like any other automatic mechanism on your vehicle, a tarp system can occasionally have problems. One big problem that may come up on occasion is the failure of the unit to power on when you hit the button.
Check your connections at the trailer hookup.
The majority of the time, a loss of power to the tarp system will mean that you have improper connections where your trailer power cords are connected to the vehicle itself. These connections are fairly out in the open, so they go through a lot. The cords can get caught on something, the connectors can get broken and dirty, and the cords themselves commonly break. Check your trailer connections first to rule this out as a reason for having no power available to your taro system. If this is not the issue, move on to other possibilities.
Check for corroded connections to battery terminals.
If you are getting power to your vehicle but not to the trailer and your connectors look fine, there could be an issue at the battery that is not allowing enough power to transition to the trailer connectors. When there is a weak voltage from the battery, it will power the necessary things first, such as engine components. Take a look under the hood at your battery to make sure the cable connectors are not dirty, loose or corroded. If they appear to be, give them a good cleaning and try to start your tarp system again.
Check for wiring damages between the control mechanism and the control box.
Most tarp systems have a control box where you input demands to the tarp to open and close and a control box that relays those functions to the control arm of the tarp system. If you are sure the trailer is getting power as it should, check the wiring that runs between these two boxes. In some situations, the wires get pulled loose from either box because of their location. A single loose wire will prevent the input functions from being relayed to the control box.
Contact a company, like Glider Systems Inc, for more help.
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