i am wanting to tow my Sons camper trailer, which has electric brakes fitted, with either of my 2 cars, a Lexus sedan, and a Hyundai Tucson SUV.
Neither of my vehicles have a controller fitted, and I am reading up on the units that fix to the trailer and plug in to the 7 pin plug adjacent to the tow ball. To give me the flexibility of using either vehicle the concept seems the way to go. However they aren?t cheap and so I?m wondering if I should go the way of making the trailer the controlling unit, or just go out and get electric controllers fitted to both my vehicles.
Are there any problems known with the concept and if so what might be the problem.
I used a mates trailer once with a trailer mounted brake controller. Did not work as I also had a brake controller in the car. Ended up with no breaks at all. You fitting the controller to the trailer may mess up your sons set up in his car.
I fitted the electronic trailer fitted smart phone programmable controller on my camper trailer and it worked a treat.
It is wifi linked to your smart[phone(iPhone in my case) and you need to ensure that it is linked before driving. Also it needs to know the stationary draw bar angle so after starting and on a level road apply the brakes hard and keep them applied for 5 to 10 seconds.
You can change the operational parameters by programming from your phone, but I found the default to work very well. Through the hills in north Queensland inland from Cairns to the Australian Alps in the NSW Vic border. Also emergency downhill braking.
It measures acceleration and deceleration as well as the angle of the draw bar.
Best of all, it works on all vehicles.
It just knees to be initialised before charging off into the distance.
And if I change my mobile accomodation I can remove it and install it on my new tug.
And changing ute is not a problem.
I was assured by the supplier that it was legal but from a practical view, I would rather have this controller engage and handle it if the camper started to sway or try to beat me to the bottom of the hill rather than have to fiddle with a control fitted somewhere down around my knees while trying to control the car.
After all this unit knows whether you are going uphill or downhill or on the flat.
The Red Arc Tow Pro you can place the knob where you wish so that it falls easily to hand so you can apply trailer brake only. It is also a proportional system so brakes are applied commensurate with the amount of pedal pressure you apply.
Would highly recommend it.
We all recommend systems that we are familiar with and know work for us.
Your system relies upon the driver knowing when and how to control it.
I know that in an emergency I would be 100% engaged in trying to control the car with little time at the start of the incident to think of how to mitigate the situation. So for me an automatic system is my solution.
I know it works and the only input from me is to start the app on my phone and initialise it by jamming on the brakes very hard for a few seconds.
And if I neglect to do start the app or initialise, then as I start driving the van brakes pulse on and off.
Almost idiot-proof.
I look at it as being akin to the stability control which comes with most modern cars today.
Sounds like a typical piece of American RV tech. WIFI, or more likely in this case bluetooth, is unreliable and therefore not suited to a safety related application. I too would be interested in knowing if it has been approved for use in Oz?
The ones I've read about can comply with the necessary standards in Australia. They are powered from tow vehicle brake lights and if signal is lost they remain on the last used setting.
Unless you own a fleet or have a yard chokkas with the tow vehicles, the cost is high.
Hmm the ADR for under 4.5T is pretty weak, but it does require an effective signal from the controller. I would interpret that as a reliable signal.
From Elecbrake -
'What happens if you lose Bluetooth connection, or your phone or the battery in the optional controller goes flat?
You won't be able to change brake settings or apply full manual emergency trailer braking in those (unlikely) scenarios, but the Elecbrakes unit does remember your prior brake settings and apply the trailer brakes with the vehicle regardless of whether there is a Bluetooth connection or not.'
