which brake controller is most preffered

boosTT wrote:
Max Brake is the best, hands down. Hard to find though.

If you are going to recommend a controller that is the best how about a link where it can be purchased.

boosTT wrote:
Max Brake is the best, hands down. Hard to find though.

Very true. Sad but true.

Max Brake is the best, hands down. Hard to find though.

jerem0621 wrote:

RCMAN46 wrote:
If the tow vehicle is in ABS while braking and the time controlled controller has locked up the trailer brakes you will soon find the trailer leading the whole mess down the road.

You never want the trailer brakes to brake more than the tow vehicle!

That is where the proportional controllers like the P2 and P3 shine.

Any brakes locking up is bad. Timed or proportional should never be set strong enough to lock the brakes. As you pointed out. That's a really bad thing.

The problem with the timed system if it is set up to brake properly on dry pavement and not lock the brakes it will lock the brakes on ice, snow or even wet roads even if the tow brakes are not skidding.

So if you set up a timed system not to lockup on a wet road you will have almost no braking effort on dry pavement.

jerem0621 wrote:
I have had them all. The timed based controllers work. That is absolutely true. I have had proportional controllers as well. They work too.

My Voyager was a good controller but so was my Hayes Syncronizer. The only issue that I have with proportional controllers is the potential for them not to work in slick or lose conditions. What if the you hit the brakes on the tv and the front tires skid or abs kicks in? The proportional controller may not send much if any power to the trailer. Timed controllers will apply trailer brakes every time you hit the pedal.

Jeremiah

Simple solution to your proposed wet road scenario.

If you hit the TV brakes and they skid or ABS kicks in and your Prodigy does not send as much amperage to the trailer brakes as you would like you just reach down and operate the manual lever on the prodigy and you can send as much current to the trailer brakes as you would like.

When I bought my Boomer several years ago, when I was just getting back into camping again after a hiatus of a few years, I bought what I thought was a good brake control at Advance Auto or Autozone, I don't remeber which, but it was a Reese Timer-based unit.

That was absolutely by far and away the worst experience I have ever had towing. Regardless of vehicle speed timer based units ramp up the amperage based on time, not traffic conditions.

This resulted in and extremely jerky ride when slowing down, to the point, I cringed every time I hit the brake pedal. They work, but once you go to a proportional brake control, you will never go back.

Live and Learn. Thankfully Autozone took the timer based unit back for me, that's when I researched and bought the P2.

RCMAN46 wrote:
If the tow vehicle is in ABS while braking and the time controlled controller has locked up the trailer brakes you will soon find the trailer leading the whole mess down the road.

You never want the trailer brakes to brake more than the tow vehicle!

That is where the proportional controllers like the P2 and P3 shine.

Any brakes locking up is bad. Timed or proportional should never be set strong enough to lock the brakes. As you pointed out. That's a really bad thing.

If the tow vehicle is in ABS while braking and the time controlled controller has locked up the trailer brakes you will soon find the trailer leading the whole mess down the road.

You never want the trailer brakes to brake more than the tow vehicle!

That is where the proportional controllers like the P2 and P3 shine.

pappcam wrote:
The integrated brake controllers on the newer trucks are by far the best option if that's an option at all.

I agree! I just can't afford a 35k brake controller right now :D

The integrated brake controllers on the newer trucks are by far the best option if that's an option at all.

jerem0621 wrote:

I have a friend who is always fiddling with his Prodigy and is not satisfied. Another with a Hayes Synchronizer who is completely satisfied.

Thanks

Jeremiah

That goes along with what I was thinking.

I may be new to the RV world, but I've been trailering for along time along with installing controllers for our small fleet at work. We drag everything form 3k lbs bumper pull to 20K lb goose-neck equipment trailers.

I've put in brands of controllers which I didn't know existed 'till the purchasing guy handed it to me because that happened to be what he could find fast and easily that week I was setting up a new company truck.
Some of the drivers have trouble adjusting any of the controllers at initial hook up and have to have help, some never have an issue with any truck / trailer combination.
None of them have ever come back off the road telling me I have to do something with a controller that quit / doesn't work right and nearly killed them. Troubles that come up are usually operator error (forgot to plug in the connector) or some failure on the trailer end.