Trailer brake education

**joel0407** · 25th July 2015, 11:25 PM

Oh and another problem with the first system is if you have it set so the brakes come on slow because most people want a smooth progressive application of the brakes, in an emergency, the brakes still come on at the same rate. Great for cruising down a long hill because you can just touch the brake pedal enough for the trailer brakes to come on (usually activated with the brake light switch) and then not use the vehicle brakes.

Another advantage of the second system is when you change back gears and use engine braking, the trailer brakes will apply and give the same deceleration. Setup right and the trailer brakes will totally compensate for the extra weight, change down gears and combined vehicle and trailer will still slow at the same rate the vehicle would slow if the vehicle was not towing, use the brakes and the same brake pedal pressure will give the same deceleration if the trailer is there or not.

Happy Days.

**d2dave** · 26th July 2015, 12:02 AM

I have always believed the tekonsa ones to be the best. They use the pendulum and when set up correctly, you would not even know that you had a huge weight pushing from behind.

**joel0407** · 26th July 2015, 08:39 PM

Originally Posted by d2dave

I have always believed the tekonsa ones to be the best. They use the pendulum and when set up correctly, you would not even know that you had a huge weight pushing from behind.

I would think a pendulum would be effected by gravity. That would cause the brakes to come on going down hill.

Does anyone know which ones use accelerometers?

Happy Days

**joel0407** · 26th July 2015, 08:57 PM

I did some reading.

The best trailer brake controllers | Trailer Brake Controller

Tekonsa now have accelerometers not pendulums.

**joel0407** · 26th July 2015, 08:59 PM

I maybe dreaming here but I thought I had read that some vehicles have trailer brake controllers built in to there own stability controllers.

Happy Days

**joel0407** · 26th July 2015, 09:16 PM

Robert Bosch LLC. - Media Center

For this to work, the vehicle stability controller needs control over the trailer brakes which therefore means it must control the trailer brakes at other times as well.

Happy Days

**Stuart02** · 26th July 2015, 09:44 PM

I believe brake controllers can be trailer mounted, which is done on hire trailers in QLD?

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**d2dave** · 26th July 2015, 09:50 PM

Originally Posted by joel0407

I would think a pendulum would be effected by gravity. That would cause the brakes to come on going down hill.

Does anyone know which ones use accelerometers?

Happy Days

Here is a quote from a site on brake controllers.

Proportional brake controllers are also known as pendulum brake controllers because of the way they sense motion. These devices use the position of a pendulum as a motion-sensing device, and drivers typically need to calibrate them before using them. When the vehicle is on a level plane and the pendulum is pointing straight down to the ground, the brake controller doesn't sense any motion and won't send any signals to the trailer's brakes. When the vehicle moves, however, the pendulum points toward the rear of the vehicle. As soon as the vehicle brakes, the pendulum swings forward. Depending on how far the pendulum swings, the brake controller sends a degree of power to the trailer's brakes.

Here is a link to the site if you want to read more.

Types of Brake Controllers - HowStuffWorks

**joel0407** · 26th July 2015, 09:53 PM

Originally Posted by d2dave

Here is a quote from a site on brake controllers.

Proportional brake controllers are also known as pendulum brake controllers because of the way they sense motion. These devices use the position of a pendulum as a motion-sensing device, and drivers typically need to calibrate them before using them. When the vehicle is on a level plane and the pendulum is pointing straight down to the ground, the brake controller doesn't sense any motion and won't send any signals to the trailer's brakes. When the vehicle moves, however, the pendulum points toward the rear of the vehicle. As soon as the vehicle brakes, the pendulum swings forward. Depending on how far the pendulum swings, the brake controller sends a degree of power to the trailer's brakes.

Here is a link to the site if you want to read more.

Types of Brake Controllers - HowStuffWorks

Maybe they did in the old days but now they use 3 axis accelerometer.

**joel0407** · 26th July 2015, 09:57 PM

All the sources of information for that arrival were from 2008. Maybe those brake controllers could be collectable antiques by now.

Thread: Trailer brake education

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