Tekonsha P3 questions

Since I made my original post, I had a chat with my BIL. He's got the same controller (P3) and doesn't do anything with his controller at all. He's telling me I look for reasons to tinker (while he's generally correct, I can see his point).

He's got his P3 on the lowest automagic setting and never touches it. if he needs to manually control the braking, he does it with the lever underneath. He doesn't adjust the aggressiveness of the braking at all.

I had an early prodigy that had the problems that you guys are still describing so it doesn't sound like they have come very far . Then I bought my Jordan in 2000 and it has been excellent for magnetic brakes and hydraulic . I only need to adjust the gain when I switch from magnetic to hydraulic . I haven't shopped for brake controllers for 16 years so I just wanted to know what all is out there . It looks like Max brake and brake smart both came and went in the meantime .Craig

I stopped towing trailers about 30 years ago. In 2008 or 9 we purchased our Class A and the 6x10 Aluma to tow the Smart car on. I purchased my first P-3 at that time and have not purchased anything else since then. I have found that the best bet was to set the controller up as the instructions state when that trailer was empty, set the max voltage and use with no boost. Then after that trailer was loaded I reset the max voltage, as per the instructions, and added boost as necessary. I usually find on my 15' TT that boost 1 with a 6.5V max (point where brakes are about to lock up) gives me a nice neutral feel. All the boost does is increase the initial voltage when the brakes are applied. It does not effect the max voltage. You do not want to feel the trailer pushing you or stopping you. When you are set with a neutral feel the inertia portion of the controller will stop you just fine whether you are in town, on the highway or in an emergency situation. Most people get to aggressive with their trailer brake settings. Also, burnish the brakes on any new trailer. This is accomplished by running up to about 35-40 MPH and applying the trailer brakes manually until you reach about 5 MPH. Repeat this process about 3 or 4 times. Allow the brakes to cool and then set your controller.
Randy

C Schomer wrote:
I need to buy a new brake controller if I can't fix my old Jordan and I have some questions that I can't find anywhere in my searches . I know there's assessories for the PIII but is there only one part number for the controller itself ? Does the PIII come with a wiring pigtail that can be mated to the vehicle brake controller pigtail or is it necessary to buy the vehicle specific wiring harness for the PIII ? I have one trailer with electric magnet brakes and another trailer with electric hydraulic brakes . Does the PIII work well with both ? Is there any other good brake controller for both kinds of trailer brakes ? Thanks ,Craig

You can fix the common problems with Jordan 2020 which is the leaf switch contacts inside (main one is intermittent work/not work) .

If you do a search with Jordan and the symptoms you should come across some great info on how to fix them.

As a Jordan owner myself, I highly doubt you will find a lower cost controller that will works as smooth and well as a Jordan 2020..

My newer trucks have IBC and I can tell you those are about the only controllers that work as well as a Jordan 2020.

If you really need a new controller, there is one that plugs into your OBD2 diagnostics port.. Can't think of the name right now but from my understanding it reads the vehicles data and uses that to determine braking.. Not cheap as a Jordan was but worth a shot.

On edit..

Just remembered the controller name..

DIRECLINK!

You can find more info HERE