Prodigy P2 Break Control

carl2591 wrote:
I have been looking at brake controllers and see the P-3 on Amazon and the hugh amount of reviews (358 as of 11-7-14) and 5 star rating..

one question i have is why is there not a system that interfaces with the brake pedal to give a better braking solution. I understand these controllers use accelerometor which determines the rate of braking and applies power to trailer brakes accordingly.

I would think a system that is tied to brake pedal might work better or now with the new digital system they are better..

just throwing out ideas :)

Good controllers were made in the past, but people wouldn't pay the price. Cheap is more important than safety.
New trucks with factory installed controllers work well, not like the make-believe stuff in the after-market.

carl2591 wrote:
I have been looking at brake controllers and see the P-3 on Amazon and the hugh amount of reviews (358 as of 11-7-14) and 5 star rating..

one question i have is why is there not a system that interfaces with the brake pedal to give a better braking solution. I understand these controllers use accelerometor which determines the rate of braking and applies power to trailer brakes accordingly.

I would think a system that is tied to brake pedal might work better or now with the new digital system they are better..

just throwing out ideas :)

Modern electronic brake controls are tied to the brake pedal via a wire. Once you press on the brake pedal the tail light switch at the brake pedal is activated. This sends a signal to the brake control that braking is happening.

What's great about the prodigy twins is that you can set boost to automatically send a surg of braking power to the trailer brakes as soon as you hit the pedal. Boost can be set to four levels from no boost to boost 3. This is nice because you can set the trailer brakes to activate before your TV brakes...having the. Trailer braking lead the TV. No sway no push.

It may not cost $400.00 like the max brake did but IThe prodigy is by no means cheap.

Thanks!

Jeremiah

itsmike wrote:
I have an old Tekonshia (Too lazy to Google the Spelling) with dials on each side.. I feel every time I get in, I have to readjust it..

Will this P3 eliminate this madness?? (I am looking to buy one myself..)

Sounds like you've got one of the old time-based controllers. Get an inertia based Prodigy and you will not have to readjust once set. I've got a 10 year old original Prodigy and it still works great. If it ever goes out I'll replace it with a P2 or P3.

All brake controllers, or most, has an input sense that tells it to
start braking

The P2/3 uses the brake pedal light switch that turns on the rear brake
lights. It also tells the computer that the driver wants braking

How much is the next decision

Some use the TV's MC's hydraulic PSI via a solid state fluid PSI sensor
tapped into the TV's hydraulic brake system. Normally at the MC area
The higher the PSI, the more voltage it sends to the trailer brakes for
more braking

Accelerometer based senses the amount of G forces generated by
deceleration...AKA braking

Then there is the 'boost' function, which is to have the trailer brakes
provide more initial braking than the TV is experiencing

The Boost function is variable and is what folks refer to as to
the setting by a number. Higher the number, the more boost


There is also a timing between all in this scheme of things. Key is
to have the trailer start to brake before the TV and the biggie, have
more braking than the TV throughout the event

How much is mainly via the boost function


Whenever I read of folks complaining about jerking, bucking, etc it
is telling to me that they do NOT have their whole braking setup
correctly or better to say dialed in for 'that' setup


All TV brake pedal has some dead play. Meaning nothing happens when
the pedal is pressed till after a certain amount of movement.

Then it will start to move the MC piston rod. That then moves the piston
to generate braking system hydraulic PSI

The brake hydraulic sensed will NOT see anything to start trailer
braking until it's sensor sees PSI, which then will have the boost
level dictate how much initial voltage is sent to the trailer brakes


Ditto the TV brake pedal switch sensed. Some brake pedal switches is
adjusted to have some amount of travel before the switch contact close.
Mainly to avoid false brake light, IMHO


On GM's, the brake pedal switch is different than the plunger type
(think door bell button) most have. The GM switch closes the contacts
after about 0.010" of travel or less.

Because of this, the trailer brakes are told to turn on BEFORE the TV
MC ever develops any PSI


There is a button/lever/etc on most trailer brake controllers that
tells the trailer brake controller to set the trailer brakes. This is
both to test during the drive the trailer brakes and in an emergency

On my GM TV and P3, can stop the whole thing without ever developing
any TV braking PSI. My P3 also has this lever, but not needed with
this brake switch. Just touching the TV brake pedal will turn on
the trailer brakes at whatever level my boost is set at


Again, key is to setup the trailer braking system to turn on before
the TV's by some amount of time

This will have no jerking, banging, etc



There is a fairly new trailer brake controller that uses the TV's
computer port.

So it will either be a MC PSI or pedal switch sensed...depending on
how 'that' TV's OEM computer system works or uses for a sensor

as always...excellent reply BenK..

These electronic brake controls are EXCEPTIONAL and not reliant on a functioning hydraulic brake system. Sounds crazy to make a statement like that but in the last few weeks we had a member share how his hydraulic brake system failed on his 3 year old truck.

Had he been towing and had he been running a fluid pressure sensing brake control he would have been in even worse shape because the brake control would have sensed little to no braking.

Yes I know you can grab the over-ride lever on any brake controller...however the human being has a tendency to react via muscle memory (training) in an emergency.

How many users of electronic brake controllers practice stopping their rig by the electronic brake controller over-ride lever? Or how about just practicing the movements to reach their over ride lever? Probably not many.

One reason I loved my old Hayes TIME BASED Sybcronizer Brake control was because of how easy and intuitive it was to manually activate the trailer brakes. That brake controller was replaced by a Primus Then a Tekonsha Voyage (Loved that brake control)...both of which had similar easy to use over ride levers.

Now my 1 generation Draw Tite Intella stop (it's a first gen Prodigy rebranded as a draw tite) has the over-ride on the bottom. Admittedly I have not Towed with it yet and I am not as familiar with the over-ride being on the bottom of the brake control...so I am practicing now...every time I get in the fan I make sure at some point in the trip I grab the brake controller over ride lever ... That way if I ever need it..I know by muscle memory where it is.

Thanks!

Jeremiah

I've just purchased a Prodigy P2 (returnable)for my new TT. After reading the posts above I'm wondering if I should have purchased the P3. The price is only about $20 different.

Could anyone summarize the differences between the P2 and P3? Tekonsha's website does not have a direct comparison and the advantages of the P3 aren't very clear. It's obvious that the P3 has a larger display but would it provide better braking than the P2 or are the differences just "bells and whistles"? Thanks.

Mike

Mike,

The P3 and the P2 function the same as far as braking performance is concerned. The P3 does present a bigger display but that's about it. The P2 and the P3 both have self leveling and can be mounted at pretty much any level. They both have electric over hydraulic brake capability. The big difference comes in the diagnostic displays.

If there is a problem somewhere in the trailer braking system both controllers will tell you what's going on with diagnostic information. The P2 will give you a code that you will need to know or keep your list of codes in the glove box. They come in your instructions.


The P3 just flat tells you what's wrong. No code needed.

My brake controller is the first generation Prodigy, no electric over hydraulic and I have a more limited range of angles I can mount my control....that's about it. Everything else is the same. Oh, and I have a red display instead of blue.

Some people do not like the big display of p3 some do. I would not trade a P2 for a P3 as the display is the only difference.

Thanks!

Jeremiah

liketoride2 wrote:
I've just purchased a Prodigy P2 (returnable)for my new TT. After reading the posts above I'm wondering if I should have purchased the P3. The price is only about $20 different.

Could anyone summarize the differences between the P2 and P3? Tekonsha's website does not have a direct comparison and the advantages of the P3 aren't very clear. It's obvious that the P3 has a larger display but would it provide better braking than the P2 or are the differences just "bells and whistles"? Thanks.

Mike

The P3 has a current read out.

Very useful feature to detect a broken wire in a brake magnet.

Thanks to both of you for the information. Regarding the current read out, the details of the P2 on Tekonsha's website state:

<>

and for the P3:

<< A flashing red warning system alerts of a No Trailer Brake situation>>

In terms of function is one significantly better regarding warnings or do they both warn of a problem but in a different way?

Thanks again.

Mike

For the post immediately above I copied and pasted two sentences from Tekonsha's website regarding the P2 and P3. These showed in the post before it was submitted but were not present in the post. When I edited and resubmitted it still wasn't there.

What I tried to say was that the P2 is described as having" Continual diagnostics check for proper connections, shorted magnetic conditions, and much more."

The details of the P3 say basically the same thing, but in addition "A flashing red warning system alerts users to No Trailer Brake situations."

So is the situation that the P2 only monitors but does not warn, whereas the P3 both monitors and warns, or do they both have warnings, just in different ways.

I hope all the wording transmits this time - I'm a lousy typist and it's agony to have to type out everything! ;o)

Thanks once more.

Mike