A 2021 updated Trailer hitch & brake controller thread

[HansBimmers]

The hopkins Impulse is not activated for a period of time, as that is only a misunderstanding of its name.

When setting it up, you can choose 99 intensity levels for braking, and once set it remembers that. When you activate the brakes, it takes 3 seconds to go from 1 and steps up to the maximum preset intensity, so for shorter corrections in traffic slowing, you don't need full braking but if you need to come full stop from 75, it will hold the max power after 3 seconds indefinitely. In theory it sounds just okay, but in reality it works just fine and has some advantages over proportional braking, such as if your tow vehicle had braking power fade, or suddenly has partial/full brake failure, proportional isn't going to know to stop harder to compensate for it.

I made a wiring harness out of a brake controller wiring kit and a couple extra wires as well, then spirally wrapped the bundle with that fuzzy harness tape just like BMW does, it took about 20 minutes. I grabbed all the necessary electrics from the spare tire area and utilized the factory fuse block. Ground went to the trailer hitch frame itself. That may be where some improvement could be made, and run a short ground wire off the controller, to decrease feedback issues.

Thanks for the replies, but to repeat- Does anyone know where and which wire gives a clean brake pedal signal for hard wired controllers? Mine is pretty much done and towing/braking fine in daytime.

Thanks Again!