Been thinking about doing it for my 1/2 to Silverado for a while.
I know that the hitch is up to snuff, and im pretty sure the truck has the factory tow package.
However, i don't know much about the actual trailer brake equipment. What to buy, how it goes together, etc.
I started to Google it, then realized that I would get far more accurate and useful information here than a Google search by a guy that is starting with basics....
How often do you tow, and what do you tow?
You can get an older style time delay controller for fairly cheap. These you set the delay for how long it will take the controller to reach full braking and it follows that no matter what, provided you don't use the manual override. You can pretty much mount these wherever is convenient for you.
More modern proportional controllers react with your braking. Emergency stop? Quick reaction. Normal slow down for a red light, more sedate reaction. They usually do this by internal sensors such as an accelerometer, so you may have to mount and orient it a specific way.
That's about as far as I got helping my father in law before he just bought whatever the most expensive one was.
Yeah, the trailer with brakes would be once a year, tops. If that. Usually I flat tow, or use the 5x12 light duty trailer.
Also, truck is a 95 Silverado. So that may change the answer.
And i honestly didn't know that there were different styles of controllers. So om already learning!
With towing so little, you'd probably be ok with a time delay. Amazon says they range from $50-100ish
Apparently there is this slick new setup that avoids most of the wiring hassle by allowing you to control it by your smartphone. $200ish, so now you also have a price range.
I don't know about '95, but on the '97 K1500 that I put a brake controller on the wire to the trailer connector was there but I was on my own to put some sort of connector on. At that time Fords had a plug under the dash and now-a-days everybody does that, but apparently Chevy was a little slow on the uptake there.
I used the brake control wire that was already in place then ran a fused +12V from that I think was already in the engine compartment. I got ground from the dashboard mounting points and then had to tap the brake switch. Rather than hard-wire it to the controller, I opted for a 4-wire flat trailer wiring connector because they were cheap and I had one sitting around. You could go get the official plug for a Ford, Dodge, or GM and then use the adapter pigtail or you could use any 4-wire connector like a weatherpack or something.
I had one of the progressive controllers that was equipped with a pendulum to gauge how much the towing vehicle was braking but keeping it leveled out was kind of a pain. I have a couple of the Pod controllers (one in the RV and one in the B.U.T.T.) and they have worked just fine and are pretty inexpensive.
The brake controller has 4 wires - signal to the trailer, +12V, ground, and signal from the truck brake stop light switch. You want the +12V to be always hot - run, crank, and vehicle off - and you want it fused at least (I use a circuit breaker on the RV). If you don't already have the trailer signal wire you can run your own along the bottom of the truck. Ground is ground of course. For the signal from the brakes on the truck I prefer to cut the output from the switch on the brake pedal and then use a butt connector with heat shrink tubing to connect both the original wiring harness wire and the wire to the brake controller. I just don't trust those vampire clips.
That wiring sounds dead easy.
And i already have a constant 12v wire to the back for my backup lights, as well as a spare i ran just in case. So, simple so far!
With the time delay vs proportional: is there instances where the time delay CAUSES problems?
Dusterbd13-michael said:That wiring sounds dead easy.
And i already have a constant 12v wire to the back for my backup lights, as well as a spare i ran just in case. So, simple so far!
With the time delay vs proportional: is there instances where the time delay CAUSES problems?
Yep. Like dragging the brakes going down a hill. The truck may be just slightly slowing or maintaining speed and the trailer will go to full brake. If you lift, the timer starts over again when applying the brake.
You can drive around these issues, but it's annoying.
In other words, it can upset the braking balance of trailer and truck.
Also, for an emergency stop, the trailer won't be applying much braking force unless you push the manual over ride.
Dusterbd13-michael said:That wiring sounds dead easy.
And i already have a constant 12v wire to the back for my backup lights, as well as a spare i ran just in case. So, simple so far!
With the time delay vs proportional: is there instances where the time delay CAUSES problems?
There are three things you want the trailer brakes to do: 1) keep the trailer behind the tow vehicle, 2) allow you to use the trailer's tire traction to increase maximum braking force in a panic stop, and 3) keep from overheating the tow vehicle brakes in extended non-panic use (descending a grade, for example) by spreading that braking load evenly across more wheels.
To do all of these, you need a controller that can sense how hard the brakes are being applied in the truck and use that information to determine how hard to apply the trailer brakes. A delay controller doesn't do that, it's got a fixed braking amount that's applied a short time after the truck's brakes are applied. One-size-fits-all means that most of the time it's going to be the wrong amount, either too much or too little.
The degree to which this matters depends on the relative weights of the tow vehicle and trailer. If you're towing a race car on an open trailer you're probably looking at a minimum of 5K pounds, which is close to the weight of the truck -- IMHO that's well into the territory where you want proportional control. My impression is that the time delay controllers are primarily intended for situations where you don't really need trailer brakes at all but the law says you have to have them, like a big RV towing a really small trailer.
The recommendation I've always gotten is to buy a Tekonsha Prodigy of some kind. I've had a P2 and a P3, and they seem to be basically the same except the P3 has a couple memory settings and a fancier screen. A P2 is about $100, and IMHO the extra $50 over the cheap ones is money well spent.
Should be super easy. The tow package probably means there is a 4-pin connector under the dash. Buy a Tekonsha Prodigy controller, then buy the wiring harness that will plug-n-play for GM. Done. The Prodigy is a digital controller with an accelerometer that senses inertia and applies trailer brakes proportionally. The way it applies trailer brakes is seamless. I have had three and they were all wonderful regardless of the tow vehicle. I have yet to find a better controller.
Even if it doesn't have that pre-wired, it's pretty simple. You need a good 10 gauge wire from the dash to the 7-pole connector and follow the directions for the other three wires. You'll have battery, ground, and brake light switch.
The trailer brakes are dirt simple. They work as an electromagnet. As you give juice to the magnet on the shoes it pulls the shoes against the drum. Polarity doesn't matter as long as one of the wires has juice and the other has ground.
One word of advice. Ground, ground, ground. Make sure you have the same gauge wire that comes from the trailer chassis to the connector, and from the truck connector to the chassis. That amperage has to go somewhere, and if it isn't capable of properly grounding, you'll get funky lights and funky brakes. I need to work on mine right now. The ground is crusty and every time the trailer brakes activate, the trailer LED lights flicker and only the left brake light comes on in the truck.
Once you get it installed, the directions tell you how to set the gain to get the right proportion of trailer brakes. I double check it because it's never one size fits all, not to mention different trailer brakes will respond differently. If it's too high, you'll notice that the trailer will "squat" the truck and you'll sometimes stop even faster than without a trailer. That means it's too much. Sometimes you'll find that you're mashing the pedal harder to stop which means it's too little. A properly adjusted trailer braking setup will have you pushing the pedal just the slightest bit harder than normal to come to a normal stop. For initial setup, one of the things I do is load up the trailer and find a big long hill. Set it to where they suggest and go downhill using the brakes to maintain speed. At the bottom of the hill, get out and (carefully) check the temps of the truck brakes and the trailer brakes. If the trailer brakes are very different, adjust accordingly. Although temperature is not a direct indicator of braking torque, it is an indicator of how much heat they are taking on vs how much they give off. If one is way hotter than the other, it indicates you are giving it a disproportionate amount of heat and may fail/fade sooner than the other.
In reply to Curtis73 :
my buddy Jay installed a Prodigy controller on the Sonoma many years ago. it has been flawless.
Another vote for the tekonsha prodigy, it is excellent.
Another Prodigy user here, wouldn't mess with the time delay controller. Just bought a second pigtail to wire in so I can switch the controller between summer and winter trucks.
In reply to Curtis73 :
I'd also add to the "ground, ground, ground' part by making sure that you have high enough guage wire for the 12V supply to the trailer. It should be beefier than the light wires- the brake electromagnets take a lot more current than the lights.
When did OEMs start installing brake controller wiring into trucks?? I know I could do that easily on F150s in the late 90's but I have no idea when it started... If you have that, the above concern is already taken care of.
Another prodigy vote here. I have a p2
Another satisfied Prodigy user. I put a minimum of 20K miles a year on my K2500 Suburban tow pig with my 5ton equipment/car trailer, 14' enclosed, or 5ton dump trailer on. Pretty sure there are plenty of install videos specific to your tow vehicle and a Prodigy.
Couldn't be happier. Also, my unit has a selectable trailer weight (empty dump trailer weighs way less than the equipment trailer with the loader/backhoe on it) and IIRC alerts to faults with trailer lights/brake lights being out.
I put just put a Prodigy P2 in our Ridgeline to control our travel trailer. It works perfect and I highly recommend it. I like it better than the built-in controllers I have in the trucks I drive at work.
alfadriver said:In reply to Curtis73 :
I'd also add to the "ground, ground, ground' part by making sure that you have high enough guage wire for the 12V supply to the trailer. It should be beefier than the light wires- the brake electromagnets take a lot more current than the lights.
When did OEMs start installing brake controller wiring into trucks?? I know I could do that easily on F150s in the late 90's but I have no idea when it started... If you have that, the above concern is already taken care of.
GM started as early as 88. Not sure about Ford, but my 95 F250 had the wiring. My 94 Mazda B4000 (Ranger copy) does not as far as I can tell despite having the tow package.
It is becoming rather common. Mom has a 2017 GMC Acadia and it came with the wiring.
IIRC, the Prodigy diagram suggests 10 ga or better.
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