Brake controller switch?

So, I've got this P2 that I've had for years and never used, and picked up a harness when I bought this truck. I haven't gotten around to installing it partly cuz I don't tow much of anything that has or needs brakes, and partly cuz I'm having a hard time finding a mounting solution that's out of the way, and easily disconnectable- I'd hardly ever use it, and I don't care to have it on all the time, plus 15 minutes after I touch the brake pedal. Yeah, I know it turns itself off, I know there's nowhere for the power to go without a trailer connected, I just don't want it sitting there lit up all the time.

I've decided I'd like to put it in the cubby at the bottom of the center stack. I don't want to put it in the fuse box cubby, I can't put it where the parking brake handle goes cuz I have a 6 speed and it's actually there, and I don't want it on the lower dash where I'll hit my knee on it. The lower cubby suits me fine, I don't really use it and I'd be fine hard-mounting it there and leaving it. Which brings me back to being able to disconnect it- the harness isn't that easy to unplug, and I'd need to leave like 6"+ of slack to pull the back of it past the front of the cubby to get the release tab. I thought about using Safariland holster fork QR things (saw it on here, looks kinda cool) but would still need a lot of slack, and the bracket thingy I have keeps you from easily getting the release tab up on the plug.

Has anyone tried just adding a switch in the brake light wire of the controller harness? I like that idea better than switching the main power into the controller since it should be essentially a relay trigger and thus low-current. In my head it should work to keep the controller from powering on all the time, since AFAIK hitting the brake pedal is what turns it on, right?

 

If you don't tow anything that needs a controller, why bother?

If you do install it, being upset that it has a lit up led is silly.

If you install it wired to your brake switch as described it won't work correctly. Which doesn't matter because you're not towing anything anyway.

If you just want to look down and see a controller but have it not do anything why not just tape it in place and not wire it at all?

 

I got over banging my knee on the Prodigy controller I had so I replaced it with a Redarc model that has everything but the adjustment/override control. It’s not a cost effective solution for you since you’ve already got something in hand but it is an option.

 

Why would what I described not work? Do you know how to wire a controller? One wire is the main power in, one is the ground, one is the power to the trailer brakes, and the 4th is the signal from the brake switch. The power in is constant (as it's fused to the battery @ 40A and is powering the trailer brakes themselves as well as the controller) and AFAIK they use the signal from the brake switch to wake the controller up, as well as the signal (along with the accelerometer in the controller) to activate the trailer brakes. I'm not seeing why it wouldn't work, but if you know something I don't besides "it won't work", let me know?

I just want to break the connection on that wire when it's not being used so it's not on every time I drive + 15 minutes every time I drive (or hit the brake pedal, period) since my location isn't conducive to unplugging it.

As far as why... A) I already had it (bought it to put in my old company truck that was going to be towing a 10k trailer + Bobcat in the snow, and the boss refused to pay for more than an el cheapo time delay) and B) while I haven't had a use for it yet, I do have access to several trailers with electric brakes, and on occasion have a use for them. If I don't put it in, one day I'll need it (on short notice, no doubt) and just shrug my shoulders and not bother having working brakes... then I'll feel super stupid if something goes wrong.

 

Making up a scenario obviously...

Because the controllers take a second after they power up to determine where "stopped" is. So call it position 0. As you normally stop it reads p1 and adds a little brake. You stop harder and it reads position 5 and ads even more brake. When you let off the brakes we're back to 0. If you're in the process of stopping when it powers up, it's in position 3 when it powers up and assumes that's 0. So no brakes. So you step harder because yore not braking and it moves to 7 which it sees as 3 and you're still under braked. Now you're in panic mode because you're really braking hard in the truck and the trailer is starting to sway. So you let off to pump the brakes and the controller turns off. Then you get back on the brakes hard, and the controller powers up at position 9 which it thinks is 0...

When it turns on with the truck, the truck is stopped, it calibrates 0 at an actual stop, and any swing of the pendulum is actually braking. Unless you have a pretty advanced controller/truck combo where it actually adjusts it's output based on pedal position, they all basically figure out how much voltage to put out based on an inertia change. The old style used an actual physical pendulum.

A better route than using your brake switch to power it up would be to wire it normally but have an interrupt switch so you can manually turn it on/off