Electric Brake Controllers

We have the Redarc Tow Pro which works just fine. The dial is a bit hard to see, but I think the new ones are better. Had a Tekonsha previously which also was good.

Cheers
Jim

I have been using the Primus™ IQ Electronic Brake Control for about the last 20 years.

It does not have all the bells and whistles that I don't need, but does a very good job of stopping the van as required with proportional braking.

I can't see the point of paying top dollar when the Primus™ IQ Electronic Brake Control will do it for half the price.

Each time I upgrade my car, I have a new controller installed.

I used to have the Tekonsha units but went over to the Redarc tow pro elite. Main reason was the ability to have the whole unit tucked out of the way with the small dial button mounted on the dash or anywhere you feel comfortable with it. Redarc have an excellent reputation and seem to be the main unit most are buying.

I prefer the types which have a lever control for emergency and for testing. My Tekonsha does that and is handy to the passenger as well so some emergency braking can be applied.. I use that feature along with a large wattage globe (actually a spotlight) and able to actuate the lever and see the increasing amount of energy being metered out to the van brakes if attached. A basic pre departure check! No good finding out brakes are not active until on the road. Not sure if others do that quite the same unless proportional braking is happening via decelleration of vehicle.

What ever brand you get, make sure it is one of their proportional types and not one of the timer/synchroniser/user-controlled types. Most companies make both types of controller. If you are looking at the Redarc types then go for the Tow-Pro Elite V3 model and not the Tow-Pro Classic. Another reason for rejecting the Tow-Pro Classic is that Redarc makes no claim that it meets ADR-21 requirements.

The difference between the two modes of operation is explained in the following.

We have had Redarc Tow Pro Elite V3 for our brief (so far) caravaning exploits and it seems to work very well but yes the dial is a bit hard to make out sometimes.

Redarc Towpro...near on the perfect solution to me. Compact, illuminated control knob can be mounted in any convenient place (the main unit is back in under the dash), easy to use and very effective. As mentioned, one questionable factor is the illuminated setting (1 - 10) display; small and difficult to read in some circumstances. Overall though, it still gets 9.5 / 10 here...a rating boosted by South Australian design and manufacture ! ??.

Pushy
Not knowing what car you are fitting the brake controler into,you need to know weather there is a airbag below the steering wheel. If there is you can not fit the Tekonsha, Primus IQ, or other under dash brands on the under dash as if the airdag goes off you will wear the controler in the legs or even worse the crown jewels.
For this reason the Tow Pro Elite v3 or similar should be used with the Tow Pro been the best. You wouldn't use cheap parts in your car brakes so why skimp on electric brake unit, just something to think about.

Murray

Recently( well a couple of years ago) fitted a tow pro to an 80 series belonging to my brother. It worked well, not as easy as I was expecting to find somewhere to mount the body but got it in there.

About 6 months later I got a call from him from a remote location telling me the trailer brakes stopped working and just had coloured lights flashing.

Googled the manual to find this was a fault code saying the earth connection had failed. Told him this and he found his battery mount had come loose on the corrugations and broken an eye terminal.

Not sure what the other brands have in the way of diagnostics but this has to be a big tic for redarc and another for sat phones.

I've the Tekonsha P3. It's a good controller, can be swapped between vehicles, apparently the diagnostics are a bit bit better than the Towpro. For example if there is a bad earth, it displays bad earth not a code. Pros: works as well as the Towpro, cheaper, better diagnostics, easy to use with multiple vehicles. Cons: a knee knocker the only I can think of. I'm only 171 cm so short legs, no problem in either a GQ or the Pajero. I've a mate who is 187cm and has no issues with it in his Prado. Not sure what the street price difference is both will do the job well.

Hi
Redarc is hidden [the only advantage ] but alot of $$$
Teknosha IQ primus or Prodigy are enough for most . Main difference -compared to Redarc is these models have "BOOST" function . I find this contributes to far better braking .
The differences between the 2 models is only small .
The topend model is the P3 . More than most need .

I bought the ElecBrakes from Queensland. An Australian invention. No need to have the system 'wired' into your car as it bluetooths from your phone. (you can purchase a separate receiver instead of using your phone).

My research did state the RedArc was one of the best though. But I chose the ElecBrake system because I could keep the unit and move from car to car or even from van to van with out unwiring or having holes drilled in my dash. The cost of getting an auto electrician to wire in any system was added expense and the Elecbrake was just plug and play.

This has work fine for me now for 6 months towing a 21ft van with a landcruiser. It also has a big red button to press in an emergency. On gravel this will lock up the van wheels but on bitumen you can feel the pull of the van as the brakes come on to what ever level I had preset for the big red button.