Install brake controller on the actual trailer?

You can do it with a portable brake contoller.

It is picking up the brake signal from the brake light on the trailer plug rather than the brake pedal.

I was told by a chap who had one installed on his camper that he was putting it in the car as it is illegal in Qld. I know Redarc say to check with state motor vehicle authorities regarding the legallity of mounting controller to the trailer......So, once again probably legal in some and not in others. They can easily be fitted to a car and with a decent bracket there should not be any drilling on car interior panels. You also need access to alter the characteristics of towing on dirt or bitumen.

There are a couple of things you will need.
Brake controllers need to have either an manual over ride button or lever in reach of the driver. You will still have to run power cables for the brakes with a resettable circuit breaker, you will still have to run the power cable to the trailer as per the plug in remote one. Cigarette lighter, for me that is not a good way to go.
Another thing is, many new vehicles have a can bus system and don't like the activation wire picked up at the brake light.

Maybe you can install a conventional red arc or tekhonsa with velcro and have the wiring removable with no drilling of holes. Brackets can be velcoed on and cable ties used. Double sided tape is also great to use.

I'm puzzled - where does it say that there has to have a manual override within reach of the driver? I have looked extensively but couldn't find anything.

The closest I could find (it was a while ago) is that the trailer brakes had to be operated by the driver from the normal driving position (see below). As far as I can tell that is satisfied with a brake controller in the trailer because the trailer brake controller is operated by the brake signal which comes from the brake pedal.

That requirement came from a
Tasmanian doc (a bit old).

To quote:

123. Operation of brakes on trailers

(1) The braking system of a trailer with a GTM over 2 tonnes must allow the driver of a motor vehicle towing the trailer to operate the brakes from a normal driving position.

NSW says
Brakes must be operable from the driver’s seating position.


Ditto for the resettable circuit breaker - where is that required by law? I'm not doubting that it is a fantastically great idea - just the legal requirement for it.


I asked the Tasmanian roads authority and they were ok with a brake controller being mounted in a camper trailer. I asked NSW RMS and they never replied...

Personally, I can't see any difference between mounting the brake controller in the trailer and having override brakes. In both systems it can't be adjusted while driving but the brakes come on automatically when the vehicle brakes.

We ran our Tvan that way for years - a RedArc TowPro connected to the Tvan battery and nothing in the car. It seemed to work well enough.

Of course it has to be done properly. In my case, it was hooked to Tvan battery by an auto-reset circuit breaker and the Tvan electrics have a low-voltage cutout which disconnects all the other loads (lights, pump, etc) when the battery gets to about 50% of capacity.



Two other things:
With the cigarette lighter socket, if it has a 10A fuse it should be able to support a 10A load. There are good plugs and bad plugs out there - the good ones are rated for a 10A load. The Narva 82110BL is rated at 15A at 12V.

If the brake controller picks up the signal from the brake lights on the trailer it wouldn't interfere with the CAN bus system in the vehicle - it would just look like a ever so slightly higher lighting load.

The idea of fitting the controller in the trailer is nothing but cheap and nasty.

YES I know people that have operated electric brakes off the brake light circuit alone ...... OH HELL good luck with that. ... particularly in a modern vehicle.

I remember in the past people with electric brakes operated of a jug element type resistor with a adjustment ....... OH please.

If you are to have electric brakes that work properly you need and adequate power supply, the brake light circuit is not sufficient ..... so there is a wiring job any way.
so ya might as well run a brake wire.

Many of the factory trailer plug wiring looms have a brake wire in them and best on many new vehicles to wire all the way to the front of the vehicle to bypass all the tail light shenanigans they have.
Yeh and some of the factory looms just plug in ...... they may run the length of the car .... but there may be a plug ready to go ...... no butcering your rear wiring harness.

As far as screwing things to a lease vehicle ...... oh please seriouilsy ..... as long as you aren't butchering the dash nobody will care ..... probably nobody will ever look.

OH YEH ..... if you have the brake controller other than within reach of the driver ...... how do you expect to adjust the brakes.

Yeh and those of us that know what we are doing will adjust the trailer braking as we change terrian and surfaces.

As for legal requirements
15.2 All other trailers that do not exceed 4.5 tonnes ATM

These trailers must be fitted with an efficient brake system that complies with ADR 38/-. Except for over-run brakes, all brakes must be operable from the driver's seat of the towing vehicle.

For trailers up 2 tonnes GTM, an efficient braking system is considered to have brakes operating on the wheels of at least one axle. Over-run brakes may only be used on trailers that do not exceed 2 tonnes GTM.

Every trailer over 2 tonnes GTM must have brakes operating on all wheels. The brake system must cause immediate application of the trailer brakes in the event of the trailer becoming detached from the towing vehicle. Under these circumstances, the brakes must remain applied for at least 15 minutes.

All flexible hydraulic brake hoses, air or vacuum brake tubing and air and vacuum flexible hoses must conform to SAA, SAE, BS, JIS, DIN, ISO or ECE Standards and be fitted to the vehicle in a way that will prevent chafing, kinking or other mechanical damage under normal motion of the parts to which they are attached.

(For further information, refer to ADR 38/02 clause 5)

Remember too that the controller is required to be installed to manufacturer specifcations ....... if the manufacturer specs require a self resetting circuit breaker ...... that is a legal requiremet

cheers

Did some looking around and also found a redarc version which mounts on the trailer.

https://www.redarc.com.au/trailer-mount-electric-trailer-brake-controller

Is it something like this what you have in mind SS?

As you say, caravan hire companies use them.

we have the redarc trailer mounted brake controller mounted to the drawbar of our camper trailer as we tow it with both the troopy and the prado and the old troopy, works great it means that our camper can be towed by any tow rig as the camper batteries supply power to the brake controller and the brake light signal in the trailer plug is used to activate the trailer brakes, it is fully adjustable (yes you must stop and get out to do it) we towed the camper over the west did half a lap the gibb river rd and never had a problem with it. as for reaching for the controller in an emergency i would rather keep my eyes on the road and both hands on the wheel if it turned nasty than go fumbling for a brake controller, and besides most people would not even go for it if it all turned pear shaped anyway. if you need anymore info feel free to message me happy to answer any of your questions.