high level intro to brake controllers?

Diamondpilot · May 8, 2015

MattEffinCameron said:
so I got a prodigy P3...I dont plan on using it often...and I am a big guy so theres not a lot of mounting locations that are out of the way that my knee wont smash into (I have the captains chairs in the front so I dont have that space under the dash in the middle). Any thoughts about putting it under the driver's seat? There is a raised flat surface under the front center of the driver's seat. I could velcro it right there for easy install/removal but that might not be a fixed enough position for it to work as well as it needs to...so I could always drill in and mount it there. Issue would be that the controller would either be facing backwards or facing the correct direction but I wouldnt be able to see the front of it as the front of the unit would be facing the area under the seat....

You must be able to access it while driving to tune it to the load and test.

Chris

RPW · May 8, 2015

Mount the controller the way the manufacture requires it to be. If you were on the road by yourself it wouldn't be a problem. Please keep it safe. I've use the Prodigy P2 for years without an issue pulling loads between a few thousands up to 15000 plus animals. As long as I've set the controller before I pull the load works great. As far as location you can (I believe the manufacture allows this) mount on the top of the dash.

Good luck.

OhioJoe · May 8, 2015

I mounted my P2 into the cubby of my 99.5 f250 with velcro. I store in the glovebox until needed. Works great and easy to reach...jwm.

Panik · May 8, 2015

If you're concerned about room I would mount it on the dash as RPW suggested.

RPW said:
As far as location you can (I believe the manufacture allows this) mount on the top of the dash.

In fact that's actually what I did because I didn't want to deal with smacking my knees on my P3.

I used a large chunk of Velcro for dashes and vinyl to attach it as I wasn't sure about screwing the mounting bracket to the dash (padded dash). The controller has stayed where it was placed and has worked flawlessly since installation. That being said, I have yet to have a need to disconnect it and remove it from the dash. I really can't see the need to do that unless something is malfunctioning.

Anyways, I'm left handed and it's actually an easier reach for me than if I had mounted it on the knee boards of the dash. If I remember correctly the only major sticking point for the P3's in regards to mounting was that they needed to be level from side to to side.

Diamondpilot · May 9, 2015

Panik said:
If you're concerned about room I would mount it on the dash as RPW suggested.

In fact that's actually what I did because I didn't want to deal with smacking my knees on my P3.

<img src="http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=424065"/>

I used a large chunk of Velcro for dashes and vinyl to attach it as I wasn't sure about screwing the mounting bracket to the dash (padded dash). The controller has stayed where it was placed and has worked flawlessly since installation. That being said, I have yet to have a need to disconnect it and remove it from the dash. I really can't see the need to do that unless something is malfunctioning.

Anyways, I'm left handed and it's actually an easier reach for me than if I had mounted it on the knee boards of the dash. If I remember correctly the only major sticking point for the P3's in regards to mounting was that they needed to be level from side to to side.

Why did you just get the factory unit from Ford? Even if the truck didn't come with it you can gave it installed at your dealer. Unit runs $89 and 30 minutes of labor to install and reflash the computer is about $40.

I have them done all the time.

Chris

Panik · May 9, 2015

If your refering to me it's because I have a '14 Sierra and unfortunately there's no simple retrofit for the oem controller. A bunch of people on gm-trucks looked into it and no one has been able to figure out an affordable way to do it yet.

If your talking about the OP's ford, then by all means I agree that if it's affordable he should get the retrofit.

Diamondpilot · May 9, 2015

Panik said:
If your refering to me it's because I have a '14 Sierra and unfortunately there's no simple retrofit for the oem controller. A bunch of people on gm-trucks looked into it and no one has been able to figure out an affordable way to do it yet.

If your talking about the OP's ford, then by all means I agree that if it's affordable he should get the retrofit.

I'm sorry, I thought you had a Ford also.

I'm surprised it's a pain on the GM and cost preventing. On the Ford's it's less or the same as a decent aftermarket controller and looks and works 10 times better.

Chris

Panik · May 10, 2015

No worries! As for the OEM controller's apparently it's a GM control thing. They are no longer allowing dealers to re-flash a truck's BCM for features that were not originally spec'd out in the RPO codes. Sucks!