Trailer brake controller

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2016 CX-9 GT
I am in the process of installing a trailer hitch and wiring, thinking about buying a popup camper trailer. I have have never had a car with hitch, let alone a trailer.

What are the thoughts on brake controllers for trailers on our cars?

Thanks for your help!
 
There are three types of trailer brakes. The electric controller is needed on two of these.
--Surge brakes. No controller needed. The hitch coupler on the trailer tongue floats against stiff springs. It contains a hydraulic master cylinder. When the tow vehicle slows the trailer surges ahead, the couple floats on the tongue and activates the master cylinder, and the hydraulic brakes on the trailer are applied.
--Electric drum brakes. Electric controller needed. The good controllers contain an accelerometer chip that detects the slowing of the tow vehicle and applies electrical power to the trailer brakes. This is modulated so the trailer braking matches the tow vehicle braking. The trailer brake electromagnet coil gets power, the magnet pulls to the finished surface inside the drum, the rotation pulls the brake shoes, and the shoes contact the drum periphery slowing the trailer.
--Electric disc brakes. Usually only on heavy expensive trailers. Controller required.

Pick your trailer. See what it is built with. Check the regulations in each state you'll tow through if brakes are an option. Most states have a 3000# requirement for trailer brakes, but some states are higher or lower. Trailer brakes can be very important. Without them, the car brakes and the car tires are the only force to slow down. Add the trailer tires & brakes, and you have much more stopping force for the total weight of the car plus loaded trailer.

Get a proportional trailer brake controller. It senses the rate the tow vehicle is slowing and applies the trailer brakes in a similar proportion.
 
That is great information, thank you for sharing.

While the planned trailer will not weigh more than 3000 lbs, I understand and appreciate the information on the brake controller. I am currently looking at the installation and requirements for one of them.

If anyone has any information about one they recommend I am all ears.

Thanks again!
 
https://www.etrailer.com/dept-pg-Brake_Controller-sf-Proportional_Controller-pm-Tekonsha.aspx

Take your pick. The big corporation in towing gear is Cequent; they own the labels of Tekonsha, Draw-Tite, Reese, and more. Tekonsha brake controllers are well known. Pick any one that is proportional and automatic leveling (you do not want to fiddle with leveling the unit when you go uphill or downhill). I think I'd get the Prodigy P2. It has more flexibility in the mounting position than the Primus.

The brake controller needs 12 volt power from the car. It may need a wire to the brake light switch depending on the model of the controller (so it knows when you're on the brakes.) It sends the braking power to the trailer through the 7-pin connector at the hitch.

I don't think our cars are wired for a trailer brake controller.
 
How I used the brake controller---
---I wanted the tow vehicle brake pedal feel to be the same, and the braking effort the same, with the same foot pressure on the pedal. I didn't want the trailer to pull back when I braked, and I didn't want to have the tow vehicle to supply more braking due to the weight of the trailer. The brake controller has an adjustment to give this feel.

---Some want the trailer to lead the braking. They want it to pull back on the tow vehicle. That is a real problem on downhill curves. Touch the brakes, the trailer pulls back, and it tends to straighten the tow while you need to smoothly continue around the curve. Also, I do not want to overheat the trailer brakes. Some want the trailer to hold the combination back on a downhill, and that can easily overheat, maybe burn out, the trailer brakes. I like smooth, no drama braking.

---Downshift the tow vehicle on long downgrades. Let the engine slow the rig to almost the speed you feel is safe for your situation (which may be less than the speed limit). Use the brakes intermittently to get down to that safe speed. Get off the brakes, let them cool, then get back on the brakes as needed. Some will say, "brakes are cheaper than a transmission; use your brakes." OK until the brakes get overheated and you crash. Locally we've had two fatality crashes from overheated brake fluid. The brakes get real hot, the old moisture-laden fluid flashes to steam, the pedal goes to the floor, and the vehicle is a runaway. Brake fluid is designed to disperse moisture in it so the inevitable moisture that gets into the system doesn't pool in the calipers and corrode them. Get the fluid renewed periodically.
 
I'm installing a brake controller right now, I had to wire up the power, ground, brake signal wire to the tralier connector at the back, the brake signal wire from the swithch is where I'm stuck. I cant get the connector off the switch, and it looks like there's three wires on the switch- which one do I tap into? Does anyone have a wiring diagram for the brake switch?
 
I will be starting this afternoon, would be great if someone had an answer. If not, I will be whipping out the multimeter later on.
 
In a post from 2009 on here someone said blue was for trailer wiring. I could not confirm this until now with the switch out. I will try later with the switch attached to the car.
 
I went to my local dealer today, and we think its the red with yellow stripe wire. There are actually four wires into the connector, so I will also check with multi meter in the morning, goodnite and goodluck.
 
I would like a second opinion, but I believe it is the red one, 12V only when the stalk is extended from the switch.

It took me a while to figure out, as I was having no luck getting the multimeter connected while the switch was in place, and I was getting no readings at all when taking the switch out of it holder. That is until I rotated the two black tabs at the base of the stalk which makes the stalk pop out, the same way it does when you insert and rotate the switch into its holder. With the tabs rotated, the stalk popes out further, I get 12V with the stalk extended (brake pedal depressed), 0V with the stalk pushed in on the red wire.

To reset the tabs you have to push the stalk in a little and then rotate the tabs.

Like I said, this is what I found and would like a second opinion.
 
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My brake contoller is installed, took me 9 hours start to finish.

More to come, but for now: the red wire is the cold side of the brake switch.
 
Quick update: if you connect the brake lead to the red wire, the trailers brakes will only activate when you physically press the pedal and not when the car initiates brakes during cruise control.

A though is to tap into a brake light instead, but I will have to do some more research.
 
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