stevebigal wrote: Which controller options are available for this purpose.
There are several brake controller options, but the two you are most likely to encounter are time-delay/time-based and intertia/proportional controllers.
A time-based controller applies power to the trailer brakes based on how long the tow vehicle (TV) brake pedal has been depressed. The longer the brake pedal is pressed, the more power is sent to the brakes. The benefit of time-based is that they are inexpensive and easy to install/setup. The drawback is that in a hard stop (i.e. emergency), the trailer brakes will be doing very little braking and push against the TV. Likewise, when slowing down gently, the trailer will start braking a lot and pulling back on the TV.
The proportional controllers use electronics to sense the deceleration of the tow vehicle and apply power to the trailer brakes in proportion to the deceleration. The benefits is that the controller applies the trailer braking similar to that of the TV. When doing a hard stop, the trailer brakes will brake hard, and during a gentle stop, they are gentle. The downside with proportional brake controllers is that they have a higher initial cost and require some effort to get them adjusted to the TV-Trailer combination.
Almost everybody on this forum will recommend you get a proportional controller. The Tekonsha Prodigy controllers are what all the others are compared against because it is widely used. A new Prodigy is available for around $125.
2004 Toyota Tundra SR5 (V8, 4WD, TP, TRD)
2005 Fleetwod Allegance with axle flip
Honeywell 2000i Generator
Me, DW, DS, DD, Dog & Camping Kitty
