Ray, what am I gonna do with you? The article reports the results of testing the new improved magic hypower brake against standard electric brakes DRIVEN BY AN ANCIENT TIME CYCLE CONTROLLER. The description in the article's
Introduction is laughable - this controller doesn't even activate until the tow vehicle noses over enough to activate a mercury switch! And only then does it begin to slowly ramp up the brake current. Over the past couple years, you and I have competed for
King of the Time Cycle Controller Bashers. This one of the reasons. Let's not stop now.
After describing the time cycle controller, the article continues by saying "the HD3000
is intended to use the same dashboard controller" - but then they say that activation "
instantly forces the brake pads against the rotor." Instantly? With a time cycle controller? How did that happen? Well, a little later on, we see casual mention of a new master cylinder sensor that actually sends current to the disk brakes. Doesn't sound to me like they actually used the same controller at all.
Let's step back from this particular article, and look at the bigger picture. Common sense tells us that if one braking system can provide 3:1 or 4:1 improvement over another, then there is something wrong (or grossly lacking) in the first one. So the first question has to be, what is it that is wrong? There are only two parts to a trailer braking system - the brakes, and the controller - so the difference has to be in one or the other.
Is it in the brakes? Well, disk brakes have some very real advantages over drums (fade resistance and wet braking being chief among them). But raw braking power, the supposed subject of this test, is not one of them. Despite the hype of the automotive industry since disk brakes were popularized 20-30 years ago, discs are no better than drums in raw braking power. Both respond instantly, both give you fine-grain control of braking power, and both can brake hard enough to lock up the wheel if you ask them to. So assuming that the drum brakes in this test met these basic criteria, and were properly adjusted, the brakes themselves are not the problem. All else being equal, changing over to disks will NOT produce a big improvement. Repeat - despite the hype,
DISK BRAKES ARE NOT MAGIC!
So that leaves the controller. And voila, there it is. They have set up the most laughable comparison you can imagine. It demonstrates the power of advertising dollars. There is no way that you, or I, or any mechanically savvy reporter for Trailer Life, would have accepted these test conditions and printed this article. The testers (who also build the brakes, surprisingly enough) clearly bought advertising space in the guise of "unbiased testing". The biggest laugh is that the article is probably printed right next to an ad for a decent modern brake controller like the Prodigy. Now there is a test I would like to see.
As you have said in some of your great brake tutorials, a properly operating trailer brake system should bring the trailer-tow vehicle combination to a stop in more or less the same distance as the tow vehicle without the trailer. In this article, the baseline is a truck that stops in 190 feet by itself, but takes 515 feet when you add the trailer. They themselves say that "this is comparable to driving on ice", and I agree. And right from the beginning, it should be a wild red flag that something is wrong with the test setup.
I just love these technical discussions ...
Bill