MICROPROCESSOR-BASED CONTROL FOR TRAILER BRAKES

摘要

An electronic brake controller for controlling the brakes of a towed vehicle in response to commands from the towing vehicle. The controller implements a microcontroller (10) that works in conjunction with analog circuit technology. In a preferred embodiment, the brake controller includes an input circuit (16) for generating a brake level signal representing the braking force to be applied by the towed vehicle's brakes, a display circuit (22) including a plurality of indicator lights, a power switching circuit (24) adapted for coupling to the brakes of the towed vehicle and to the power supply of the towing vehicle, for selectively supplying power from the towing vehicle power supply to the brakes of the towed vehicle in response to a switching control signal supplied to a control input terminal, a current sensing circuit (26) for sensing a level of braking current supplied to the brakes of the towed vehicle through the power switching circuit (24), and for generating a current level signal representing the sensed level of braking current, and a microcontroller (10) for generating and supplying a switching control signal to the control input terminal of said power switching circuit (24) thereby causing the power switching circuit (24) to deliver a braking current to the brakes of the towed vehicle that is related to the brake level signal supplied to the microcontroller (10) by the input circuit (16), the microcontroller (10) illuminates one or more of the indicator lights of the display circuit (22) to indicate a relative level of braking of the towed vehicle brakes and controls one or more of the indicator lights to indicate that the towed vehicle brakes are or are not properly connected to the power switching circuit (24).