Just came across this brake controller and though it’s a bit more expensive it looks to be a simple solution to avoiding any of the wiring hassles with installing a brake controller in our 2016 Touareg TDI. It gets very good reviews and strainer seems to really like it. Are there concerns I am missing?
Is anyone using the Curt Echo wireless brake controller?
Lstyles
1 - 20 of 29 Posts
Just came across this brake controller and though it’s a bit more expensive it looks to be a simple solution to avoiding any of the wiring hassles with installing a brake controller in our 2016 Touareg TDI. It gets very good reviews and strainer seems to really like it. Are there concerns I am missing?
Joined
·
3,314 Posts
Not sure I understand all the fuss people make about the "wiring".
It's 4 wires.
- You can splice directly into them if you don't want to use the OEM style plug, and don't want to make your own harness.
- you can buy an already made OEM harness off Ebay
VW Touareg Plug and Play Trailer Brake Controller Harness
Regarding the unit you've shown.... I personally don't like having to operate it off my phone. I like having the brake controller under my dash, as it makes it easy if I want to quickly apply the trailer brakes, or if I only want to apply the trailer brakes, or if I want to make adjustments, etc. I realize that the app has the same capabilities, but if you're trying to make an adjustment on the fly or in an emergency situation, you don't have time to flip through options, etc..... having a dedicated scroll wheel and quick action lever is much more convenient IMO
Someone on another forum asked whether using the Curt Echo wireless controller might interfere with the Touareg recognizing the trailer (because it is plugged into the 7 pin connector) and then you would lose all the nice features (eg transmission remapping, anti-sway control) that you get when you plug in a trailer. This seems very unlikely to me but wanted to check to see if anyone has any expience with this. Another post said that using a RF brake controller didn’t interfere but that connects in a different way. eTrailer highly recommends this controller for Touaregs so I am wondering why they would do that if it cancelled out all those Touareg features?
Joined
·
57 Posts
following
I reached out to Curt and they confirmed that the Curt controller does NOT interfere with recognition of the trailer and any of the special functions. They posted my question and answer on their website:
http://www.etrailer.com/question-341180.html?fb=yes
http://www.etrailer.com/question-341180.html?fb=yes
So I purchased a Curt echo wireless brake controller and went to plug it in today. The blue LED is supposed to be a blinking blue. No light came on at all. I started the car and still no LED light. The troubleshooter said that this means there is no power to the controller and that it’s possible that it may be that there is no ground wire on the vehicle 7 way plug or that the vehicle’s trailer mode may need to be activated. I didn’t find anything about a trailer mode in the owner’s manual of my car so I am thinking that there must be a problem with the Trailer plug getting power. To test this I started the car and put multimeter positive lead on center metal piece in Treg plug and put negative multimeter lead on the hitch metal itself. I figured that if the 7 way plug had power I should get 12 volts when I did this but did not get any voltage. Not sure this is the correct use of the multimeter though. Do I have it right? Should I have seen 12 volts with multimeter and if so does this mean I need to take the car into dealer to solve problem of no power to the 7 way plug? Thanks in advance for your advice!
So I looked into the wiring of the 7 way plug a little more and it looks like I didn’t test the right parts of the plug to test for power. It looks like I need to put multimeter leads on two of the metal pieces on outer circle of prongs on the plug not the middle (not sure why I thought that was the positive lead???). It’s dark now so will check tomorrow but can anyone confirm for me which two prongs I should be using to test to see if there is power to the 7 way plug?
I don’t have the trailer yet. I just have the brake controller which plugs into the 7 way plug. When I plug the brake controller in, the LED light on the brake controller is supposed to go on but it isnt. This would mean that either no power is getting to the brake controller or the brake controller itself is defective. Trying to narrow things down a bit before either taking car in to get 7 way plug fixed or replace the brake controller
Joined
·
3,314 Posts
This has been mentioned around here several times. The Touareg is fancy and it needs a load to enable the trailer connector. It cuts power off otherwise. Those who have used the RF controller like you got usually set it up on a normal vehicle to get around this issue.
Joined
·
3,314 Posts
Wow! Thanks for that link....that was very helpful and reassuring. I had ordered a 7 pin tester which will arrive tomorrow so I guess I can confirm there is indeed power to the receptacle. I might also be going out to the trailer dealer before we pick up our trailer so can test it on one of their other trailers just to make sure. Thanks again for all the help!
Joined
·
57 Posts
So after putting 4300 miles on this set up I have a few settings issues. Not sure if it’s the Echo or the actual brakes on the Jayco but at slow speeds (stop and go traffic 0-15mph) after the brakes have been warmed up, the trailer grabs and releases really hard. There is hardly any modulation. I’ve tried turning the sensitivity setting on the Echo all the way down and the max power all the way down but it’s still annoyingly grabby. Often in these situations (slow stop and go) the trailer brakes will even lock up.
Guess I’ll start with contacting Curt to see about any suggestions.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Guess I’ll start with contacting Curt to see about any suggestions.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Joined
·
57 Posts
It’s a new Jayco Octane 161.
Double axle with brakes on one axle.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Joined
·
3,314 Posts
Make sure the tire pressure is proper across the two axles.... try to notice if one side locks up before the other..... the brakes might be adjusted improperly which would cause one wheel to "lock up" or brake before the other..... that would explain why no matter what sensitivity you select, you still get funny engagement.
Joined
·
57 Posts
I was wrong. Looked underneath and brakes on both axles. Regardless I will check brake adjustments now that I see that it’s pretty simple.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
1 - 20 of 29 Posts
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
