Hopkins Agility electric brake controller problem

What type of controller? Inertial based? IF so, take it out of the vehicle, carefully place it in the nearest trash can and go buy a good quality controller like the Prodigy.
But first, when is the last time you adjusted the brakes?

Hopkins Agility is the brand name. Yes, brakes on fiver are adjusted and work well when controller is manually activated. Yes, it is an inertial type controller. Are you saying the controller is just a POS, and to ditch it? Are they junk? It's a $100 controller, was hoping to figure this out, not just chuck money in the trash. Do you have experience that indicates these are crap? If you do, I'd gladly hear more about them.
Again, Thanks for any and all advice, Larry

Have had inertia type hydraulic ones which are the best. After buying my prodigy have never looked back

Uh, OK. Again, anything inherently wrong with this controller? Inertial/electric being problematic? Just looking for answers here.....

You have to set "level" with the white paddle on the side. This turns the inertia pendulum so it reacts to your braking. Nothing wrong with pendulum sensors, just harder to "dial-in". I keep my Tekonsha Voyager as a spare under my seat because it less likely to be damaged by a short in the trailer wiring, compared to the digital inertia-sensor controllers (like the P3, which I normally run).

WHITE PADDLE ON THE SIDE??? Is this the Hopkins Agility model? Didn't see this in the installation manual... Please advise...

Trying to help the cause here,

Is this the controller you have? There is an instructions pdf there too.

http://www.hopkinstowingsolutions.com/products/brake-controllers/agility_brake_control.html

If it is, it is a proportional controller which is good, just it may not be a digital one.

First is the unit mounted mounted like these instructions state? Both on the angle position from the side and straight ahead?

If it is, then it sounds like the gain and boost needs to be tweaked in. They call this the "power" setting and then the "sensitivity" setting. Especially if the manual lever give good braking.

It appears on this controller the "power" setting adjusts the max amount for power from 0 to 100%. Then the "sensitive" is adjusted to make it happen quicker, be more sensitive.

Did you do the 20 to 25 mph aggressive braking setup to keep up'ing the power setting until you almost lock up? And did you try this with the manual button too? If the manual works then it sort of points to the power and sensitivity settings of the unit is mounted correctly.

Pending the loaded weight of your camper and how close to full GVWR of the camper, the brakes may not actually lock but should brake real hard.

Lets make sure we are talking the correct controller and verify what you did do.

If your brakes have not been adjusted at each wheel in a while, the lining wear will need more power to achieve the same braking. This is not controller specification but an electric brake thing.

Hope this helps

John

PS. The "time" based controllers on a large camper are the ones that do not work so good. Yours is not in the group, at least yet anyway. But as said, the older inertia technology has to be set up right and then it can give good service. I myself do not have your exact controller but have adjusted others.

I believe that this is the controller you are asking about. I have no experience with it but it looks like a good controller and I suggest you check carefully how it is wired into your truck. I had just about the same experience with my Prodigy when I first installed it. Finally took it to a dealer and they found I had it wired in wrong. It has worked fine since they corrected it for me. Perhaps you have mis-wired it just as I did.
Barney

Edit: Oops, I see John and I were posting at about the same time and supplied the same link.

First off, thanks for all the input from everyone, I'm sure we can figure this out, if it takes till spring when I start hauling again! Yes, it is the Hopkins Agility model. It is set up straight within the truck, with the tilt about level front to back. I installed using the factory harness from my 2004 GMC truck mated with the harness from the controller. Maybe I should pull it out and double check wiring configuration, seems it was very straight forward and hard to screw it up. Brakes work VERY well when applied manually, seems this indicates system works, just not like it should. Both settings are set to max, should almost lock brakes up, right? BTW, this is a Carri-Lite, weighs about 10,000 lbs or so, all 4 brakes recently adjusted. System has behaved like this since first installed over 2 years ago. Maybe I'm expecting too much, just feels like I have to use a pretty heavy pedal to slow down. Thanks again everyone, Larry

Larry, FWIW, electric controllers braking force doesn't depend on brake pedal "force". As soon as you begin depressing the brake, the signal from the TV stoplight switch enables the brake controller. As you slow, the pendulum movement is what apply's more braking to the trailer. Ergo, more brake pedal force moves the pendulum forward to provide more braking. I suggest you try the slow speed test in a parking lot and then tweak your settings. Good Luck

Jim