BrakeSmart Controller

[HBarlow]

Many other members have posted similar comments but I'd like to add mine to the mix. I just returned home from the first trip I've made with my new BrakeSmart and feel the need to praise the product.



It is a fantastic device whose performance far exceeds anything else I've used. I've used every style of controller except the Jordan with mechanical linkage to the brake pedal. I've used the old-fashioned hydraulic-electric Kelsey-Hayes controllers (they do work fine with two or four wheel ABS regardless of what the "experts" tell you) time delay or ramp type, and the lousy pendulum style controllers sold by Tekonsha.



The BrakeSmart provides a quantum leap in improvement over any I've ever used. It responds immediately and accurately every time. No need to continually adjust and readjust the braking and you'll never be surprised by inadequate or excessive trailer braking. The BrakeSmart allows the driver to modulate trailer brakes in perfect synchronization with truck brakes every time. It also provides stronger braking power than the Kelsey-Hayes hydraulic-electric controller I had been using and others I have owned.



And precision braking is not all it does. It monitors and informs the driver when the trailer is plugged into the truck or disconnected. It displays date and time, truck electrical system voltage, trailer brake current draw, and is designed with the capability to display boost and egt later when the sensors are ready to market.



In summary, I'm a happy owner. Great product and great company to deal with.



For the record, I have NO connection to BrakeSmart other than being a retail customer who purchased and installed one.



Harvey

 

[sarj]

Welcome back Harvey

 

[HBarlow]

Thanks Sarj. I thought about you as we passed through the LA area but it was the morning of December 31st and the entire sky was falling. I didn't want to be on the streets and didn't figure you would either. I saw Noah loading passengers into his boat during a downpour on the I-5 as we passed through. Amazingly, once we got a few miles north and west Simi Valley was sunny and beautiful. We could see for miles from Ronald Reagan's hill.



Harvey

 

[Herman8r]

Harvey--just read your post--controller sounds awesome. I pull a 12K equipment trailer & am tired of the whiplash of the system I have now. Does the Brakesmart come with wiring kit or is it an added cost??



Thanks for the info, Herman

 

[HBarlow]

Herman:



The Brake Controller can be purchased with a harness for a Dodge, Chev/GMC, or Ford. The harness plugs in to your truck's factory harness on one end and into the brake controller on the other. It requires no wiring other than that. I think the harness sells for about $20. Total price of my BrakeSmart with the appropriate Dodge harness was, I think, $378. A little expensive compared to some of the others but, of course, a Mercedes Benz sedan is a lot more expensive than a Hyundai.



You can get the details by going to BrakeSmart's website provided in their advertising on the TDR site.



If you pull an equipment trailer I'm assuming you pull a backhoe or similar equipment every day to earn your living. Your brake controller will be tax deductible and you'll really appreciate how well it works. I think you'll be glad you bought it.



Harvey

 

[mpwalker]

I have had my BrakeSmart for about 6months over 15,000 miles towing a heavy 5th wheel and think it is the best brake controller ever sold, have used most other brands including the Jordan, none compare, the company is great to deal with also, as my display went out and they replaced it without question free over night and paid to sent the bad unit back for reserarch. Sure feels a lot safer now pulling a heavy load when it is time to stop. MPWalker

 

[Herman8r]

Well Gentleman--I just placed my order w/Brakesmart. Seems there is a shipping delay but what the heck--it's been raining for a week here & I'm in no hurry to play in the mud just yet! Thanks for the input.

Herman

 

[Loren]

I also had to wait a couple of weeks (or more) for my Brakesmart. It seems that they can't keep up with the demand. There's a reason for that.



The ONLY negative thing I can say about the Brakesmart controller is that it costs about two to three times the price of other controllers. Everything else about it is great! I probably wouldn't have bought one except for the rave reviews I have read on this and other web sites.



I haven't used it to pull anything except for our 34', three-axle Airstream so far, but it pulls that like a dream. I never knew that electric brakes could work so well. Compared to the cost of converting a trailer to hydraulic or disk brakes, the Brakesmart controller is cheap, and the improvement in braking is amazing compared to other controllers. You almost forget the trailer is back there.



I can't say enough good things about this controller. If you want the best, buy one. You won't regret it.



Loren

 

[EB]

I have had more than 170,000 miles of sure stopping power with mine and have had no problems at all. Thought I had a problem with it once, it kept telling me I had a short and I couldn't find it. Turned out to be a broken wire that connected to my brake magnet. The BrakeSmart was right, I was wrong. I tow every day, and I tow heavy. I have used most of the others and without a doubt the BrakeSmart is the best. IMO

 

[jacqnbill]

I just returned from Casper Wyoming where I picked up a new Fifth wheel with three axles with electric over hydraulic disk brakes. I plugged the cable in and the Brakesmart controller immediately flashed "Electric over Hydraulic Brakes Detected" It worked like a dream and the combined 27,150 lbs stopped like a dream. There is a three second delay in the trailer breaks due to the trailer actuater by Dexter but when the brakes kick in it will put you thru the windshield if not careful.



I can't say enough about the Breaksmart. The cost is nothing compared to a possible injury or death and a law suit.



Bill Davis

 

[rweis]

Jacqnbill,



Did you get the whole Dexter disc package, rotors, calipers, actuator? Just courious. 3 second delay seems pretty long. You would have to get on the brakes very early so the actuator can get the pressure up.



I am glad the BrakeSmart will work with electric over hydraulic, which is the direction I will eventually go.



MasterBrake Systems discontinued their ElecDraulic actuator in favor of redesigning it. Will be courious to see what they come up with. Theirs was pretty fast getting up to pressure, about 1 second I think.



I like the Dexter disc and fixed calipers, but the delay in the actuator seems fairly long. I guess you would get use to it.



I see disc stopping distances about 1/2 of electric drum stopping distances and of course no fade and the reliability.



Bob Weis

 

[Cummins4WD]

So would you say the Brakesmart provides about the same performance as the new 05 Ford SuperDuty integrated controller? It is probably more advanced than the built in Ford unit. I just bought a Big Tex dual axle trailer and will order my BrakeSmart this week. So when a Ford guy with his new 2005 mentions his $500 factory brake controller we can just roll our eyes and mention they should check out "Brake Smart"

 

[Rick Stewart]

So would you say the Brakesmart provides about the same performance as the new 05 Ford SuperDuty integrated controller? It is probably more advanced than the built in Ford unit.

I think the Ford unit is the Brakesmart.

 

[Cummins4WD]

I think the Ford unit is the Brakesmart.

Seriously... ? Brakesmart licensed their technology to Ford? Good for them.

 

[Rick Stewart]

I think the Ford unit is the Brakesmart.

Looked up my source. Got it wrong. Here is what I read:



"The new Ford 2005 Super Duties have a similar system to BrakeSmart though developed by Ford and Tekonsha. "

 

[LEPage]

I'm almost ready to order a new 40' Travel Supreme and want the disc option, but this whole delay thing makes me wonder. I'm looking at a gross trailer weight of at least 19,900. I really think that is the way to go, but I don't like the dexter delay. Guess I got off the subject of this topic, sorry.

 

[jacqnbill]

Jacqnbill,



Did you get the whole Dexter disc package, rotors, calipers, actuator? Just courious. 3 second delay seems pretty long. You would have to get on the brakes very early so the actuator can get the pressure up.



I am glad the BrakeSmart will work with electric over hydraulic, which is the direction I will eventually go.



MasterBrake Systems discontinued their ElecDraulic actuator in favor of redesigning it. Will be courious to see what they come up with. Theirs was pretty fast getting up to pressure, about 1 second I think.



I like the Dexter disc and fixed calipers, but the delay in the actuator seems fairly long. I guess you would get use to it.



I see disc stopping distances about 1/2 of electric drum stopping distances and of course no fade and the reliability.



Bob Weis

Bob Weiss



Yes Dexter provided the complete package including the actuator. A friend has done extensive research on actuators and found several with one second time. The three seconds is the time required to feel the trailer brakes applying lots of braking force. I don't know the breakdown between actuator start and max breaking pressure. I feel the truck breaks immediately (of course) with lots of breaking. Then the trailer kicks in and the rig really stops fast. It felt strange at first but I got used to the delay. I feel much better with this setup than I did with my last trailer with approx the same weight with electric only brakes. Proably will stop in one half the distance. Only an estimate.

I see disc stopping distances about 1/2 of electric drum stopping distances and of course no fade and the reliability.



Bill Davis

 

[rweis]

Depending on what is available when I am ready to do the install, I am thinking on the Dexter disc, caliper package and a different actuator that has a faster pressure build time.



TowBrake actuator is pretty quick, the ElecDraulic from MasterBrake Systems was pretty quick. Both about 1 second. MasterBrake is redesigning their actuator right now to be available sometime in mid summer.



Just have to see what is out there. Should be no reason that you can not have the Dexter disc and calipers and someone elses actuator.



The Brake Smart controller really made the electric brakes much more controllable. I probably will stay with them until I need to replacement maintenance or until I go full time (which is a ways out there :{ )



Thanks for the input though. Electric over hydraulic is finally comming into its own.



Bob Weis

 

[jelag]

I have the DEXTER stuff... . the hyd pump that dexter sells is made by Carlisle and is also called the hydrastar... .



The brakesmart controller has a program to allow for full voltage and current to the hydrastar for up to 2 seconds... . this is to allow it to build pressure..... and than reverts back to what ever pressure you have preset into the system based on how hard your foot is on the brake pedal...



I also have 2 trailers with electric brakes... we use these trailers all the time... . the one with the hyd disc brakes see's 100K miles a year..... and its always at 20K lbs and i've ran it up to 25K... .



Geez, I hate the price of the brake smart... and frankly Steve is a little slow sometimes in shipping... . but I can say this... . it out performs everything we've tired in the past over the past 10 years..... I always like to have trailer brakes first in a panic stop... like on air brake equiped vehicles... . and you can do this with the brake smart... but with a typical brake controller you can't.....



BTW for some of you... the tractor and trailers of a semi have whats called crack pressure..... when the foot pedal is pressed calling for brakes the crack pressure in the rear trailer should set the brakes first followed by the tractor... . this fraction of a second helps pull the trailer straight and keep it from wanting to wrap around the tractor... . all this goes to **** on a wet and icy surface... but the intent is there...



Hope this helps...



Jim

 

[JJW_ND]

Converting to 8K Electric Disks

Not to change the topic here but seems like there is a fair amout of talk on electric disks. We have a couple transport gooseneck trailers (fish haulers) that run about 13K loaded. We have 8K dexters with 17. 5 tires. We run 20K miles per year but most all of it is in a 10 week time. Lots of gravel road travel, high speed, long days, etc.



We have found even the 8K (had 6K and 7200 on previous trailers) brakes require allot of adjustment and still have magnet issues, broken wires. We have the exposed wire leading to the hub armour plated so that rarely is an issue.



Would we see a noticebale improvement if we changed out to the electric disks?



Would they stand up to alot of gravel road abuse?



We have run Prodigys on several trucks now... . might have to put a brake smart in the new one this year!



Thanks for any advise!



jjw

ND