The power to stop your load

SMOOTH TRAILER BRAKING, EVEN WITH HEAVY LOADS, HAS BECOME MORE COMPLEX DUE TO AUTONOMOUS EMERGENCY BRAKING. REDARC HAS COME UP WITH SOME SOPHISTICATED ELECTRIC BRAKING CONTROLLERS FOR EVEN THE MOST SENSITIVE TRAILER SYSTEMS

In order to meet safety requirements when towing medium to high weight loads (trailers, caravans, boat trailers, horse floats, etc), both the vehicle and the trailer must comply with braking parameters that include weight to braking ratios, ability to fully stop while travelling at 30kms/h in less than 7 metres, as well as the standard working brake light systems, and the like.

In New Zealand, when towing anything above a certain weight (2000kg), the trailer must have independent braking systems and that is where electric brake controllers come in. In basic terms, these units take the braking input from the vehicle in order to activate the independent brakes in the trailer behind it. Aftermarket units have managed to make that compatibility possible… or have they?

Nowadays, with more automation and computing power controlling everything from parallel parking to hands-off driving, there are a number of variables affecting the braking systems in after-market trailers and nowhere is that more relevant than with Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB).

Launched in 2009 by Volvo, AEB is seen by many as the biggest game changer in braking since antilock systems. It uses radar technology to monitor road hazards, calculate when a car is on a collision course, and apply the brakes if it determines that the ‘human’ is not doing it quickly enough to avoid a crash.

How these increasingly sophisticated and complex systems communicate with the independent braking systems on trailers has been a feat of engineering.

One outstanding solution has been the Tow-Pro Elite (by REDARC), an electric trailer brake controller designed to suit most common trailer braking applications, requiring minimal dash space and being simple to install and operate.

The Tow-Pro Elite offers selectable proportional or user controlled trailer braking modes, allowing the user to choose the braking style depending on the road or terrain conditions, vehicle type, or driver preference.

It features active calibration which constantly monitors the direction of travel and will even calibrate with no trailer attached while maintaining the ability to mount in any orientation. The unit is able to operate electric / hydraulic trailer brakes from 24V vehicle systems when installed with a suitable adaptor.

With the variety of vehicles and communications between them, and the huge range of trailers, using the recommended wiring kits is essential for Tow-Pro Elite to work with all modern vehicles. REDARC’s range of vehicle specific wiring kits offer quick and easy installation into a host of vehicle makes and models.

WHEN WIRING IS KEY: A CASE STUDY

Here we look at a case study in which marquespecific wiring proves hugely important in the suitable installation of electric trailer brake controllers.

The Situation

Post-2018 Ford released Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) technology for their Ranger and Everest models. Due to the sophisticated trailer modules in these model vehicles, the common connections for the brake signal to the electric brake controllers were not viable, causing adverse effects on the vehicle and onboard safety systems.

A common query is, “Why can’t I simply connect the brake light trigger to the brake pedal switch as with earlier models?” When the AEB system applies the vehicle brakes, the brake pedal and therefore the brake pedal switch are not activated, meaning that in an AEB braking situation, the trailer brakes will not be activated, increasing the stopping distance of the vehicle / trailer, possibly resulting in a collision.

In these Ford Ranger and Everest cars, other common issues are seen when no trailer is attached if the brake trigger is taken from the brake light circuit of the vehicle or trailer base without using the required wiring kit. These include:

• Trailer warning lamp on with no trailer detected

• Dashboard indicator pilot light flashing at a faster rate

• Logged fault codes relating to brake light circuit

• Reverse sensor / alarm does not operate

• Reverse guidance / camera does not function correctly.

The Solution

REDARC has engineered a solution to overcome these issues and designed a vehicle specific TowPro Wiring Kit (TPWKIT-012) to suit this application.

The harness in this kit is more than just a standard wiring installation. The wiring kit consists of a harness plus a signal conditioning module which safely filters the brake signal from the brake light circuit sourced from the trailer socket, which is controlled from the vehicle’s trailer module.

The addition of the signal conditioning module ensures there is no interference from your brake controller installation with the vehicle’s electronics, onboard monitoring, and safety equipment.

To summarise, additional parts are required in electric brake installations for modern Ford Ranger and Everest models with AEB when installing any aftermarket brake controllers, due to the vehicle trailer detection system being extremely sensitive. It is a requirement to use the correct wiring harness for these applications.

Available from NAPA Auto Parts branches nationwide, call 0800 800 073,or visit napa.co.nz.