Today we are going to show you part number 39518 from Hidden Hitch. This is the Pilot 1 to 3 axle electronic brake controller. This is the time delay version. What is really nice about this brake controller is that it offers you 2 different options on mounting it to your vehicle. You can mount it with the traditional bracket or the ballmount where you can mount it at an angle and put it in any position you want. It does have a LED numeric display that shows the voltage output, which is nice. There is even a way that, if you want to mount it upside down, the numbers on the display will stay right side up. Another nice feature is that it has diagnostic that tells you if a wire has a short or not.
Now we will show you how it works. First off we will talk about the manual override which is the button on the side here. What that does is it activates the trailer brakes by themselves. Also on the left hand side there is a thumb wheel. It is really easy to use. This controls is the total output of the brake controller itself. All the way over towards the front is full power and then back towards the rear of the vehicle will be practically off. It is also nice that you can see here on the LED display it says C which tells you that it is connected to the trailer. Also when you hit your brakes it does a numeric display. It shows that in voltage too, so we have a full 12 volts going out.
Next we will show you what is in the box, obviously the brake controller itself. And also the 2 mounting brackets right here. One is for traditional mounting where it mounts towards the rear of your brake controller. And then also, we have this mount here where the mounting bracket is round or ball type bracket. You can actually move this as you need it to accommodate your dash. And it does come with all of the necessary hardware to install it. There you have it for part number 39518, the Pilot 1 to 3 axle Electronic Brake Controller from Hidden Hitch.
Diagnosing a Brake Controller Problem
Alright, today on this 2009 Ford F-150 we are going to diagnose a brake controller problem. Now we can use these steps on any brake controller that is on the market to verify if it is working or not. Now our brake controller is already telling us that it has an error message. It is flashing an Er on top. Usually it means an internal problem. We tested our trailer so we know it is good. So, it is not that. So first off we will make sure we have a constant 12 volt power supply. We will check the black wire first. OK, we are good there. Now we will try our red wire for our brake signal. OK, that is good there. Now we will try our blue wire and that will be our output. So we should have output on this wire whenever we hit the foot brake or the manual override. OK, we get nothing on the foot brake and nothing on the manual override. So definitely the error is internal and this brake controller does have to be replaced.
Trailer Brake Controller Reverse Light Lead Installation
All right what we are going to do on this install is the reverse light lead to our electrical connector. For instance on a 5-pole you can use this on a boat trailer that has a reverse lock out for hydraulic brakes on it. Also you can use on a 7-pole application the trailer may have reverse lights on the back of it. Some RVs have a reverse light hook up on the back of it. I will show you the basic generic steps of how it is installed. 00:22
Trailer Brake Controller Comparison Review
Today we are going to talk about the two main kinds of brake controllers, the proportional and the time delay. The two we have here are the Journey HD and the Draw-Tite Activator II. These are what you call the time delay brake controllers. Basically what happens is that when you hit the brakes, they come on at a certain speed that you set on the brake controller. Like on this one here, we have a sync switch here that controls how fast it comes on and then this knob here controls how much power it takes to stop the trailer. Basically you hit your foot brake and it comes on at the rate you determine and at how much power you have set aside for it, and then it stays there until you completely let off the brake.
Trailer Brake Controller Wiring Colors
Today we are going to cover a frequently asked question. It really turns up a lot. And actually it is easier than you think. Basically, if you have a pickup and you got a tow package with it and you got one of these wire harnesses that plug underneath the dash and plugs into your brake controller, you might have five or sometimes even more wires coming off of it. And you notice that your brake controller only uses four. We have got one over here, we will show you, that has just the four wires and what do you do with the extra wires? The short answer is do not worry about it, because the brake controller has all that it needs from these four wires.
Trailer Brake Controller Wire Testing
Today we are going to cover a few notes on testing an electronic brake controller. What we are going to cover here is going to apply to virtually all brake controllers. Basically, if you run into a problem where you think your brake controller is not working, well, it could be a the brake controller or it could be something in the truck itself, in the connector or c it actually could be problems in the trailer. What we are going to show you today is how to look for problems that will either rule out the brake controller or make sure that it is the brake controllers fault. Just like any electronic devices, they seem to have a limited lifespan some will work for years and some will not. But this way you can also verify that it is working good.
Removing and Replacing Trailer Brake Shoes Review
Today we are going to show how to remove the break shoes on a typical electric break axle, this one in particular is a twelve inch drum. We are using that one because it is large and easy to see. This applies to virtually all electric brakes from this size on up and down to the smaller sizes. We will go over how it comes apart and the tools you will need to do it with.
