Electric vs Override brakes ?

[dbomba]

Another camper I am looking at buying has override brakes fitted.
Would an electric brake set up be a better option ??

Regards
Daryl

[peter92]

im putting electric on the van and taking the o/r off
electric is also ajustable from inside the paj
regards peter

[Traveller43]

My trailer came standard with override brakes and I had them swapped for electric. The difference is significant and the electric brakes are soo much more effective.

I made the change mainly because during my first trip with the new trailer I managed to break the hydraulic pipe holding the brake fluid and lost all trailer braking capacilty for teh last 3000km. That is far less likely to happen with electric wiring to the brakes.

Another consideration, although it would almost never be required, is that if you lose your brakes on the towing vehicle, because you don't slow by putting your foot on the brake then the trailer override breaks won't come into play becuase you aren't providing the stopping force to activate the hydraulic plunger to operate the trailer brakes.

With electric trailer brakes in the same situation even though putting the brake on in the car won't slow the car, it still completes the circuit to operate the trailer brakes. Apply more braking pressure to the trailer through the brake controller and with judicious use of the handbrake ( I have an automatic so get no engine braking assistance by gearing down) you have more chance of coming to a controlled and hopefully safe stop.

[dbomba]

Hi John,
I had a van many years back that had electric brakes, I found them to be excellent. Cant remember the brand of controller (I do have it packed somewhere at home, just have to find it) I think it may be a Tekonsha. Had a slide manual control as well, great for just slowing the van without touching the brakes.
I wasnt sure how the elec would stack up against O/R brakes, particularly off road.
Thanks for your input and experience with them.
Regards
Daryl

[Pete]

Depends what you do...touring around the roads and hydaulic is fine...anything offroad and they can be troublesome...mine are being replaced with electric shortly.

[pauld]

I have two trailers, one tandem cage with hydraulic overide and one camper with electric brakes & Tekonsha controller. The difference & benefits of electric over overide is night and day - on road or off.

Make sure you get a Proportional Brake Controller, much better & not much more expensive.

[Bogger]

Electric much better than over ride and electric disc better again .................. reason being is electric drum don't work in reverse and when your sitting on a steep incline and the trailer is dragging your vehicle backwards not much fun. Not such and issue on 4 bees that have 4 wheel disc but when it's drum rear on vehicle can become a real adrenalin pump as in effect the only braking you have is the two front discs ......................... and ask me how I know ?

[Yonnee]

... reason being is electric drum don't work in reverse...

That's not technically correct. The brakes on the trailer will work in reverse, although they aren't as effective, it's the controller itself that doesn't, and that depends in the controller. Most controllers don't currently work in reverse in their automatic mode (off the foot brake trigger), however, they will still work with the over-ride.

[Merts]

My camper has cable operated override brakes, and they work pretty well. I chose them over the electric ones when I got the camper so that I didn't have to fit a controller to both cars I was using with it.

When I got the NS last year it already had an electric brake contoller fitted, and I thought beauty, that's something I won't have to worry about if I finish up 'upgrading' from the camper to a better one or a van.

The controller is a "Hayes Syncronizer". I googled to get the specs, and it turns out this type of controller progressively applies the brakes over a set period of time from when you push the brake pedal. It starts applying a small amount of trailer brake and gets harder until it reaches the preset maximum brake application. This seems incredibly stupid to me. If you are just gently braking coming up to some traffic lights or on a moderately steep downhill run you would finish up with the trailer brakes on flat out. Conversely, emergency braking would result in the same relatively slow progressive application of the trailer brakes rather than them coming on hard straight away.

I reckon the override brakes would be far superior to this 'non proportional' controller with electric brakes. The harder the tow vehicle decelerates, the harder the overide brakes operate. Whilst they aren't quite as effective as electric brakes, at least they more or less match the braking effort of the tow vehicle. Incidently, I have had to brake flat out once (full emergency ABS pulsating stuff) to avoid a collision. I decelerated hard, and the camper braked and stayed nice and straight behind the car. I reckon the same situation with my electric controller would see the camper trying to pass the car before the trailer brakes came on properly.

I would be interested in any comments from anyone who has used this type of contoller. I'm thinking I will remove it from the car and if I finish up with a camper or van with electric brakes I will bite the bullet and get one of the Tekonsha Prodigy 3 proportional units.

[nj swb]

Electric brakes, with a quality controller, are undoubtedly superior to override brakes. But the difference is also proportional to the weight of the trailer, so the benefits of electric brakes will be much greater on a 1950kg trailer than a 700kg trailer (that, legally speaking, doesn't need brakes at all).

[Merts]

Electric brakes, with a quality controller, are undoubtedly superior to override brakes.

I'm sure they are, but I'm interested in whether someone has experience with electric brakes and what seems to me to be a crap controller. I'm guessing the overrides would be better than a non-proportional controller.

But the difference is also proportional to the weight of the trailer, so the benefits of electric brakes will be much greater on a 1950kg trailer than a 700kg trailer (that, legally speaking, doesn't need brakes at all).

My camper loaded is way over 700kg (around 1200 at a guess) so needs brakes. If I was getting something new I would probably get electric, but the overrides work pretty well on my Outback and I wouldn't bother changing them.

[Pete]

We had 2 campers with tons of issues with override brakes once we got offroad...they dont seem to like the corrugations much. The tiny amount saved wont feel like a good deal when you're outback and changing your wheel bearing grease cos your shoes have been rubbing for the past few hours, super heating your drums and turning your bearing grease into something about as thick as Guinness.

You can have mine, i will be changing them in the next few weeks.

[sillypoint]

I know this an old thread but I thought I'd ask here rather than starting another one. My NS has a brake controller fitted but the camper has overide brakes ( that are not working ATM). the hitch rear door config is a pain but I should be able to fix it with a hyland or similar hitch. My issue is the brakes hydraulic well and handbrake sitting high regardless of the hitch. Is there a brand out there that is override but does not sit so high. I'd change it over to electric but one trailer guy reckons I have to get a new Axel etc $$$

[Merts]

Is there a brand out there that is override but does not sit so high. I'd change it over to electric but one trailer guy reckons I have to get a new Axel etc $$$

You might be able to change over to cable activated over-ride brakes, but that would still involve alterations at the hubs as the brakes are activated via levers rather than hydraulic cylinders.

Electric would be the way to go IMHO. I'm surprised that you would need to change the axles???

[schnitzel]

I know this an old thread but I thought I'd ask here rather than starting another one. My NS has a brake controller fitted but the camper has overide brakes ( that are not working ATM). the hitch rear door config is a pain but I should be able to fix it with a hyland or similar hitch. My issue is the brakes hydraulic well and handbrake sitting high regardless of the hitch. Is there a brand out there that is override but does not sit so high. I'd change it over to electric but one trailer guy reckons I have to get a new Axel etc $$$

Don't panic about a new axle they are quite cheap and easy to install, what size trailer are you talking about. I gave up on over ride brakes afew years ago and have swapped almost all my trailers to electric as it is so much safer and less hassle.