brake controller 102

I found the problem with the old brake control. I'm surprised to learn it just hooks to the brake light signal and comes on. You can adjust how fast it comes up to or retreats from the adjustable set point braking voltage. It don't look at wheather you're just touching or mashing the brakes for your life.

Do any controllers allow for how hard you're braking. And how do they do it? (I was expecting a load cell in the brake line)

Karl

Reply to
Karl Townsend
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There are different types of controllers available. The simplest are time based and just work off the brake switch signal ramping up the braking action over time. Better units have sensing for inertia (these units typically require level mounting) and adjust the braking to the trailer based on how hard you are braking. A very few add on units, and the factory integrated units use pressure sensors at the brake master cylinder to determine true brake pedal force, and the factory units also integrate with the factory anti-lock braking controller. The bigger and heavier the trailer, the better brake controller you want to be using.

Reply to
Pete C.

The ones I'm used to using mount under the dash with a line off of the master cylinder. They move proportional to brake pressure (you can see the little lever move as you push on the brakes).

Electric brakes with the magnetic puck tend to wind up by themselves, adding their own time delay -- they seem to need some minimum excitation to engage, then they start winding until you let them off. Makes it impossible to brake smoothly; @#$%!

You can also get surge brakes, that put a master cylinder on the trailer tongue, set to actuate when the trailer is pushing on the tow vehicle. I've never seen or used them; just heard that they were nice things on horse trailers.

Reply to
Tim Wescott

Certainly. The one I mentioned in another post:

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It knows how hard you are pressing on the brake by the pressure the trailer puts on the hitch. If you are just down-shifting, but don't put on the brakes, it ignores the pressure. You do need their hitch for this to work. I have their 5th wheel hitch. If I use my brother's flat bed trailer on a ball hitch, the controller operates just like any other brake controller. Then it relies on the settings you have on the control head under the dash.

Paul

Reply to
co_farmer

Are any like that currently available? That sounds like a '70s design.

The electric brakes on my dual axle 24' enclosed trailer don't have any such problem, they brake nice and smoothly, both with a cheap time based brake controller in my old K3500, as well as the integrated brake controller in my new F350. Possible your problem is your antique controller?

Surge brakes tended to be found on rental equipment trailers so that they didn't require a brake controller in the tow vehicle, but they have been declining in popularity for a while.

Reply to
Pete C.

Certainly. The one I mentioned in another post:

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It knows how hard you are pressing on the brake by the pressure the trailer puts on the hitch. If you are just down-shifting, but don't put on the brakes, it ignores the pressure. You do need their hitch for this to work. I have their 5th wheel hitch. If I use my brother's flat bed trailer on a ball hitch, the controller operates just like any other brake controller. Then it relies on the settings you have on the control head under the dash.

Paul

Sorry, that won't work for me. The fifth wheel ball is welded into the bed of my dump truck.

Karl

Reply to
Karl Townsend

This is what I remember from my '82 truck. And what I need now. Anybody recommend a good unit?

Karl

Reply to
Karl Townsend

The Tekonsha Prodigy as I noted before, one of the highly rated units currently available. They have a newer unit, but a lot of people regard the Prodigy as better.

I don't believe any units like Tim mentioned are currently available, or even safe on a modern brake system.

Reply to
Pete C.

If it's a ball in the bed, it's a gooseneck hitch, not a 5th wheel which has a plate in the bed and a kingpin on the trailer. As far as I know there are no surge brake systems made for gooseneck trailers.

Get a Tekonsha Prodigy, available at any RV or trailer place for $150 or so.

Reply to
Pete C.

I had one like that. Didn't like it much. If you're creeping through the intersection and need just a touch of brake, your trailer brakes still come on full power after the delay, with enough force to stop you dead in your tracks.

Exactly. What you want is proportional braking.

I have and like this one:

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The boost feature allows you to set an initial braking force, then the proportional kicks in.

Reply to
Steve Ackman

...

Thanks Pete, I'll start shopping.

Karl

Reply to
Karl Townsend

Just a couple of points from a guy who has a more modern brake controller:

-Mine has 2 dials: one for the intensity of braking, one for the sensitivity. The sensitivity control is associated with a pendulum, they tell me. I like it. It is always smooth. But you DO need to know how to adjust the intensity dial from empty to loaded. I mostly use a 5 ton trailer. It weighs 2800 empty. If I don't lighten up when I unload, I will burn the tires.

-Larely I have noticed that the controller doesn't light up when I connect to the trailer. If I go back to the van a couple of hours later, the (green) light IS on. It appears that the trailer's battery isn't maintaining a charge very well any more, and that it takes a while for whatever trickle current goes back there to get the returning voltage high enough to make things work. Any truth to this, or am I dreaming?

This controller was new 7 or 8 years ago.

Pete Stanaitis

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Karl Townsend wrote:

Reply to
spaco

The delayed light problem is more likely to be related to connector corrosion. Most brake controllers do not have any monitoring of breakaway battery charge levels, and believe it or not, many breakaway battery setups do not have any charging provisions i.e. you have to remove the battery and charge it separately.

Reply to
Pete C.

hydraulic over electric brake controllers are hard to find.

I'm getting this one:

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It taps into the brake line and brakes based on hydraulic pressure.

Karl

Reply to
Karl Townsend

Karl, I don't know anything about this one but I've been looking for one myself. I've towed Dad's 5th wheel travel trailer with one of those timed things (actually it may have been a pendulum one I don't recall) and wasn't really impressed. Fortunately with a travel trailer you go when you want and stay if the weather is bad.

I have a Roadmaster BrakeMaster for towing my pickup behind my motor home and it is hooked into the hydraulic brakes to send a proportional air pressure to the truck. Really simple and you wouldn't know the truck is back there.

I finally found this:

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and if I wind up towing a trailer again I think I might get one.

Reply to
Rob Morden

I have that brake controller in my truck (F350) and I like it. It uses a pressure transducer you install at the master cylinder, and run the wiring back to the controller, where it plugs into the controller. I haven't towed much since I installed it, but it has worked well for me when I have used it.

Reply to
JohnB

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