Remote Electric Brake or Fixed Electric Brake Controller

[bazdat]

Gday All 
 who uses Remote or fixed Electric Brake Controllers on their tow cars and what do they think is better.cheers Baz 

[snoops]

We use a high end remote control system on our bigger trailers at work that weigh over 2000KG as it is easier for our customers and they work fine. If you have multiple vehicles you tow the van with, then they have merit but if it’s just for the convenience of not having to wire a vehicle up, not so much IMO.

DON’T go for the units that run an app on your phone, despite what the manufacturers pedal, they aren’t legal for a variety of reasons - phone can go flat, go to sleep, etc. The unit we use must b powered by a cigarette lighter at all times or it beeps for 2 minutes then applies the brakes. They also use a dedicated radio frequency, not Bluetooth which is far more stable.

Even with multiple vehicles, best move IMO would be to wire them up and use a Tekonsha controller that mounts in a cradle and can be moved from vehicle to vehicle.

[Mustang]

I use a Teckonsha , its fabulous. We had a Redarc it's free to any home!!!

[tim]

I've got a Tekonsha P3. Its pretty good and was easy to install using a 3rd part kit. It was a bit of a pain to find a spot for it to go but in the end I took out the ashtray and lounted it there. When I sel the car, it will just unclip, I'll put the ashtray back in and no-one will know it was ever there.

I looked at portable ones (wired, not remote) that plugged into the cigarette lighter socket a couple of years back, but in the end decided they probably aren't safe. The brakes need a lot of current and cigarette lighter sockets might not supply enough without blowing a fuse or burning out the wiring.

The install kit that I used came with decent heavy gauge wire and a self-resetting fuse.

Tim

[Mustang]

As Tim says:
You can't have the wiring too big, but they will not work properly with under gauged cable.

Image & notes from our reno:
This is what I replaced it with possibly an overkill, but I had to eliminate the wiring as a problem:


Now the Teckonsha hand lever will pull the van & car up at 40KPH, before it would not stop at walking pace.

The general braking has also improved out of sight.

SO:

If your cable is too light over 8 meters (from the car battery to the brake magnets, you will surly be loosing voltage, heavy cable is one of the answers.