Brakesmart Controller Gain

[JohnnyH]

Can someone tell me what the best way to set the gain on a brakemart. Also, what exactly does the gain do. I'm not really sure what I should be feeling while I try and tune it in. I towed my fifth wheel from Ohio to Long Island with it set on 50% and I'm not sure if that is where it should be.



During most braking my delivered amps to the trailer never got above 1. If I got on it I saw slighty over 1. By depressing my thumb brake all the way I can get it to climb to 7. 5. All this on a tandem axle setup.



Thanks

John

 

[John - K5AWO]

I don't own one of those, but it should work just like other units. The more "gain" you set it for, the harder the trailer brakes work compared to the truck brakes.



I always keep cranking in more control until I feel the trailer brakes pulling just a tad more than the truck brakes. That keeps the hitch snug on braking, and the combo will stop much quicker.

 

[klenger]

From the BrakeSmart website at http://www.brakesmart.net/techinfo.htm

Adjust The Brake Controllers Gain: Use this feature to set gain mode. BrakeSmart has 8 gain settings from minimum to the 50% level and 8 gain settings from 50% to the maximum gain setting. With 16 available gain settings, BrakeSmart provides the most proportional truck brake to trailer brake response available. There is an optimum setting for any truck to trailer combination. The BrakeSmart is programmed with a gain setting of 50% from the factory. Most people find that there is no need to adjust from this point.

I have mine set at the default 50%. After installing the BrakeSmart controller and using it for the 1st time, my feeling about it was sort of ho-hum. After using it for a while I found observed that the trailer never dragged or pushed the truck, leaving a feeling that the brake controller wasn't really doing anything, when it reality, it was working exactly like you would want it to. Moral is, if the default settings provide good braking control, don't mess with them.



Enjoy.

 

[EB]

Your best bet is to just leave it in the default setting (50%) When I first got mine I messed with it depending on the wt. of the trailer but found it worked best at 50%. This was well over 100,000 miles ago and I don't even think about the wt. of the trailer now, loaded or empty it works the same, you really don't know it is there.

 

[Chipstien]

The best thing to do is use the "auto calibration". When the trailer is plugged in and you are sitting still, depress the manual button ALL THE WAY and hold untill you see "Calibration Done" in the display. That is it. In most cases nothing else is needed. Forget about it and enjoy.

 

[sfr1047]

Each axle will use about 6 amps for maximum braking. Two axes will use 12 amps or close to it. With a dual axle setup when you push hard on the brakes you should see over 11. 5 amps. Make sure the controller is set for two axles. The instruction manual tells you how to do that. The gain seems to control how soon you get max brakeing to the trailer. Higher gain gives more trailer brakes sooner. I set mine so I don`t get full trailer brakes unless I press hard on the brakes. That way when I am gently slowing down to exit the trailer is not locking up.