This compact brake controller fits nicely in your cab. You can mount it anywhere you like and it's only 1" thick. The LED display keeps it simple with bar indicators, while the large manual override is easy to reach in a pinch.
Features:
Specs:
Gain is the maximum amount of power that will be applied to your trailer's brakes. 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.
Once you have the gain set, you can fine-tune your braking by adjusting the load control. This controls the aggressiveness of your trailer's braking, meaning how quickly the brakes reach the maximum braking level. If your vehicle takes too long to come to a stop, increase the setting. If it stops too abruptly, decrease the setting.
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.
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 dashboard, to the right of your steering wheel. Once you're plugged into the 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 control installation kit (ETBC7 - sold separately).
Time-delayed braking means that when you apply the brakes in your vehicle, the controller activates the trailer brakes at a pre-set intensity and rate. 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.
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.
This break controller was easy to install and
Works grat.
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.
Great little plug and play. Great customer service!
worked as promised - made it easier to pull a4 place snowmobile trialer
The product came very fast and it was super easy to install. It's working better than I thought, I'm very happy with www.etrailer.com and there products. Definitely worth every penny and everything top quality. Thanks!!!!
Easy install. Perfect fit
Great controller! Easy to adjust even on the fly. I had the controller adjusted a little aggressive and as I was trying to get out of Buffalo to go south for the winter we ran into some snow accumulation and was able to quickly dial back the controller to avoid locking up on thick snow covered roads. Literally a potential disaster! Very happy with the controller
Slimmer than most of the others. Easy install with the additional pigtail.
Adapter was the right part for the brake controller.
This harness made for a clean, splice-free install. I used this with a Jeep Gladiator which requires swapping the black and blue wires in the gray connector. The Gladiator is such a new truck, I could not find a good cross reference for the exact harness for a Curt Spectrum controller. I’m sure they have one by now or will very soon. I didn’t bother calling etrailer, I knew I could make this harness work. The wire swap took less than a minute, once you see the pin latches. Well worth the money to have a solid and clean install.
Easy to install
It's very well made and would be simple to use, except two of the wires were switched. We used this with a 2018 Jeep Wrangler JL, but apparently they are switched on newer Dodge trucks too. Unfortunately, the effect was that the trailer brakes stayed permanently on.
I believe it was the brake signal and the 12V wires that were switched. Unfortunately, I don't remember for sure, but etrailer support knew exactly the issue and told me which two they were.
There are two ways to fix this. The ugly way is to cut and splice the wires to their correct place. That's the way most people recommend, but there is actually an even easier way with no cutting: remove the orange insert from the end the plugs into your car's wiring (I believe there were tabs on the side that I had to press to do so). Now, you will be able to remove the wires/contacts from the connector, so simply switch the two that need to be switched. Click the orange piece back into place. Voila, it's fixed, no cutting required.
Anyway, apart from that wire switching issue, it's a nice product.
This is an excellent adapter for trailer break
Came in exactly as I expected, looked up under the dash and found the wire, should be a ten minute install. Sure makes it easy when etrailer has your vehicle specific cable for install. Will have to add more when I get to use it under tow with my RV trailer.
I just installed my Curt TriFlex Trailer Brake Controller C51140 in my new 2019 Ram 1500 Laramie 4x4 Crew Cab. Thanks to the Curt Custom Wiring Adapter for Trailer Brake Controllers - Dual Plug In # C51458, it only took 4-5 minutes. Hardest part was finding the factory connector under the dash to plug into. etrailer has this wiring adapter listed as "Not confirmed to work" for the 2019 Ram 1500 but after my test drive I'm very satisfied. Worked just as I expected. I'll update this review after I have more time behind the wheel towing.
Almost plug-n-go.The hardest part was where to put the controller !
Delivered early. Was just what I wanted.
I recently purchased a 2018 Dodge Ram 1500 and traded in my 2014 Dodge Ram. I had removed my Curt brake controller and was to install it in the new Ram. Unfortunately, the connections were not the same, and I needed an adaptor. I called etrailer and was extremely happy with the service. Tammy looked up my truck and controller and matched the adaptor. The process took less than 3 minutes. I received the adaptor in just days. Thank you Tammy for making this easy.
Super fast shipping and great prices!
Have a 2015 Dodge Ram 1500. After searching countless hours to find a "plug-n-play" trailer brake, I found etrailer. They sent me my trailer brake AND a pre-wired harness/adaptor that plugged right in to my existing harness under the dash. Awesome customer service!
I needed this adapter to connect the brake controller to my specific vehicle. Etrailer had it available when I bought the controller from them , so I ordered it. Easy connection, works great.
Just got my trailer brake installed, took less than 30 minutes. The wiring harness that was made for my truck pugged in with no problem. I have already tried it and it works great. Shipping notifications were updated every day so I knew exactly when to expect it. Their pricing was competitive with eBay and Amazon. I cannot say enough good things about this company and their service, I highly recommend them.
Very happy with controler and bracket. Easy to install took me only minutes.
Works like it should
Everything was plug and play. Installing it was straight forward after viewing instructions.
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