Thread: Towing braked trailers

There are quite a few different types of electric brakes on the market, the older generation were quite basic and required the controller to be fitted onto the towing vehicle which basically meant that the towing vehicle and trailer were a matched pair. Newer generations are quite a bit smarter and all of the required gear lives on the trailer with in some cases a little controller that plugs into the 12v socket and connects to the control module on the trailer via wireless connections. What you normally get with the controllers, is a control to tell the brake system how quickly to apply the brakes, a proportional controller to tell the brake system how much brake to apply, and then a manual control so you can apply the trailer brakes only.

Some systems have more control or less, some work off the brake lights on the towing vehicle and trailer illuminating, others have an inertia sensor to tell how hard you are trying to stop and then matched it with the trailer brakes so it doesn't lock everything up on application...

Pretty much the best idea is to find out about and learn what the settings and controls do on the brake system you are getting and then work out how it operates.

Other things it might have if the caravan is over a certain weight that I can't recall, maybe 2500Kg or 2000Kg (don't have it in front of me at the mo) is a breakaway control so if the trailer separates from the tow vehicle the brakes are automatically applied. The system may require a dedicated battery to power this, and then that requires a charging setup so the trailer brakes don't stop half way through the trip.