To see if this custom-fit item will work for you please tell us what vehicle you'll use it with.
Thank you! Your comment has been submitted successfully. You should be able to view your question/comment here within a few days.
Error submitting comment. Please try again momentarily.
Some brake controllers take up too much room under the dash, but this one keeps things simple and slim. At only 1" thick, it mounts flush against the dash using the included bracket and hardware. You can place it anywhere and at any angle, so it’s easy to reach without crowding your knees or cluttering the interior.
Fine-tuning trailer braking is straightforward with the orange and black rocker switches. The gain adjusts from 0.5 to 9.9 in 0.5 steps for maximum braking output, while the load adjusts from 1 to 9 for how aggressively the brakes come on. Together they let you match your trailer’s braking feel to weight, road, and preference without over- or under-braking.
This controller manages trailers with up to 4 axles (8 brake assemblies) and works with electric and electric-over-hydraulic systems. Its time-delayed design applies preset braking power at a set rate, so every stop feels steady and consistent once tuned. It’s compatible with low-volt, PWM, ABS, and cruise control systems for reliable use across different setups.
The large LED screen shows numeric settings clearly and adjusts brightness or switches into night mode when needed. If there’s a wiring issue or fault, error messages pop up so you can troubleshoot quickly. You can check settings with just a glance without taking your eyes off the road for long.
The included custom harness plugs directly into your vehicle’s factory port beneath the dash—no cutting or permanent wiring required. Once connected, you’re ready to go or can unplug it anytime to move it between vehicles. The Discovery NEXT gives you full braking control in minutes without a complicated install.
Alternate Instructions
Videos are provided as a guide only. Refer to manufacturer installation instructions and specs for complete information.
Hi, everyone, Aidan here with etrailer. Today, we're gonna be taking a look at the Curt Discovery NEXT Brake Controller. This is gonna be a time-delayed brake controller. Let's check it out. When it comes to brake controllers, there's gonna be two options you're probably looking at, time-delayed and proportional. Proportional is gonna be the nicer of the two where if you lightly press your brakes, the brakes in your trailer are also going to be lightly applied.
If you slam on the brakes, the brakes in your trailer are also going to match that proportionally. With a time-delayed brake controller, it's gonna be applied at the same rate every time, so you don't get that fine adjustment. You can still adjust the settings, but it's gonna be the same every time. So if we're rolling up to a stop sign, coming to a very slow and predictable stop, and our gain and sensitivity are set kinda high, it's gonna be applying the brakes pretty hard. Same for if we have those set kind of low and we slam on our brakes on the highway, because someone in front of us stopped, the brakes aren't gonna be applied in a similar fashion.
There is the manual override you can always pinch to apply, but that's just something to know with a time-delayed system like this. Let's talk about those controls. The manual override is a pinch style where I'm pressing the button with my thumb. It's pretty easy to reach from the driver's seat where I've got it all set up. So whenever I'm driving, I feel like if I needed to suddenly reach down and get it, I can find that pretty easily every time, and index my thumb well enough to get a good press.
So good to know for emergency situations where you might need that. Now, there's gonna be two sets of controls here for the gain and the load. The orange buttons are going to adjust our gain or our brake power. You can go anywhere from 0.5 up to 9.9, and this is going to signify the different power levels. So 0.5 is the weakest, and as I go up, it's going to get more and more powerful.
So if I have a heavier trailer that needs more stopping power, I'd set it higher. The next one is going to be our load. This is basically how quickly the brakes are applied, so that can go from 1 to 9. At 1, it's going to be the lowest, and at 9, it's going to be the fastest or the quickest application. So basically, ramping from zero to fully applied where we have that gain set. So for demonstration, I'm just going to put the gain all the way up to max, and I'm gonna hit the brakes. And you'll see, slowly, it'll climb up to where we set it. And if I turn that load down all the way to 1, it's going to climb much slower to that designated power level. So you can fine tune this to your own trailer application, and depending on how heavy of a trailer you have and how good the brakes are, that will determine what you want those set at. But generally, that gain is going to be for the weight of the the trailer, and you can kinda determine the load from there. Now, to give a visual indicator of that gain, we've got our vehicle hooked up to a trailer simulator box. I've got the gain set to the absolute lowest it goes, so that's gonna be the lowest brake power, and you can see where the voltage is reading right now. If I turn the gain up to 5, that's gonna be right in the middle, you'll see that voltage will climb up higher. And then if I turn it up to the max, 9.9, you'll see that climb up even higher. So this is just to give you some visual indication of that different power level of the braking. This is designed to work with trailers up to four axles and will work with PWM, ABS, cruise controller, and electric-over-hydraulic brakes. So keep that in mind as you're picking this out if it's gonna work with your trailer. Up to four axles, I'd say for the most part, you're gonna be totally fine. If you don't need one that can go up to four axles and you like this style, Curt does make a similar version that's up to three axles. So that's something to keep in mind too if you don't need this much. Now, the big advantage to something like this, and something you probably noticed if you're familiar with brake controllers already, is going to be the size. It's a lot smaller and a lot more shallow than the brake controller we pulled out of this 4Runner today. And that's great, because even though it's mounted externally, it's not going to be in the way of your knees as you're getting in and out of the vehicle. And as I'm in a normal driving position, I've got plenty of distance between it and my leg. I don't feel like I'm gonna be hitting it all the time, 'cause it doesn't stick out very far. That's thanks to the very low profile bracket. We've got it mounted up with the included double-sided adhesive, but you can also use the included self-tapping screws. Just know that they're pretty long, and you're gonna have to have clearance behind there. But this will just click into place over that bracket. (bracket clicking) You can hear that snap in, and that's what holds it in. One thing to note is that because it's not inertia based, you can mount this really wherever it fits best, so it doesn't necessarily need to be level or facing any certain direction. Now, the installation can vary depending on your vehicle. I'd say check for what your vehicle has in terms of pigtail adapters. That's what we we're able to do with this option from Curt. We offer this pigtail adapter on our site here at etrailer, and that allows us to just plug directly into the vehicle's prep package for this. So just check to see if your vehicle can do that, because that's definitely going to be the easiest option as far as installation goes, 'cause it just plugs right in and all you have to worry about is mounting up that bracket, and then tucking up that wire loom from the adapter. Something else to note is that that LED readout does have a number of different functions. You can adjust the brightness, there's a day and night mode, but it's also gonna give us readouts for different errors. So if something's maybe not fully connected or something, it will tell us here. Your instructions give you a full list of all the different errors that can occur and short descriptions of what they are. But because its screen gives full text readouts, it's pretty easy to tell what's going on based on what it's showing. Like for example, when we first hooked this up to our simulator box, we didn't have the 7-way plugged in all the way, and it told us it wasn't connected. So we went back there, pushed the plug in the rest of the way, and then it worked properly. So that's going to help with just troubleshooting anything that may be occurring in your setup. For me, I think this is a nice middle ground between having the controls, easy to access, and having that LED readout, so you can see those errors and the power, and just have a little bit more control over it while still staying out of the way and being flushed to the dash. But that was just our look at the Curt Discovery NEXT Brake Controller. Thanks for watching.
Customer Satisfaction Score:
94% were satisfied with this product
6% of customers were not satisfied
Ratings & Reviews
I deal with Etrailer all the time fast on there shipping and never any problems ! All of my installs were made easy because of there diagrams & help . I Would Recomend Etrailer to anyone for There Rv , Boat anytype Trailer needs . Thank You Etrailer You are Always on time Everytime.
Made installation a breeze. Truck already had factory 7 pin, this was literally plug and play! Cable was perfect length
George, the wiring harness only took 3 mins. to install and works great. I couldn't take a picture because it tucked away so well. Now I can pull my 21 ft camper over the Colorado mountain passes safely. Thank you and stay healthy and safe.
Appears to be the correct harness as the plugs match the brake unit and the splice in GM pig tail that came with the truck. Bought it to avoid cutting and splicing as well as avoiding voiding the brake unit warranty. Big Benefit also that I can unplug and move to another vehicle if needed Had the unit within 5 days including the week end, that's great customer service by etrailer
Fast delivery. Super easy installation. Super easy setup. I had my trailer hooked to my truck and was testing the new brake control in 30 mins after opening the box from the big brown truck.
This was well worth the money. No. cutting required it was fast and easy. Come to find out I had an universal type one that came with my truck but it would have required me to cut wires. But the universal one did have a fuse that is needed to have the trailer brakes work. So keep in mind you may need to buy one of those. I assume they are cheap but just another step in having it work!
This made installation of the brake controller a dream. Connect to controller and plug into the port for the truck, 2005 Chevy 1500 Silverado. No muss, no fuss. Total installation time was about 20 minutes.
Great way to get an electric brake controller wired into your vehicle. GM was real smart to put a plug receptacle in the electric box for the electric brakes for trailers. etrailer shipped my order right away and all the items ordered were in great shape. Will be buying from them again.
-Plug in and go--- Quick and easy installation. Works great. etrailer was great to deal with. I had a missing part in one of the boxes, due to careless shipping, and I E-mailed about the part and etrailer sent a new part right away. Thanks for great service.
First, let me say that I have never been disappointed with any of my transactions with etrailer. This holds true with my latest purchase of a Curtis brake controller and pigtail. This is my second because the first was fried when the trailer wiring shorted out. I received the controller in 3 days, which included a partial weekend. The pigtail make installation so simple. I literally had the old controller out and the new one in within 5 minutes. I will look at etrailer first for any of my trailering needs.
Second time I have ordered parts for towing my trailer. Product was a snap well 2 snaps to install and works perfectly. Allows me to move my brake controller between both my vehicles. Used customer service this time as well and was extremely satisfied. Staff was knowledgeable, kind, and friendly.
Plug and play for GM trucks, very easy to hook up to the brake controler. Watch the instalation videos to see what terminal it plugs into on the vehicle.
Made brake controller install ridiculously easy. Thanks Etrailer.com
Micheal M.
8/6/2021
Made the installation of brake controller super easy. Absolutely worth it. I wouldnt do it any other way after using this.
Given the fact that I only planned to tow my travel trailer one way up to the lake, I wanted an inexpensive brake controller. I looked online and in stores, and they were all over $100. When you added in the wiring. The controller I purchased from E-trailer only cost $49.99 including the wiring. I simply plugged it in, and after a short test tow, it works great. Took about 15 minutes to install. I'm very satisfied with my Curt brake controller. Got it in 3 days after ordering. Arrived fast, installed fast, and works great at a great price. What more can you ask? I'll be ordering from E-trailer in the future. Thank you.
Great price and prompt order processing. Controller mounting kit and harness made for a very easy install; about 20 minutes. Unit worked without any problems on a recent 300 mile trip with a horse trailer. Went over some fairly steep inclines in the Blue Ridge area of Virginia. Chose Curt Tri-flex controller over the more expensive brands because two of the three trailer dealers in the area carried those units as their default controller. The unit has all the braking functions without the fancy screens and interfaces. Found that I rarely looked at the controller display and the discrete black box worked for me.
The adapter is as advertised, although I have an older brake controller that I had to do a small amount of wire splicing.
David
3/4/2023
Just fine.
Bought this trailer controller cable with a Curt Trailer Brake Controller. I dont know if it works or not. I installed this along with thr trailer brake controller at the same time. Nothing works. No lights power up on the controller. I highly respect Curt Products as I have many installed on my truck, but I'm disappointed with this combo purchase.
I only towed with it once and then I sold the truck I installed it in. I pulled the two axle camper bought 350 miles and it worked fine.
The Curt electric brake controller was the easiest installation I have ever had. I ordered the custom wiring adapter along with the brake controller; it all came with easy to follow instructions and it only took about 30 minutes to install the entire unit. I had done some checking around to get estimates from various companies which do the installations and their costs were around $300.00. The Curt unit including the adapter wiring was $**.00 and a very easy install. I used the brake controller during a recent camping trip on which I was pulling a 24 foot camp trailer. The controller worked great and I could easily control the trailer in some extreme mountainous terrains in Wyoming.
Pete D.
7/28/2017
Still works great after a year no problems at all.
Connected to the OEM plug perfectly, works great on our Sunset 16 ft trailer.
Purchased this controller for a 2004 Toyota Tundra Limited and it has preformed perfectly! I haven't had any complaints. It reacts and adjusts quickly. Along with the plug and play function there's not much more I can say. Great product!
Associate was very helpful email several options and price that l could choose Received order in timely manner was easy to install less than 10 minutes Will definitely use these guys again for towing needs
Pluged in perfect, absolutely recommend
Works well on a older truck , the new proportional controllers didn’t seem to be very effective on a older brake system.
Fit my 2005 2500 4x4 6.0 Chevy Silverado and triflex next controller and worked perfectly.
Info for this part was:
At etrailer we provide the best information available about the products we sell. We take the quality of our information seriously so that you can get the right part the first time.
Bill B.
6/9/2015
Im still using the above items and have had no problems with them. Thanks.