electric brake controllers?

[meburdick]

I had a 10 year old Reese.....didn't like it when I was hauling a load on the trailer...got a P3....Man,,,,what a nice controller! bobg in va

So, you used to have a Reese that you didn't like, but now you have a Reese that you do like.



Same company now...

 

[meburdick]

Got a Tekonsha P3 for a Honda Ridgeline and a 7k hauler with one brake axle. The truck came with half the cable and the P3 had the other half. Splicing them together and installing the bracket under the dash took a morning, mostly deciding where it should go and reading the instructions umpteen times from paranoia.

When not using it, it gets unplugged and lives in the console, because it always gets juice even with the engine off. It takes 30 seconds to reach under the dash, fish out the cable, plug it in, and click the controller into its bracket. There is a power-up self test, and if the unit is left plugged in with the engine off it goes to sleep at minimal current drain.

Haven't had a panic stop yet, but the unit displays (in your choice of designer colors!) a voltage going out to the trailer brakes that corresponds to perceived braking effort. I can lock up the trailer brakes using the manual lever to check the system.

Similar here... Tundra came with the harness, spliced it to the harness with the P3 and had enough wire to locate it under the radio, between the aux power outlets. Clean, easy, and simple.

 

[Soundguy]

i personally wouldn't worry about the very residual power draw the controller has.. but instead of disconnecting it every time.. I think I might just install an inline switch into the power cable.. then click her off.

I leave them plugged in on my vehicles full time. my 450 can sometimes set unused a month at a time in the barn and starts just fine.

Got a Tekonsha P3 for a Honda Ridgeline and a 7k hauler with one brake axle. The truck came with half the cable and the P3 had the other half. Splicing them together and installing the bracket under the dash took a morning, mostly deciding where it should go and reading the instructions umpteen times from paranoia.

When not using it, it gets unplugged and lives in the console, because it always gets juice even with the engine off. It takes 30 seconds to reach under the dash, fish out the cable, plug it in, and click the controller into its bracket. There is a power-up self test, and if the unit is left plugged in with the engine off it goes to sleep at minimal current drain.

Haven't had a panic stop yet, but the unit displays (in your choice of designer colors!) a voltage going out to the trailer brakes that corresponds to perceived braking effort. I can lock up the trailer brakes using the manual lever to check the system.

 

[meburdick]

i personally wouldn't worry about the very residual power draw the controller has.. but instead of disconnecting it every time.. I think I might just install an inline switch into the power cable.. then click her off.

I leave them plugged in on my vehicles full time. my 450 can sometimes set unused a month at a time in the barn and starts just fine.

The amount of power it draws after "going to sleep" is negligible... The clock and onboard computer use more power to retain settings. Leaving the device powered all of the time ensures that all of your customizations remain.

 

[Soundguy]

yup.. all mine stay powered full time.

 

[Diamondpilot]

Mine stay on all the time also. Never a issue.

Chris

 

[Carl Bert]

I have one of the cheapo ones. This is my first trailer and didn't know anything about the controllers when I had it installed. The place didn't even offer me any choices, they just told me the price, I said ok and they installed it. I believe it was about $125 total.

Anyway I would like to change it for a better unit. After reading this thread, it seems like the Prodigy P2 or P3 is the way to go. My question is, can I just swap the units out, using the same wiring, or is there more involved? Thanks

 

[meburdick]

Chances are, you'll need to swap some wiring.

Did your vehicle come with a tow package?

 

[Carl Bert]

Chances are, you'll need to swap some wiring.

Did your vehicle come with a tow package?

When you say "swap some wiring", what exactly do you mean? Say there are 4 wires going into my existing unit, will those be sufficient to hook up the new unit, or will I have to locate additional wires from under the dash?

My Tahoe came with the tow package, but for whatever reason, it did not have the plug for the controller.

 

[meburdick]

Do a little research on sites like hitchanything (.com) to see if there's a custom wiring module for your truck. They're about $20 and are the simplest install.

Otherwise, you'll be cutting off the existing harness and splicing in the new one.