I'll need to tow my camper again shortly and I'd like to solve this problem I'm having.

On my integrated Ford brake controller, even if I set the gain to max 10 the full trailer brakes don't get applied. Maybe 60% of effective brake. Yet if I manually actuate the slider the full brakes get applied.

Is this a problem with the controller or my trailer brakes? I'm assuming it's the controller?

 

Are you going faster than 20 MPH when testing the brakes? The Ford controller limits low speed power for smoother stops.

 

I was going slow when trying it ya. The reason I didn't think it was doing the job was if I hit the brake hard the transmission downshifts fast and does most of the braking. I was assuming it did that since the trailer wasn't braking 100%.

 

You can see the power applied within the towing screen (pedal Vs Lever), it's quite obvious that the ITBC uses a gradient on the brakes at low speeds and stopped.

 

Ah I see that mode. If this is how it's supposed to work then I guess it's working. Just feels weird. I had it up to speed in town just now and did a hard brake test. The display showed 2 of 6 bars lit up and the truck dropped down to 2nd and did all the braking. I would have thogujt the trailer could brake enough to account for itself and the truck woudl brake other wise normally. I'd expect the truck to engine brake like that if the trailer had no brakes at all which is why I wish I could up the gain more. If I manually activate trailer brakes at thr same time I'm truck braking its a nice smooth stop.
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Try getting out on the road at about 60 mph (no traffic) and get on the truck pedal really hard and see what the trailer does. I wouldn't jump straight to H10 for this. Start at about M6 then walk it up on successive tries. The L/M/H sets the initial hit and the gain sets Max Voltage but neither controls the momentary voltage. The truck does that.

I had to build confidence that it was actually doing something especially on the early trucks that essentially defaulted to L with no adjustment other than Gain.

This wasn't about setting the controller but more about giving the driver confidence in the unit. It really does feel different from old school controllers but it really does work when the chips are down.

 

OK got it thanks. I'll just trust the system. I towed over to our camp yesterday and did a few hard stops and everything did work fine. I guess I can't outsmart how the truck works so I'll let it do its thing.

Cheers

 

@Gene K
Can you use today as a research day and tomorrow post a thread on how to operate the Ford trailer brake controller?
How to set it up, what speeds it is effective at and how the rate of braking build exponentially?
Seems to be another common question of late -maybe having a nice read will be informative.
Some examples, like just here, of how to test and ensure the braking system works properly.