Choosing a brake controller - wired vs wireless - replacement on the road!

Sharon_is_SAM

(Finally remembered to share this tidbit😁)

Sorry for the long tale…

When choosing our brake controller, It never occurred to us to consider ease of repair/replacement while away from home.

We had a Tekonsha Prodigy RF wireless brake controller installed when we picked up our new TaB back in early 2017.  As novice towers, we liked the idea of its simplicity and ability to avoid mounting an apparatus onto the dash of our 2015 Toyota Sienna minivan.    The excellent customer service we received to replace the hand held controller on the road in 2018 confirmed our decision.  

This past winter, we traveled from Ohio out to Texas, New Mexico and Arizona in February and March.  Everything was ready to go, then, on the day of departure, the hand held remote unit read “NC” for No Connection, rendering it inoperable!  We checked the 7 pin, we cleaned connections, inspected seals, nothing worked.  Then after a few minutes, our prayers to the 12 volt deities were answered, and it suddenly connected!  We chalked it up to a one off event due to the humidity and freezing temps and we went on our way.

It happened again following a drive through a heavy rain, and again after a needed car/trailer wash.  Each time it eventually resolved itself.  Convinced this failure was related to water, we used a spray electrical contact cleaner and pipe cleaners on the 7 pin connections.  Finally, on departure from the small town of Chinle, AZ (Canyon de Chelly) the Tekonsha Prodigy RF brake controller gave up the ghost.  We wanted to see if it was repairable and/or replace it with the same unit.  We called multiple shops and there was no one locally who repaired or carried the RF controller.  We finally found a repair shop over in Aztec, NM who agreed to an urgent appointment to trouble shoot our device.  The tech found a non-repairable short.  They did not have the RF unit in stock (it would take days to receive a new order), so we had the in-stock Prodigy P3 proportional controller installed.  It was a 10 minute plug and play, no drama install.  It works just fine and it should have been at the top of our list for a brake controller.

Moral of the story:

Newer tech is sexy and has its advantages, but standard and readily available products should be high on your priority list!

kevmon

I’ve used wired Tekonsha P2 and P3 for towing small trailers for over a decade. This year I bought a new tab 320 and the dealer only had Curt Echo wireless controllers. It worked fine for several trips, then it started grabbing the brakes as has been discussed on this forum and elsewhere. I tried all of the advice to fix it and it continued. I had to set it is so low that my TV was doing all the braking work. I also didn’t like having to change settings to turn on hazards. When I need to use hazard lights, it needs to be quick.

I stopped by the store and bought a Tekonsha P2 with the wiring harness for my TV. Plugged it in, attached to dash with command stripes in 10 minutes, performed an 10 minute setup as shown in instructions, and have had nothing but perfect braking since. Just got back from a trip of 3000 miles. If you have a factory installed 7pin connection, these are plug and play self install. IMO, the wired perform much better with no headaches. 

LokiFinn

I agree with the previous comments about the Curt Echo. I have built in controller with my Rivian and breaks work perfectly. For my wife’s Acura, I’ll be getting the Tekoshna and hard wire it.

SLJ

Just an FYI: When we bought our Bronco Sport three years ago it was a new model with no connector for a brake controller harness and no one would attempt to put in a wired brake controller being a new model. We had little choice but to use a Curt Echo Bluetooth controller. It worked flawlessly with my Motorola Android phone for the three years we had the Bronco Sport. Never dropped the signal even once. I think a lot of the problems are the phone, not the controller. Traded the Sport in and got a Ford Maverick with the factory tow package which has a factory installed brake controller with all the controls built into the dash and display so we don't use the Echo anymore.

Slackers

Our '19 Ranger with tow package had the wiring for a brake controller but not a proper connector even though Ford suggested they'd be making one available. We were considering the Curt Echo and then I found a YouTube how-to on wiring the connector. Once I dug out the proper wire bundle from under the dash, uttered 4-letter word chants, and offered a small blood sacrifice the connector was successfully wired. With it we attached a Tekonsha Primus IQ. It has worked flawlessly over mountain passes and in city stop and go traffic.