To see if this custom-fit item will work for you please tell us what vehicle you'll use it with.
This proportional brake controller has simple controls and a digital display for diagnostic information. Includes 3 boost levels, a slide-bar manual override, built-in battery protection, automatic leveling, and continuous diagnostics.
Features:
Specs:
You can adjust the gain (also known as output) with the thumbwheel on the front of the controller. Gain lets you set the maximum amount of power that will be applied to your trailer's brakes. A heavier trailer will need more power to achieve smooth, safe braking, while a lighter trailer will need less. Typically, the gain is only readjusted when you experience changing road conditions or if the weight of your trailer changes.
The boost setting controls the aggressiveness of your trailer's braking, meaning how quickly the brakes reach the maximum braking level. You can adjust this when you're towing heavy loads and you need more umph to bring your trailer to a stop. Your tow vehicle doesn't need that much power to brake in time, but your heavy trailer does.
Depending on the level of boost, your trailer brakes can start at either 13 percent or 25 percent of the set gain. What this means is that, instead of starting at 0, the brakes will start at 25 percent and get to 100 percent sooner. This keeps the trailer from pushing your tow vehicle forward.
If your trailer weighs less than your tow vehicle, no boost is needed. But, if you want your trailer to lead the braking, you can select level B1.
Boost Levels:
| Approximate Gross Trailer Weight | Boost Level | Increase in Initial Power Output |
|---|---|---|
| Less than tow vehicle GVW | B1 | 13% |
| Equal to tow vehicle GVW | B1 or B2 | 13% or 25% |
| Up to 25% more than tow vehicle GVW | B2 or B3* | 25% |
| Up to 40% more than tow vehicle GVW | B3* | 25% |
*Both B2 and B3 offer a 25-percent boost in initial power. But the braking curve for B3 is more aggressive than that of B2. This means that, even though you will start out with the same intensity when using these boost levels, you will get an overall more aggressive braking experience with the higher level. So if you use B3, you will reach maximum braking sooner than if you use B2.
To adjust the boost, use the blue push-button on the top of the Primus IQ.
The Tekonsha Primus IQ comes with an easy-to-reach, slide-bar manual override, great for stopping sway or controlling your trailer's momentum in emergencies. To engage the manual override, just push the slide-bar to the left, towards the center of the controller. 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 Primus IQ can mount between -90 degrees and 90 degrees vertically, but the brake controller still needs to be horizontally level and parallel with the direction of travel.
After mounting the Primus IQ unit in your cab using the included bracket, simply plug the included custom harness into your vehicle. The other end of the harness plugs into the brake controller. To remove the IQ for storage when you're not using it, just unplug the unit and slide it out of the bracket. With a replacement wiring harness (sold separately) and replacement bracket (6927 - sold separately), you can even transfer the IQ to another vehicle.
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 Tekonsha Primus IQ brake controller comes equipped with proportional braking to give you the best towing experience. Proportional braking means that your trailer brakes mimic your tow vehicle's brakes. If you slam on the brakes in your vehicle, your trailer brakes will activate with the same intensity; if you brake lightly, your trailer brakes lightly too. The trailer's braking is in proportion to your vehicle's braking. This saves wear and tear on the tires and the brakes on both your vehicle and trailer.
The Primus IQ uses an internal inertia sensor to detect how your vehicle is braking so it can send the right amount of braking power to your trailer. It measures the inertia of your tow vehicle and activates the trailer's brakes to slow at the same rate. The result is uniform braking across your towing setup. No push-pull action - just smooth, proportional braking every time.
Alternate Instructions
California residents: click here
Videos are provided as a guide only. Refer to manufacturer installation instructions and specs for complete information.
Hey, everybody. Ryan here at etrailer. Today on our 2012 Dodge Ram 1500 we're going to be taking a look at and showing you how to install the Tekonsha Primus IQ brake controller. We're going to be doing that in conjunction with the Tekonsha brake controller adapter plug.What I really like about this brake controller is the really straightforward and basic approach. It's really easy to use and it's going to give you all those functions that you need to tow your trailer more safely. This would be a great choice for those of you that pretty much tow one or two trailers regularly.
If you happen to tow multiple different trailers quite often there may be some better options out there for you as far as being able to save settings and a lot of different adjustability such as the Tekonsha P3. Like I said, one or two trailers Great choice. It's going to work perfect. Multiple trailers It'll still work, but like I said, there's some better options out there.So really our controller's going to have three main functions. First one being the manual override, which is this lever here.
When you push this in, it's going to manually apply the trailer's brakes. So you'd use this in the event of a sway situation to try to regain control of your trailer. We're also going to be able to adjust the power output that's sent back to our trailer brakes. There's a round knob here that you can dial forward and back. To adjust the power output, you would take your manual override and push it all the way over and this'll dial all the way up to eleven and all the way down to zero.
You'd want to start about six, somewhere in that area.What you do is drive your trailer, hit the brakes, and if they lock up, you would simply turn the power down and try it again. If the brakes aren't responsive enough and you feel like you're not stopping fast enough, you would just ramp the power up a little bit and continue to do so until you found the appropriate setting.And then there's also going to be boost. This button up here, if you push it, you'll see b, b1, b2, b3. We have three boost settings. No boost, where it just says b, you would typically use that whenever you're pulling a trailer that weighs less than your truck.
B1, good rule of thumb is a trailer that weighs about the same as your truck. Boost 2, trailer that weighs about 25% or so more than your truck. And b3 would be really heavy trailers that weigh 40-50% more than your truck. What that's going to do is adjust how aggressive the brakes are applied and usually it gets you pretty close on where you need to be to stop the trailer correctly.A good thing about this brake controller is that it's proportional. More or less, what that means is however hard you hit your brake pedal inside of your truck, the trailer is going to match it. And so that makes the stopping really predictable and reliable and a lot safer over the other style of brake controller, which is time delayed. The time delays have a preset setting that whenever you hit the brake, it's just going to more or less apply all that power to the trailer brakes. So, it can get a little dicey at times and a little uncertain. With the proportional, say if you're rolling up to a stoplight coming to a gradual stop and you're barely hitting the brakes, trailer brakes are going to do the same thing. If you come to an emergency situation where you really need to lay on it and come to a stop quick, you stand on the brakes. Trailer brakes are going to match it.So overall, a really reliable brake controller that's going to give you all the basic functions and work really good. But in all honesty, it just depends what you're going to be doing with your truck. If you're towing many different trailers, you're not sure. Say if you run to the job site, you're not sure what you're going to pick up that day, the P3 may be a little better choice cause it gives you more adjustability and more options.If looks are your primary concern and you're not looking for the traditional style brake controller that's mounted down here on the dash, you're looking for something a little more hidden, I'd recommend the Curt Spectrum. That's more or less going to be a knob at six on the dash. It's really similar to almost like a radio knob and looks really good in factory. But other than that it's really easy to get installed and more or less this plugs right in. Speaking of which, let's go ahead and do that together now.To begin our installation, we're going to be working here on the driver's side of our truck and what we're going to do is locate the factory plug for our brake controller, which should be located right underneath our dash here. If you look right underneath the dash, this is the plug that we're looking for. Now, ours was kind of just taped up a little bit, but I just pulled that down. That way it would be easier to work with. Now that we found the plug, what we're going to do is take our adapter and just plug the two ends together. Just like that.What we can do now is grab our bracket. We're going to mount this to the dash. That way we can secure our brake controller to it. Whenever you mount this you want it to be straight as possible. So, you don't want it to be tilted to either side. And you want it in a position where it's easily accessible but out of the way, too. Down here is kind of the happy medium that I've found. We're going to use some self tapping screws to secure it to the dash. Before you secure it anywhere though, you do want to check behind and make sure there's nothing of importance back there. I've already done that. Line it up straight and screw our self tapping screws in.Before we actually bolt our brake controller to our bracket, what we're going to do is take the self tapping screws and pre-thread the holes. Since these holes don't have threads right out of the box, we're going to make them. Doing it up here is a lot easier than trying to line it up with the bracket and keep it straight and do it down there. What we'll do is grab a screwdriver, or I found it easier to use a nut driver. Then these two holes here, you're going to thread that screw all the way down. So, we're going to run this all the way down and then pull it out. Do the same thing with the other hole as well as the two on the other side of our brake controller.So what we can do is take our adapter, plug it into the back of the brake controller because, again, it's a little easier to do while it's not mounted up. We have it plugged in, can line it up with the bracket, and get it secured into place.I went ahead and just used a couple of zip ties to secure our wiring up out of the way up underneath our dash. Whenever you are securing this up, you just want to do your best to make sure you avoid any moving parts such as your steering column or your brake or gas pedal.Now that we have it all wrapped up, it's a good idea to test it to make sure it's working. I went ahead and plugged into a tester box that we have. You could always just plug into your trailer. If you see on the screen, it says C, indicating to us that we're connected. To just kind of make sure we're putting a brake signal out, what I'll do is hit the manual override and push it harder and harder, and you'll see our voltage gradually increasing letting us know that we are indeed putting a signal out.That'll finish up our look at and our installation of the Tekonsha Primus IQ brake controller on our 2012 Dodge Ram 1500.
Easy to install and very affordable.
Quick install works Great
Worked great!
easy to install
Just what the doctor ordered. Thanks
The package arrived on time (actually a day early!). It came with the correct Harness. It was easy to install and is working properly!
Great for the price
Ordered as replacement for one that quit after 18 years. New plugged into existing wiring and even fits in existing mounting bracket. So far so good.
was easy to install and works great
Easy to hook up , works flawlessly
Simple hook-up when using the model specific harness.
Easier to install than expected. Works flawlessly
Very easy installation.
Haven't tried it yet but it was very easy to install plug and play if you have tow package already
fast shipping, it installs easily. It's too early to comment on how good it works.
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