Maxbrake

[Ronbo]

If your brake comtroller bites the dust you can still stop. After all that is one of the reasons we drive with a HDT. I was pricing a Hayes and actually found one. I liked the information o read about the direclink. I have had one problem where my screen went dark. I called direclink and they stated they had received a batch of bad screens. To send it in and they would take care of it. They sent me emails every couple days with updates. It will operate without the controller, just unable to change settings on the fly. Great customer service.

[phoenix2013]

Not that I'm trying to start a company or anything but curious. 1. For you electronic whizzes, how hard would it be to reverse engineer the Maxbrake? 2. Since the company no longer exists is it still intellectual property or proprietary? I have a Maxbrake and love it but not repairable to my knowledge so reason for questions. Mine's still working fine. Thought someone might be able to repair in event of breakdown (uhmm, David, Henry, RandyA?).

 

Carl, there is no need to reverse engineer anything.

 

 

 

 

Friend of mine (he did the software) and I (I did the hardware) designed the predecessor to Maxbrake and Brake Smart before those companies did the same thing and went bust. About 15 years ago. We built few pre-production models and I installed one in the MDT I had then. Worked like charm. I went to few Rallies and conventions tried to peddle it, nobody would pay $400 bucks for it when they could buy piece of crap Tekonsha for sixty. So I came to a wise decision, "this cheap ass RV crowd is not ready for it so quit wasting time and money trying to promote it". When the Brake Smart came out few years later I almost had a proverbial brick movement, but came to a conclusion that another engineer came out with a same design and they didn't reverse engineered my unit because there were none out there, except the one in my truck.

 

 

Henry will tell you that you need to order like 1000 circuit boards to get a price anywhere reasonable. Maxbrake made 1000 units and it took over 6 years to sell them. Not a very good turnover for the investment which is why there wasn't a second production run.

 

To address what Mark is saying, both Maxbrake and Brake Smart miscalculated and probably had people around them who were profoundly unhappy. If Maxbrake sold 1000 units over a period of six years I would consider this a very successful run of that product. If I was selling couple hundred unit of the Sensorbrake per year I would be styling and you guys would still be buying these from me. You have to be very real about low volume products, Dave Dixon might have something to add here. $100,000 dollars per year in any product sales is real money, but you can't run a "real" company on that, You can't have overhead such as production facility, or lawyers, accountants, stockroom people, shipping people, outside salesman, or investors and partners expecting to take it the company eventually public and making millions.

 

Case in point, Jackalopee, which comes nowhere near $100K per year.

 

 

You are looking at the entire manufacturing "facility" producing Jackalopee. The testing and engineering facility is on the shelf above the bench (there electronic equipment there). Above that on the wall are shelves which represent stockroom and "inventory control", Under the bench in the drawers is manufacturing equipment and in the bottom drawer there are pendaflexes containing engineering documentation, sales information and customer data.

The footprint of the entire Jackalopee Corporation is about 36 square feet in the corner of my garage.

Incidentally, on the bench you see an assembled Sensorbrake and in the middle a lot of 75 Jackalopee printed circuit boards just received from China. If Maxbrake went for 1,000 boards to "get a good price" that was an error in judgement and lack of understanding of the market. Sitting on an inventory for six years is painful. I could easily build 200 Sensorbrakes per year in the "same facility" that currently produces Jackalopees although I would anticipate that stockroom and inventory control would require additional square footage.

 

OK on the more serious matter, people who develop complex products upon review of the Sensorbrake estimated that it took an investment of between $100-150K to bring it to this pre-production stage. In real money we (or actually our company, my buddy and I were Vice-Presidents) invested under $20K, but that doesn't count the time he and I spent on engineering it, which at our rates then was easily worth $100K. The company had good cash cows and products bringing millions per year, this was a fun projects concocted by two Vice Presidents so nobody squawked. If it turned into a success I would probably assign one assembly person and one technician to manufacture it and dedicate 36 to it square feet to it on our manufacturing floor. No way this product would support a company but it would add a little cash flow to the millions we were already making.

 

I always suspected that both Smart Brake and Maxbrake invested a lot into developing these products and the profits from annual sales meant that ROI was in the toilet, making people who put up the money unhappy. And if they tried to run a standalone companies with these (without other cash cows) they were doomed.

 

So why am I not manufacturing these? The design has a pic microprocessor which is now 15 years old and either obsolete or close to it The code needs to be ported to a newer device. My friend who wrote the code unfortunately passed away few year back. Any pic machine language types out there?

[hone eagle]

If you build one do this test .Hold it on for 30 minutes .

Why ?

Because thats what toasted mine ,waiting at border crossings you are not allowed to set your brakes.

Big sign

DO NOT SET BRAKES

- homeland security-

The very first time I took it through smoke came out of it after about 10 minutes ,next time turned down the gain to zero but the damage may have bin done, more smoke.

Kevin/flapper resoldiered the heat sinks that melted off and were rattling around in there ,and I unplugged it as I came to the border.......... until I forgot ...... more smoke , you would think by now there was no more smoke to give sigh.

Ordered a directlink and its been no trouble at all ,and the cab doesn't smell like henrys work bench anymore

[rickeieio]

The BluDot isn't as expensive as many seem to think. I have here the invoice from last week, of $554.xx for our system. More than the average electronic brake controller? Yes, after experiencing a controller failure, I'm removing that from the equation.

 

So, some "just for fun" math: One MaxBrake - $450, one cheap replacement from NAPA - $200 (installed), one set of tires toasted by failed controller - $900. One day lost chasing new tires and controller - priceless. Total of $1550 v. $550 for the BluDot.

[SuiteSuccess]

Ok folks, I'm sorry I posted the original question because we are totally de-railed. Read the post #1. I am not looking to have a company created to re-manufacture the MaxBrake under a different name, I am not questioning whether MaxBrake is better than Prodigy is better than Hayes is better than BlueDot is better than DirecLink. I was just simply curious whether a MaxBrake could be repaired with readily available items and electronics knowledge. I like mine and I wouldn't junk it for any of the above if it was repairable. Money is not the issue. Guess MY CURIOSITY killed this cat. As Georgia said, I'm getting old so sometimes I just have questions I would like to see debated and that gives me information. Thanks to the folks that discussed their issues with their controllers. That's info I can file away.

[Alie&Jim's Carrilite]

Carl, I would think that the individual parts for the Max are available somewhere. Somewhere being the big question. Unless the board itself melts, the parts attached to it could be replaced. The issue would be finding the parts and finding them in small quantities.

[SuiteSuccess]

HI CarlI have a brand new unit I have never installed. I might be convinced to part with it.roadfitter

Will discuss with you at the ECR since I'm already wired up for one. Bring it with you "just in case". BTW we are having a seminar at the ECR that outlines the DirecLink concept. Should be good info and may be the way I go in the future if my controller smokes.

[DamianF]

A Hayes controller can be had for $225.00 presently, and they have a service life as far as I can tell from my experience. I replaced my original Hayes after 12 years of service and added a second for double towing trailers, plus added a third to my parts storage on the truck because they're affordable. I installed the first Hayes because the original Brakesmart controller failed after running rough roads. It had a service life as well, although RandyA repaired it for his own use. I must be a throwback because I prefer mechanical or electro-mechanical over electronic solutions to achieve an end. The Hayes fit the genre of my truck better than an electronic brake controller. I'm not a purist though, I do have a CB radio and a yet to be installed new Pioneer AM/FM radio. I splurged, it has a CD player included. Each to their own here I believe, and I try to be respectful of that and have tolerance for those that can't appreciate a 1983 KW.

[RickS]

I moved my Mabrake from my MDT to the new truck and really like the controller. We need to find someone to make a few on the corner of their bench somewhere. I remember hearing that the Directlink won't work with the new Volvo's like mine but not 100% sure of that.

[Big5er]

A Hayes is running $275 and a DirecLink around $425 or a $170 spread. When they were available, MaxBrakes were a $450 system, not two for the price of a DirecLink. There was a time when the Hayes was $150. I guess Hayes figured the market and decided to make some more money.

According to Direclinks web page the price (depending on model) is either $469 or $519.

Hayes doesn't sell direct but can easily be found online, as Damian pointed out, for $225.

 

That's a spread of $244 or $294. Either way, it it is more than double. While I do not travel fulltime like others here, my Hayes has lasted 7 years and a little over 40,000 miles. Nothing is bullet proof, but I stand by my original statement: "I'm not willing to shell out the dollars for a Direclink when my Hayes was half the price and works fine.".

 

It's sad that you think that I should be ashamed since it is (now) only 0.17% of the cost of my truck, but I'm not. I can buy a lot of Dr. Pepper for $244

 

Where's Dolley? I'm sure there is some anecdotal story in all of this.

[Mark and Dale Bruss]

Big5er, you need to lighten up. You started with

 

 

Direclink may be the best thing since sliced bread, but for what it costs, you could have bought two MaxBrakes.

As I was the first buyer of a MaxBrke for an HDT, I can tell you the price of the Controller plus the adapter kit was $450. In the ballpark of a DirecLink. And I had a BrakeSmart which was also $450 for the system. So all the electronics controllers have been in the same ballpark pricewise.

 

My post "So for a typical rig, an investment of 0.3% for a brake controller is too much? Poor decision process there" was not a shot at Hayes. It was a post that even if you spent the most you could for a controller, it is a very small portion of you rig investment. CrazyCooter even agreed,

 

But somehow you took this as a personal shot because you use a Hayes controller. If you have sat thru any of my Trailer Brake presentations, the only controllers I said to stay away from were the Prodigy type of inertial controllers.

 

Can't help you took offense because it was in your eyes only,

[Alie&Jim's Carrilite]

I currently have a Hayes and it is our 2nd one in less than 2 years. If the current Hayes decides to lose its smoke, I'll money up and go with a Direct Link. I've recently been able to "Play" with a Direct Link and it seems to be better assembled, but it is an electronic controller vs the Hayes air actuated.

[CrazyCooter]

I also have a Hayes that works fine now that I took it apart a fine tuned some stuff.......I'd still spend the money if it was safer.

[GeorgiaHybrid]

I moved my Mabrake from my MDT to the new truck and really like the controller. We need to find someone to make a few on the corner of their bench somewhere. I remember hearing that the Directlink won't work with the new Volvo's like mine but not 100% sure of that.

 

Rick, you can buy scrap a beer the next time you see him, he worked with Alan at Direclink for almost 2 months (I was in on the emails) to get the new 2017 green plug going and the other HDT's from the early 2000's and up working with their current interface. As far as I know, they will work with Freightliner, Western Star, Mack, Volvo, Peterbilt, Kenworth and yes, even International.

[noteven]

erased

[alan0043]

Hi Carl,

 

I think the best thing that you can do is find a electrical schematic for the MaxBrake. If you have the schematic for someone that has a electronic testing back round, you would be helping them figure out what components that need to be tested. The schematic is like a road map. I can remember when I was working in the lab and a piece of equipment in the lab would brake down, one of the first things that I was asked by the electrician or technician was, where are the prints for the schematics.

 

Best of luck,

Al