Prodigy Electric Brake Controller

[klaybus]

If anyone is sitting on the fence about replacing their electric brake controller & going to a Prodigy Controller..... JUST DO IT! Easy for me to say but I hooked up Friday to leave for a long weekend & my Voyager Controller was having issues. On my way to the campground I stopped & paid a little too much, but WOW! I hooked it up Saturday & had to wait until today to give it a shot. Well, all I can say is WOW!! No more jerking..... At all. No messing with the gain... . at all. Just do the simple setup & your good to go FWIW.



Happy RVing!



Clay

 

[MChildress]

I have the Prodigy and like it also. Have also heard good reviews on Brakesmart and Jordan brake controllers.

 

[RTrenary]

I highly recommend this controller, it has to be the best out there!!!!! If you pull a trailer with electric brakes you need this controller!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[RustyJC]

I highly recommend this controller, it has to be the best out there!!!!!

Yes, until you use something better, such as the BrakeSmart or Jordan.



Rusty

 

[Turbo Thom]

Rusty... ... ... ... ..... With the Jordan, when the knee bolster has to come off, does that change the setup of the brake. It does hook to a cable dosen't it?



. . Preston. .

 

[RustyJC]

Depends where you have the Jordan mounted. Mine is at the lower edge of the dash directly in front of the brake pedal arm - it uses one of the factory knee bolster screw locations to mount it along with a 2nd screw hole through the knee bolster into the dash support that I drilled, so its location and cable adjustment doesn't change when the knee bolster is removed and reinstalled.



Rusty

 

[klaybus]

Controller

Yes, until you use something better, such as the BrakeSmart or Jordan.



Rusty

I gotta ask..... How can it be better? Making the switch from the Voyager to the Prodgy was like night & day. What makes the BrakeSmart or Jordan better? Uneducated minds (such as myself) wanna know...



Thanks!

Clay

 

[RustyJC]

The Prodigy is an inertial controller. It has no direct connection to the braking system of the truck. Instead, it measures the truck's rate of deceleration (thus, the inertial designation) and calculates how much current to send to the trailer brakes from the truck's deceleration. Unfortunately, the truck's braking system can generate much more deceleration on dry asphalt than on wet or icy asphalt - but the inertial controller doesn't know about these differences. Also, if the truck brakes fail and cannot generate any deceleration... ... .



The BrakeSmart and Jordan both directly measure the amount of truck braking being called for - the BrakeSmart by measuring truck brake system hydraulic pressure and the Jordan by measuring brake pedal position. From these direct measurements, they each determine how much current to send to the trailer brakes.



To cut to the chase - with the BrakeSmart and Jordan, your right foot controls how much braking is applied to the truck and trailer. With an inertial controller, you control the truck braking, and a computer with very few inputs tries to interpret how much trailer braking you want/need in a given situation.



I about lost a rig using an inertial controller years ago under slick conditions when the truck couldn't generate enough deceleration to activate the trailer brakes (can you say truck brake lockup and jacknife), but that's a story for another time... .



Rusty

 

[TX Gooseneck]

For heavy hauling, I took my prodigy(s) out. I was running them in 3 of our trucks.



1. They do not work with elec/hyd brakes. The trace pulse locks up the brakes approx. every 10 seconds.



2. With the prodigy, when I applied the brakes, it came on very stout and then would back off. Not sure why, but it was enough that it made me nervous when I was over 25k lbs.

 

[SSage]

The Prodigy is plug and play, thats the big selling point. I may upgrade to the BrakeSmart later because I like having the best, but the Prodigy has worked fine with my heavy trailers. I had to do a quick install to pull a trailer with a days notice, the Prodigy installed and performed great without even reading the directions. I was in a hurry.



I don't pull in ice and snow much, but in rain, my truck and 14K trailer stops fine. Plus, there is lever you can use in a pinch. If you will face ice, the Prodigy me be found lacking when the trailer pushes you across a bridge. I had that happen once as others have stated, I keep my hand near the Prodigy in slippery conditions now. I'm sure the BrakesSmart or Jordan would help keep you straight in slipppery conditions. The trailer will still slide on ice just like the truck, but it will not jack knife as easy.