A simple LED display and a pinch-trigger manual override make this time-delayed brake controller easy to read and easy to use. Installation is quick and simple with no mounting restrictions. Activates brakes with a preset intensity.
Features:
Specs:
Gain control lets you set the maximum amount of power that will be applied to your trailer's brakes, adjusting in increments of 1. How much braking output you need is determined by the weight of your trailer; a heavier trailer will need more power to bring it to a stop. You want to go as high as you can without the trailer brakes locking up. Typically, the gain is only readjusted when you experience changing road conditions or if the weight of your trailer changes. To get more power to your brakes, press the left-hand upper rocker switch. To decrease the gain, press the lower switch. When you make your adjustment, the gain setting will show on the LED screen for 5 seconds as a series of bars and then go into sleep mode to reduce drain on the battery.
Once you have the gain set, you can fine-tune your braking by adjusting the load control on a scale of 1 to 9. This controls the aggressiveness of your trailer's braking, meaning how quickly the brakes reach the maximum braking level. Load control can get the braking power to your trailer faster and with more intensity so that it doesn't push your tow vehicle forward. If your vehicle takes too long to come to a stop, increase the setting by pressing the right-hand upper rocker switch. If it stops too abruptly, decrease the setting by pressing the lower switch. You can alter the setting to suit your driving preferences or to improve handling based on changing road conditions or varied trailer loads.
The Venturer comes with a easy-to-reach, pinch-trigger manual override, great for stopping sway or controlling your trailer's momentum in emergencies. To engage the manual override, just push in the trigger. This will activate the trailer's brakes and brake lights without you having to apply the brakes on your tow vehicle, perfect for limiting trailer movement while you're cruising.
The LED display on the Venturer is large and easy to read at a glance. It will show you what setting the brake controller is on as well as give you information for troubleshooting. You can adjust the screen brightness or trigger night mode so it won't glare obnoxiously on your dash. Press the control button to cycle through the different modes, shown as a bar - keeping it simple.
Because inertia plays no role in the functioning of this controller, you do not have to mount the unit at any particular angle. Your mounting options are limitless, so long as you can still easily access the controller and the manual override. The included bracket is designed to mount the brake controller flush to the dash so it takes up almost no space at all.
The included custom-fit adapter plugs into the port on your vehicle's built-in brake control wiring harness, which you'll find underneath the dash, to the left of the steering column, taped to another harness near the emergency brake pedal. Once you're plugged into your factory port, just plug the other end of the adapter into the Venturer. No hardwiring needed!
Note: If you don't already have a 7-way plug at the back of your vehicle, take a look at our exclusive 7- and 4-way brake controller installation kit (ETBC7 - sold separately).
The Curt Venturer NEXT comes equipped with time-delayed braking. Every time you apply the brakes in your vehicle, a signal is sent - via the brake switch - to the Venturer. The controller then sends power out to your trailer brakes to activate them with an intensity set by you, at a rate determined by you. Both the amount of braking power (gain) and rate of application (load) can be adjusted to suit your preference, the road conditions, the type of trailer, and the weight of your load. To determine which levels are best for your application, test your towing setup and choose what feels right.
Alternate Instructions
Videos are provided as a guide only. Refer to manufacturer installation instructions and specs for complete information.
Hi there. I'm Michael with etrailer.com. Today we're gonna take a quick look at this CURT Venturer NEXT Trailer Brake Controller. Now, if you're not familiar, if you have electric trailer brakes on your trailer, you are going to need a brake controller in order to activate those brakes. Otherwise, they're not really doing anything for you. There are several different kinds of brake controllers out there, different features and that sorta thing.
This is really gonna be your more basic option. So it's not gonna have some of the more advanced features that allow you to control the intensity of your braking in the moment, but this is going to be enough to get your brakes functioning. So if you are just looking for the base model that's gonna do the job for you without having to pay a whole lotta money, this is gonna be a great way to go. This will work for your trailers that have up to three axles, so six brake assemblies. Basically the way this works, every time you apply the brakes in your vehicle, a signal is sent via your brake switch to the Venturer.
The controller is then gonna send that power out to your trailer brakes to activate them with an intensity that's preset by you. It does also have the predetermined rate, which is also set by you, and we'll get into what those two terms mean, but this is going to be a time delay system. So unlike some other brake controllers that are proportional, this is going to apply the brakes at the same intensity whether you're tapping on the brakes or slamming on the brakes in an emergency sorta situation, that your trailer's brakes are gonna apply at the same rate either way. Both the amount of your braking power, called the gain, and the rate of the application, which is called the load, can be adjusted to suit your preferences, the road conditions, the type of trailer you have, and the weight of your load. We've got the switches here that are going to allow you to very easily access that and adjust.
So we've got 10 different gain settings. You select a higher setting for your harder braking and a lower setting for your more gradual braking. You do wanna go as high as you can without your trailer's brakes locking up. That's a good indicator that you've gone a little too far, so you wanna come back down a little bit. Typically your gain is only gonna be readjusted when you're experiencing changing road conditions or if the weight of your trailer changes.
So if you've taken off your load, you might wanna adjust it so that it's not engaging as hard with that lighter empty trailer. This also provides nine different load settings, and that's gonna control the aggressiveness of your trailer's braking, meaning how quickly the brakes reach their maximum braking level. So you've got all that adjustability to preset it, but then once you apply the brakes, it's going to apply that same power and as quickly each time. So again, whether you're tapping on the brakes or you're slamming on them, the trailer's brakes are gonna apply that same amount of pressure. So unlike your proportional systems which will apply the trailer's brakes in proportion to how intense you're applying the tow vehicle's brakes, this is not gonna have that feature. It does have a very simple LED display that's gonna show the amount of power output. So you can adjust that in one-digit increments so that you can know where you're at, you know how much intensity you've got. The brightness is also adjustable, so you can view it optimally either. No matter if you're driving during the day or at night, you can adjust that brightness level. We also have the pinch trigger that's going to give you that manual override capability, so very easy to reach if your trailer begins to sway or if you're stopping in an emergency situation. You can activate your trailer's brakes and the brake lights without having to apply the brakes on your tow vehicle just by pushing in on that switch or that trigger there. This is gonna be very quick and easy to get installed. There really are no mounting restrictions. So with a proportional system, you have to have it mounted in a certain orientation for the internal components to sense the inertia. This, you don't have to worry about that. They've got this mounting bracket here with the included hardware that you can get mounted flat on your dash, and then it just kinda slips in place there, so basically flush with your dash. Very simple to get installed, and you don't have to worry about getting a certain orientation. You can mount it basically whichever way is gonna work best for your setup. You can see our width there. We're looking at approximately 3 1/8 of an inch wide. Our length, we're sitting at approximately four inches, and then our thickness, call it about an inch. So keep that in mind when determining where you're gonna mount this. Now, to get it wired in, it's gonna depend on your setup. If your vehicle is already equipped with a plug-in brake controller wiring harness, all you have to do is just connect the unit to it, so very simple there. If you don't have a built-in system, there are some plug-in vehicle-specific brake control wiring adapters available that are gonna help to reduce your installation time, and of course, that is gonna depend on your vehicle. So I'd recommend using our vehicle fit guide here at etrailer.com. You'll select your year, make and model of your vehicle. We'll let you know which products will work for you. So specifically for those vehicle-specific kinda products, that's more important, but if you do have one of those available, I'd highly recommend going with that. Otherwise, if you are just going to wire it in place, you are gonna need either the 20-amp circuit breaker if you have a two, three or four-brake application, so with two or four-brake application, or you'll need the 30-amp for a six-brake application. So depending on your setup, you'll need either one of those, and again, if you don't already have a seven-way plug at the back of your vehicle, I highly recommend our ETBC7 seven and four-way brake controller installation kit that you can see on the screen there. So that's gonna give you that plug at the back of your vehicle so that you can plug in your trailer's wiring and make sure everything is connected properly. This does come with a limited lifetime warranty. So if you we're to have any issues with it, you're more than welcome to reach out to us here at etrailer.com, but like I said, this is a very basic model. I think it's gonna get the job done for you. It's not gonna have a whole lot of bells and whistles and that sort of thing, but it is gonna help to apply those brakes on your trailer, and that completes our look for today. Again, I'm Michael with etrailer.com. Thanks for watching.
Average Customer Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars (1 Customer Reviews)
A simple LED display and a pinch-trigger manual override make this time-delayed brake controller easy to read and easy to use. Installation is quick and simple with no mounting restrictions. Activates brakes with a preset intensity.
This is used on a 2020 Chevy Silverado 1500 pulling a 16' enclosed cargo trailer. With the appropriate adaptor cable it was very easy to install, just plug in and mount in a convenient spot. Once installed it was simple to get it matched to the weight and brake setup of the trailer. Close to 6k miles with it so far & very happy.
The combo of the Curt Spectrum brake controller and wiring harness made installation a snap
Installed but not used with a trailer yet, easy instruction and appreciate the extra hardware for the installation.
Compact and not intrusive. Decided to use the adhesive tape included and taped under the dashboard L of the steering wheel.
This break controller was easy to install and works great!!
This break controller was easy to install and
Works grat.
Works great on my 22 Silverado tricky plug install but Curt has great cus sec to help.
Having issue with intermittent power.
Seamless connection!
The wiring adapters worked great. It made installation quick, easy, and clean.
Great fit, working like a charm!
Slimmer than most of the others. Easy install with the additional pigtail.
Super fast shipping and great prices!
I like the way it installed
We got a new truck and needed to convert our trailer breaking unit to the new truck. I wrote to be sure what I needed, got an answer right away, ordered it, and it was easily installed!
Makes hookups fast and easy.
Product was perfect for my use.
It does what it's supposed to.
Fit properly
Delivered early. Was just what I wanted.
Almost plug-n-go.The hardest part was where to put the controller !
The products are excellent and the installation instructions are very easy to follow. Products are very well made
Worked great with the Controller, and was a simple plug and play installation
The right part as needed
Adapter is well worth it! No fussing with the wiring, just plug and go
Was just able to install controller, everything went really smooth, works great, thank you for the quick delivery as always.
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