Flashing new brake controller

[jason.yergler]

Okay, here's my situation. I'm new to working with these things. I have a cheap $10 obd2 reader, one of the blue plastic Chinese jobs. Truck is a '16 1500 5.7 with a 5 inch radio.

I need to flash my new brake controller, so I was going to download alpha OBD. Do I need to get a new reader for it to work well? If so, I've heard good things about the blue driver and also the MX2. Is one superior to the other for working with alpha OBD?

Also, I see everyone talking about a pin or security measures. Can I just with OBD2 reader and alpha activate the brake controller or do I need any kind of pin or password?

I really appreciate any help.

 

[crash68]

It can be hit or miss with the cheap OBD readers. The MX/MX+ is recommended by the developer and has been successfully used by many on this forum. I don't believe you need a pin code for the brake controller, a pin is usually required when making changes with the RF Hub(keyfobs, remote start, etc).

 

[kohersh]

obdlink MX on amazon for $60. I just put the oem ITBM in last weekend, finally towed the trailer this morning.
Happy to report the truck recognized that a trailer was attached and auto disabled the rear parking sensors. Everything working beautifully.
So cool

 

[jason.yergler]

Well the update is good. I got the more expensive MX plus OBD reader, and it works great. I towed the trailer to West Virginia and back with an old Land cruiser on top of the trailer.


I know the trailer brakes are working, because when avoiding an accident I locked them up and got little plume of smoke back there. That leads me to my next question, how do I tell what the brake gain is? I have the 5-inch radio. I do not have the premium instrument cluster. Is there somewhere in my system that tells me what my brake gain is? on the radio I see the trailer brake settings, and I named the trailer, told the system what kind of brakes it's using, but I cannot find an indicator that tells me at what level is my brake gain.

When installing the controller the bracket is a pain in the behind. That front top bolt that everybody complains about, I tried to get it in with the ratchet but I dropped the screw. It is somewhere down in the bowels of my dash. So I just didn't put one there, that bracket seems to hold very nicely with just two screws. I'm going to roll with that.

As always, any help is appreciated.

 

[JOHRY]

Is there somewhere in my system that tells me what my brake gain is? on the radio I see the trailer brake settings, and I named the trailer, told the system what kind of brakes it's using, but I cannot find an indicator that tells me at what level is my brake gain.

If using the factory controller, you should have also had to install a slider to the left of the buttons under the HVAC controls.

 

[jason.yergler]

It's a factory controller. The slider is for applying trailer brakes independent of the pedal, right? There's a plus and minus button for adjusting gain.

 

[JOHRY]

It's a factory controller. The slider is for applying trailer brakes independent of the pedal, right? There's a plus and minus button for adjusting gain.

This is a good video here
If you don't have the 7" Premium Cluster, I'm not sure where you would see that setting.

 

[jjyergler]

I realized I was using my old username to start this thread.

I don't have the Premium Cluster. That's my question. With the 5" radio and regular cluster, where is the gain displayed? It has to be displayed somewhere.

 

[RVGuy]

I realized I was using my old username to start this thread.

I don't have the Premium Cluster. That's my question. With the 5" radio and regular cluster, where is the gain displayed? It has to be displayed somewhere.

Before I updated to the premium cluster my regular cluster had a menu option called "Trailer Tow" or something like that where the gain was shown.

 

[chri5k]

If you can't find it the display the gain goes from 0 - 10 in .5 increments. You can always hit + 20 times and know you will be at 10. Count - clicks from there. Or vice versa by hitting - 20 times to get to 0 and then + to go up from there.

IIRC when I had a 3.5 inch cluster the number showed on the 3.5 display momentarily while adjusting the gain.

Edit: RVGuy is right it goes to 10. 7 is the number I use for my trailer. I did get the .5 increment right this late. ;-)

 

[RVGuy]

If you can't find it the display the gain goes from 0 - 7 in .5 increments. You can always hit + 14 times and know you will be at 7. Count - clicks from there. Or vice versa by hitting - 14 times to get to 0 and then + to go up from there.

IIRC when I had a 3.5 inch cluster the number showed on the 3.5 display momentarily while adjusting the gain.

I haven't adjusted my gain for a few years but I'm 99% sure it goes up to 10, not 7.

Edit: Yup, 10

 

[chri5k]

I corrected my original post so we don't leave bad info here. Thanks!

 

[RVGuy]

I corrected my original post so we don't leave bad info here. Thanks!

It's not really a setting you mess with often so it's easy to forget the particulars!

I have mine at 6.5 and I don't think I've moved it for years now.

 

[jjyergler]

Thanks for the info. I don't have "trailer tow" in my cluster. Maybe I didn't set it up in Alpha OBD correctly. I'll go back and double check.

 

[jjyergler]

Ok, I figured it out. In Alpha OBD, there are three trailer brake selections in the CSM section. All three have to be enabled, which I did. There is also one in the "P/T Chassis Net section IBTM/HWM integrated trailer brake" section. I had not enabled that. That apparently is what turns on the "trailer tow" page on the standard cluster EVIC which tells you what trailer you are towing (of those you named) what kind of brakes, the gain setting, and a real-time bar graph of your trailer brake gain as you apply the brakes.

Thanks for all the responses, but this shows that a careful reading of the "known working settings" in the Alpha OBD thread is important.