Re: Trailors

[jlandry@domain.elided (John A. Landry)]

In a brilliant stroke of genius, "Tom Harais" <tjhemh@domain.elided> blurted
out:

>I was thinking that nothing varied and the trailer brakes were "on" or
>"off". And, moreover, that when trailer brakes were "on", it wasn't like
>pushing on your brake pedal. No, I figured they just sort of created
>"strong drag" so the trailer would stay behind your tow vehicle while you
>were braking.

Tom,

Going from memory now...

When my trailer brake controller starts supplying voltage to the trailer
brake circuit, it *doesn't* start down at like 0 volts and build smoothly
up from there to full voltage.  Rather, when it does come on, it starts
supplying voltage up higher... say 9 or 10 volts... and builds from there
up to whatever the alternator's output is (usually something over 14
volts).

The controller can be adjusted in such a way as to control how fast the
voltage increases in relation to brake pedal application (the "slope" of
the voltage rise).  This adjustment is to allow the driver to have the
trailer brakes apply in proportion slightly before or after the vehicle
brakes.  That controller adjustment also works in concert with an
adjustable resistor in the engine compartment used to limit the *maximum*
voltage applied to the trailer brake circuit (to compensate for total
trailer weight and tire traction).  It lowers the overall voltage slope
output by the brake controller.

Hope that helps explain things.  This is how John Hofstetter explained it
to me when I had questions and how it has worked in my own testing.

Regards,

John
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