2020 Ram Integrated Brake Controller
 

I am headed to North Carolina on Friday to pick up a new to me boat. It has an Extreme Triple Axle trailer with what appears to be a Tuson EOH system. My Ram 1500 has the integrated brake controller but I am not sure if the two are compatible. I don't want to pull the boat through the mountains without properly working brakes. I searched the internet for information and I could not find anything at all. It does appear to have an EOH setting.......Anyone have any information on this mystery controller? Thanks

It should work fine. I have a 2018 Ram and the integrated controller has worked with everything I've plugged it into.

Give them a call and confirm. On their website, it says the 1600 controller works with the Ford factory setup.
(847) 816-8800
https://www.facebook.com/tusonrvbrakesllc/

https://tusonrvbrakes.com/products/actulink-act-1600

Thanks I called Tucson and they say it will work but may not be recognized by the truck. They said to try it and may need to add something called pva cam?
Sydwayz how do you switch to EOH mode. I have tried to switch modes(without a trailer connected) and I can’t see a way to switch. Is it that it can only be switched if a trailer is recognized by the trailer? Thanks

I believe on mine, I can switch it at anytime, trailer or not. But the software could be different. It might be in the Commercial Settings?

The only thing I have seen added to some EoH setups is this:
or this:

Either of those is basically adding a magnet to the trailer brakes so the truck basically sees what appears to be a straight electric brake system. I sincerely doubt that you will need it though. The last setup I saw that needed one of those was a 2013 F-350. All the trucks have gotten smarter now.

Be sure to report back how it turns out.

Picked up the boat and the brakes of course didn’t work. I tried to diagnose it at the boat ramp. The 7 way plug was real crusty so I replaced it and didnt help. I pulled the breakaway and the pump did work. As a backup I purchased a Curt Echo controller. It also did not activate the pump and it Bluetoothed to my iPhone constantly that the connection was lost. Several wires were frayed and wire splices looked bad so I probably have a wiring issue although all lighting works perfect.

By the way it is a Carlisle trailer brake system

I put Ride Rite air bags on the truck and those really stabilized the package very well.

Anyway I made the 398 mile trip through the Mountains very comfortably with the Ram. I was very impressed with the truck. The transmission with the etorque system is for sure the best transmission that I have ever had. The coolant, transmission, and oil temps all remained great pulling up the miles of mountain grades. There was a wreck and I40 was blocked so my waze go me off onto alternate route through the smokies. I gave the Ram a big test on these narrow steep and windy roads. I really missed the trailer brakes going down the long steep grades. Also probably the thing I missed most when compared to my 19 PSD is the engine braking. The Hemi tries but really can’t do much.

I will get some more compatibility info as I diagnose the Carlisle system. It’s not going another mile til it’s working.
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...b34c92937.jpeg

Not an expert with Ram trucks, but I would bet your factory controller is working just fine. I have the Carlisle system on my trailer. My old '09 GMC had the factory controller and it worked great with my EOH, but I used the Carlisle adapter module to make it work correctly. My new to me '19 GMC factory controller works perfectly with my same Hydrastar system setup. The factory controllers in most of the trucks are as good or better than most any aftermarket controller, but they are designed to work with electric brakes and not EOH. The big 3 have improved them and some later models now work with EOH as is. However most don't work unless you "fool" them into thinking you have straight electric brakes. Enter the Controller Adapter Module (CAM). You can also use a couple of electric brake magnets to achieve the same thing and wire them in. It does exactly that and "fools" your factory controller so it works with your EOH because it "thinks" you have electric brakes. Do you get anything on you dash regarding your brakes or controller when you connect up and start the engine?

If you have access to a utility trailer with electric brakes, hook your new truck to it and see if the brake controller will engage. If it does you will know that it's working properly and you will have to "fool" the controller by using the CAM or a couple of magnets. As is, the controller is not recognizing your EOH. The factory controller has to see resistance, i.e. the CAM or the magnets, for it to "think" you have electric brakes. Magnets are about $10 each and the CAM module is around $100. You don't have to buy the Carlisle brand, you can use the Titan brand, or even a generic one from a big trailer place.

You can build a tester to see if it works correctly pretty cheap. An old school headlight and some long jumper wires will tell you if the truck side is working correctly or not. When you plug or clip it in to the truck side, it should tell you that it is connected and the headlight should come on when you hit the brake pedal.

Just got to thinking:

There are two hot requirements for EoH brakes.

12V high amperage from truck to trailer.
+V variable voltage which is the actual braking signal.

The high amp 12V hot is what runs the pump.
The variable feed is what tells it to turn on and modulate.

Often, new trucks come with the fuse for the High Amp 12V+ uninstalled. Make sure that has been installed on your truck.

Update......did diagnostic test on the Carlisle Hydrastar 14 yo unit and it is bad. I talked to the people at Hydrastar, who by the way are powerboaters and I am going to order a new unit from them. It is so good to talk to someone at a company who knows what they are doing without having to go through a lot of time and hassle.
Hydrastar units will work with the Ram integrated brake controller according to Hydrastar without the HVA CAM.

Sidwayz I had all fuses installed as best I can tell! With all the acronyms it is hard to tell what some of them are.

Curious, as to how you finally determined the actuator was bad?

Hydra star has a good quick video on their website. You disconnect all wiring from the unit then use a separate battery and connect the blue and black wires together. Connect the blue/black to the positive battery post and the white wire to the negative post and the unit should run. Mine just clicked.

I installed the Hydrastar unit and it does work with the Ram controller. I am not sure that the truck fully recognizes the controller as I can not switch to electric over hydraulic mode. I post this because there seems to be no information about this.

Does it give you a message? Something like "Trailer connected"?

No it doesn’t give the trailer connected. I’m thinking I may need a hba cam if I want all the features to work.

Need more pictures of the boat!

So, what features are you talking about? Is it working now at all? What does it do? Can you hook up your trailer, drive off and then stop using just the manual controller from a roll? My 2019 GMC just shows "trailer connected" on my DIC when I connect and then the amount of trailer gain that I have it set at. Do you have power at the truck connector? Should be pin at 5 o'clock.

Sorry to offend the dodge crowd but...........Awesome Cummins power....but dodge has always been a few or more years behind with tech.

The brake controller does not give any trailer connected message. The trailer brakes are applied when the truck brakes are applied and when the manual control is applied. The brake controller on the truck has 4 settings you should be able to select when a trailer is detected. Light Electric, Heavy Electric, Light EOH and Heavy EOH. The default on the truck is light electric and by the chart I should be using heavy eoh but without the trailer detected I can't switch it. I have not tried it on the road, just on the driveway, but it worked well. So the features that will be missing are selecting mode, detection of disconnected trailer, trailer mileage, etc... Adjusting the brake gain did change the amount of brake applied, so I do have brakes but maybe that do not work as well as they can.

PM sent

Just towed with the Ram controller and the new Hydrastar unit. The truck does not recognize the trailer but the brakes work well. I think the Ram controller is like the GM unit in that the HBA Cam is necessary for the truck to recognize the trailer. It works well enough that I will let it go this way til winter. My rig is only about 10k so if you tow more you might want to install the Cam from the start. Thanks to Shunter for his input.

I just realized last week my ram has a options for light and heavy electric and same for light and heavy EOH
I never switched it when I switched from electric to eoh.
the brakes were jerki on "heavy electric and EOH"

Set it to light EOH , which my trailer isn`t light at 16,500# and it`s so much better now .. just turned up the gain a little more and she`s a
much smoother ride

I just had the same deal my factory controller was left in the electric mode from the sled trailer. I went to the heavy mode and way to much trailer brake. Went to the light EOH....all good now

Does your truck recognize the trailer? If it does, what brand is your EOH unit? Can you confirm that you can not switch trailer brake modes if the trailer is not recognized? Thanks