Will a Brake Controller Activate When Anti-Lock Braking System is Activated

Updated 12/28/2017 | Published 12/27/2017

Question:

I have a Prodigy P2 brake controller hooked up to a 2005 Suburban. Everything works fine with it normally, but last month towing my boy scout troops 7x16 trailer through the snow I slid through an intersection on ice. The whole time my ABS was engaged, but it wasnt until afterwards that I realized that I didnt think the trailer brakes engaged. It certainly didnt feel like it. I was VERY lucky there were no other cars coming into the intersection because I had 7 kids in the car with me. Ive been trying to think of a way to test this. The only way I can think of is to get a long stretch of icy road that I can run the suburban up to speed, and then lock up the brakes and then hit the manual override to see if there is any difference. I havent yet been able to find the right road with no other cars or anything on it. Any suggestions on how to test this? I haul lots of boys around all the time with this trailer, and I REALLY need to make sure this is working right. I asked at the chevy dealership and they dont do things like this. The local repair shop said theyd look into it, but admitted they had no experience with it. Id prefer to find some place that really knows what they are doing with these, but havent found that yet.

asked by: Ted

Helpful Expert Reply:

If the brake lights of your vehicle are coming on the brake controller will be activating the brakes at the same amount of deceleration that is sensed since the P2 # 90885 is a proportional brake controller.

The ABS system of your vehicle is not related to the way the trailer brakes will be applied as that's a totally separate system. The controller only looks for the brake lights to come on and then from there how much deceleration it senses.

expert reply by: Jameson C