Today was the first time i have towed in the snow with this controller and so far i am not impressed. I adjusted the controller as usual and headed down the hill with about 8k behind me like any other day. I knew it was slippery so i had it in 4X4 and slowed it down a bit. Now, this controller works awesome on dry roads but did not work at all when the truck started sliding. I cranked up the voltage and the boost setting and it still did not apply the trailer brakes. Needless to say i went for a ride. When i got to the bottom of the hill i pulled over and checked my settings and everything was normal. I pulled out where the snow had been plowed and then the brakes locked right up when i applied the brakes. So i re-adjusted them back to where they were to begin with. Now it seems to me as long as the truck itself had traction to stop then the trailer brakes worked properly, but as soon as the truck lost traction and could not stop then the trailer brakes no longer worked either. I understand that the controller works off inertia but damn, the trailer brakes still have to work even if the truck still cannot slow down. Does anyone else have this problem?

:)I also have the Prodigy and have never had a problem. I also have never towed on ice. The only thing I can think of, you saying it works ok on non ice roads is it could not realize you were on ice because the truck did not slow enough for the pendaluem in the Prodigy to apply the brakes harder?????? My suggestion is to try the manual slide on the brake box and see if that will work. BE CAREFUL AND GOOD LUCK. :)

I tried that and it too didnt work, after i tried this is when pucker factor set in :eek:. I will be diggin out the instructions to see what they say.

The Prodigy works on inertia. Since your were not slowing because you were slipping, the controller doesn't sense your deceleration. Seems perfectly normal to me.

If the truck brakes were ineffective, why should the trailer brakes be effective. Ice is bad to drive on, worse to tow on.

I have no experience with the Prodogy.
The loss of inerta when towing on ice, or if the tow vehicle completely looses brakes is the main reason I bought the Jordan Ultima 2020.
That's just my opinion.

The controller i have in my other truck always works at the setting you have it on with a 2 second delay. I have been in a few panic situations where it either applied too much brake "icy roads" or not enough brakes "panic stop" so i opted for the Prodigy. So far i have been really pleased with the Prodigy but this was the first time i towed anything heavy on very slippery roads while using this controller. For some reason the manual over ride didnt work like i thought it should. I have towed with it since with no issue. May have been a fluke i guess, wait and see i guess.

The Prodigy works on inertia. Since your were not slowing because you were slipping, the controller doesn't sense your deceleration. Seems perfectly normal to me.

If the truck brakes were ineffective, why should the trailer brakes be effective. Ice is bad to drive on, worse to tow on.

X2

I would think the manual override lever on the Prodigy did apply the brakes to the trailer, they slipped just like your truck did. That override switch doesn't care if your driving on dry or snow covered pavement. I just got an LMM with the integrated brake, I hope it works as well as my prodigy does.

I would think the manual override lever on the Prodigy did apply the brakes to the trailer, they slipped just like your truck did. That override switch doesn't care if your driving on dry or snow covered pavement. I just got an LMM with the integrated brake, I hope it works as well as my prodigy does.
:)Thats what I was thinking. If you are in the truck and hit the brakes on ice if you were not standing outside looking at the trailer brakes how would you know if they are looking up of not? When I have braked on ice, sometimes you could not tell you had hit the brake. I know in non anti locking brakes the only way you knew when the brakes were on is when the vehicle started looking for a hole. Hope this helps. :)

It may be a good thing they didn't work on its own in a panic situation on ice, that way the trailer didn't try to come around to meet you.

Double check with slide switch underneath the unit to make sure it's applying the brakes manually. But, as the others mentioned, if the truck brakes are not working enough to create some inertial resistance, the trailer brakes would not have been activated. I think some of that reasoning is if trailer brakes would have been applied, it might have yanked around and jack-knifed on you. Great job on getting everything stopped the way you did - tremendous driving skills on your part! Pulling a trailer on icy roads is definitely one of the scariest things I've done and hope to never do it again.

It may be a good thing they didn't work on its own in a panic situation on ice, that way the trailer didn't try to come around to meet you.
:)Good point. If something back there was not working the trailer would try to pass you.:)

I havent hooked back up to the equipment trailer yet but it tows my enclosed trailer fine. I have had the enclosed trailer out in the snow before but conditions were not too bad and as everyone has said the brakes dont work as normal since the truck wont stop as well either. The lever overide works fine on the enclosed trailer so far. For some reason the equipment trailer wouldnt work at all even with the lever. Granted it weighed alot more too and the road was slippery as hell but it sure had me nervous. The trailer is new and any other time it has towed flawlessly but i guess it may have a problem somewhere in the harness. I will be towing it again Monday to pick up my other D-Max from the dealer and i will be checking the brakes before i leave.
The other D-Max has an elcheapo controller in it that has always worked great with the exception of slippery roads. I found myself on glare ice roads one night coming home from work with the enclosed trailer behind me. It had been raining all day but i didnt realize the temp had dropped and was freezing on the road. I came around a turn doing about 45mph lightly on the brake and the trailer broke free and slid out into the other lane :eek:. Big pucker here fella's, i let off the brake and grabbed the 4X4 lever. About that time the truck broke free too, i had to hammer the throttle to twitch the trailer back straight which was sliding along the snow bank and from there it was matter of feathering the throttle to get it all back on my side of the road. I slowed down to about 25mph with a death grip on the wheel and i wheeled the brake controller off to keep the trailer from locking up. I could actually feel the front wheels spinning on the ice from the torque steer i kept getting.