Can anyone help with ESC for Hydraulic disk brakes on a caravan

Submitted: Wednesday, Dec 15, 2021 at 15:25
ThreadID: 142989 Views:7632 Replies:3 FollowUps:22
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I have a single axle home built off road caravan with Landcruiser 13 inch disk brakes run through a Prodigy P3 and a 1600psi Hydrastar electric over hydraulic actuator. Tyres are 33 inch, which means a lot of braking force is required. The system works a beauty and the caravan is very stable in all conditions. But I would like to add electronic stability control for peace of mind and cheaper insurance.

The two front runners are the Dexter unit and the Lippert unit now used by Al-Ko. Neither of these systems is recommended for disk brakes. The Dexter unit is out because it applies braking to either side differentially. But the Lippert system applies brakes equally to both sides and comes with a gyro as well as an accelerometer which makes it better off road.

Nobody, not Al-Ko nor any installers, can tell me why the Lippert system won't work on electric over hydraulic disks. An Alko engineer suggested that it MIGHT work with their electric over hydraulic actuator which has a compressed air booster for fast response, but has never been tested. Their unit is limited to 1000psi which is not man enough anyway.

It may be that electric over hydraulic units react too slowly for sway control. But the Hydrastar unit I have seems to be the fastest high pressure unit on the market and the speed of response can be adjusted on the P3. Or it may be that nobody has bothered to test with hydraulic brakes because of the small number on the road.

My inclination is just to buy a Lippert unit and give it a go. If the response is too slow there's no harm done and it would be faster than me applying the trailer brakes anyway.

Can anyone offer any informed comment or advice on this conundrum? Thanks in advance.

Keith
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