Hardwiring a Brake Controller from Scratch on a 2007 Ford Explorer  

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The blue wire for the electric trailer brakes will not be at the rear of the vehicle. Even if you have the port for the brake controller, the blue wire for the electric brakes terminates somewhere between the port and the rear of the vehicle. Ford has done this on a lot of trucks as has Dodge. Ford might know, but we have always just explained how to hardwire a brake controller instead of playing hide and seek with that missing wire!

So, to hardwire the brake controller and add a 6-Way, you will need a brake controller and an ETBC6 installation kit. You start by connecting the 4-flat you have into the ETBC6. Next, ground the white wire to the frame or existing ground point. Now you can splice the two wires on the included duplex cable to the red and blue wires on the ETBC6.

Splice the black wire to the ETBC6 red wire and the white wire to the blue wire. Route the duplex cable under the vehicle, to the engine compartment. Be sure to avoid any areas that might pinch or burn the cable. Now under the hood, separate the two wires. The black wire will get routed to the positive battery terminal via a 40 amp breaker you will need to mount somewhere near the battery. The white wire gets routed through the firewall, under the dash to where you mount the brake controller. This wire then attaches to the blue wire on the brake controller.

Now you can finish wiring the brake controller. Splice some wire to the brake controllers white wire and route it through the firewall and to the negative battery terminal. Next, attach some wire to the brake controller black wire and route it through the firewall and to the positive battery terminal via a 20- or 30-amp breaker you mount near the battery (see brake controller instructions for which breaker to use). The last connection is the brake controller red wire. Using a circuit tester like # PTW2993, find the wire on the stoplight switch above the brake pedal, that carries a signal ONLY when the brake pedal is pressed. After this connection you will be finished.

I have included a link on wiring a brake controller from scratch that has a little more detail and a link to the brake controller instructions for # 90195.

expert reply by: Michael H

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