Bought 2010 jayco expanda outback caravan. Has brake electric brake controller on drawbar. If towed with vehicle with brake controller will the units work against each other? Is it normal to have brake controller on caravan?

I believe some hire vans had a brake controller on the draw bar so that vehicles without installed brake controllers could activate the van's brakes via the ordinary brake light.

I'll let someone more knowlegable answer as to whether a drawbar versus internal controller would work together or fight each other.

Murray

With controller in cabin it is possible to manually activate van's brakes when braking is needed on van only. In cabin preferable to tow bar mount.

I was under the impression that a van over 2000kg had to have brake control from within the car......

Link; www.trailersrus.com.au/electric-brake-controller-for-trailer-drawbar-moun

Whilst my preference (for off road towing) is to have the option of both proportional braking & non proportional braking, for on road use where proportional is pretty much used exclusively there is a drawbar mounted option I am aware which is rated for vans up to 4500kg. (There may be others). There is a controller for inside the car but it is a wireless unit & is not hardwired into the tow vehicle. I am not recommending it, just pointing out it's availability.

www.elecbrakes.com/

www.elecbrakes.com/how-it-works/