Today we are going to show you part number 39523 from Tekonsha. This is their powertrac electric brake controller. This brake controller is good for up to 2 axles. We will cover a few quick notes about this. When you hook up the trailer, it does come with a power on LED that lets you know you have a positive connection between the truck and the trailer. And also, that green indicator that lets you know that you are connected, changes to orange and then to red as the power to your trailer brakes increase. It has an easy to use thumb wheel adjustment on the side. It is also a solid state so you can mount this in any direction that you want. You can put it vertical, you can put it sideways, whatever way is most comfortable for you. Now we will go ahead and demonstrate it and show you how it works.
Right off the bat, you can see by the design of the brake controller, how the controls are oriented. It is designed to be sitting, almost at a 45 degree angle, on the bottom edge of your dash. You can see like this at this cross view. If you have a real tight area to put one in, this will be the perfect set up for it. Now when you activate the trailer brakes, like we said this green connector here shows that you have a positive connection. And then, when you hit the brakes it will turn from green to orange and then to red. And also on the side here is a thumb wheel that controls the total output. This is full and when you turn it down it turns it basically completely off. And also you have the manual override, so if you ever what to activate the trailer brakes themselves, you just push it over like so.
What you get in the box is pretty simple really. Obviously you get the brake controller itself, you get a bracket that you can mount to your dash that mounts onto the side here, and it also comes with a packet of screws to mount to the brake controller to the bracket and also the bracket to the dash of your vehicle. One other last note about this brake controller, it does come with a 5 year limited warranty. And there you have it for part number 39523 from Tekonsha, the powertrac electric brake controller that is good for 1 or 2 axles.
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.
