I have a '13 F150 with Max tow package and the full display console. When going thru some of the settings on the display I saw that there are two choices on the trailer brake options, electric or electric/hydroalic Checked the owners manual and there was nothing on which was the best to set it on, or what the difference between the two are. Anyone know?

 

There are several different types of trailer brakes. Most common is so-called electric brakes. Those are actually electro-magnets that push the brake shoes against the brake drums. Most brake controllers are designed to work with electric brakes.

A more expensive and better type of trailer brakes are hydraulic disk brakes, similar to those on a car. A hydraulic master cylinder supplies the braking force that pushes the brake calipers against the disks. On a trailer, you need a way to press on the brakes (activate the master cylinder), so that is done two different ways. The old way was so-called "surge" brakes. The master cylinder was activated by the weight of the trailer trying to run over the tow vehicle. But a more modern and effective way is with a battery powered solenoid controlled by a brake controller. Those type of trailer brakes are called electric over hydraulic brakes. Electric over hydraulic trailer brakes require a slightly different brake controller than electro-magnetic brakes. But as electric over hydraulic brakes become more popular, some manufacturers of brake controllers are designing the brake controllers to work with either type of brakes.

In addition to electric brakes and electric over hydraulic brakes, some trailers have air over hydraulic brakes (air brakes), and some have vacuum over hydraulic brakes.

So in your case, you need to know which type of brakes your trailer has. About 95 percent of all RV trailers with brakes have the simple and cheap electric brakes. Boat trailers an U-Haul utility trailers usually have surge brakes. But many high-end trailers such as big boat trailers, LQ horse trailers, and luxury RV trailers now have other types of braking systems. And most of those other types of braking systems are electric over hydraulic.

Here's a link that will get you started on your research of electric over hydraulic disk brakes.
http://www.etrailer.com/faq-adding-e...sc-brakes.aspx

 

That is great information that I didn't even know I needed, but will utilize in the future. Good job

 

I love the description of surge brakes. As always, good info. I did not know this.