brake controller question

[jimijam19K]

OK this is going to sound stupid and it probably is but the Tekonsha brake contoller in my tow rig was wired by the PO. I've only used it once so far (last summer, in town) and it seemed to work fine then, so I'm not sure what's normal.

#1 Does power to the controller need to be battery hot or can it be switched? Mine is currently battery hot.

leading to...

#2 The blue feed wire leaving the contoller to the 7-way is battery hot as well. I thought that wire would only have power when the brakes are being applied.

Am I missing something or is the controller fried?

TIA

 

[zukkev]

Sounds to me like the controller is fried....yes the black wire on the controller is B+, white wire is GND, red wire is 'BRAKE SENSE'(signal the controller needs to see the truck's brakes are being applied), and finally the blue wire is the 'TRAILER BRAKE OUTPUT' (signal going back to the trailer when the brakes are applied)---there should not be power there, unless the brakes are being applied...now, if you test this circuit with a test light, hook the clip to a good ground, and backprobe the blue wire coming out of the controller.The light bulb should dimly light up only when either the truck brakes are applied, or using the manual lever on the controller to apply the trailer brakes...

 

[jimijam19K]

You replied while I was editing but no biggie,

I was putting a camper on for the first time this weekend and the camper wiring was wacky, requiring a re-wire. I wonder if it shorted the controller and now it's stuck in the "on" position. I have 12VDC at the brake pin in both 7-way receptcles (bed & reciever) as well as the controller splice in. I was just on Tekonsha's web site and they sell a test set, I'll call some of the local hitch & trailer outfits and see if someone can run a check on it.

 

[zukkev]

Is it the Voyager, or Prodigy???
Another quick test to see if there's a short to power on the truck----clip the blue wire, leaving enough room (a few inches off the controller) to splice back together; then test for power at the blue wire leaving the controller---if you do, it's toast. If you don't, and when you apply the brakes it does light dimly (see previous post), then the problem is on the truck...

 

[jimijam19K]

That's so simple a check it's brilliant!

 

[zukkev]

Brake controllers aren't rocket science---pretty much a lil box that takes a signal in, and sends a signal out if commanded to; of course the higher end ones have lots of bells and whistles....