Brake Controller Installed on 2007 Chrysler Pacifica Shorted Out, Causing Dash Warning Lights

Question:

I have had the P3 installed in my 2007 Chrysler Pacifica for about 6 months now and it has worked flawlessly. We have towed a pop up trailer for probably 5000 miles with it. This morning because of snow and cold, I drove the Pacifica instead of my usual car to work. To see what the display would show without a trailer hooked up I pushed the lever on the bottom of the controller that activates the trailer brakes. The display turned red and showed no trailer connected and then started to smoke and had an electrical burning smell. I couldnt find a place to pull over immediately and had to wait about 30 seconds till I could disconnect it. When I finally did the unit was very hot and the cars ABS, traction control and AWD lights were all on. The wiring to the unit did not feel as hot as the unit. Once at work I plugged the unit back in and it showed a green screen with no brakes detected and all the interior lights came on in the car and the screen in the car said the tailgate was up, which it wasnt. I used a brake controller installation kit that I also purchased from etrailer to install the controller. Any ideas that would cause this type of behavior?

asked by: Jeff O

Helpful Expert Reply:

I spoke with my buddy in the Tech Services Department at Tekonsha, who tells me that he suspects that when the controller was installed, it was connected to the wrong brake stoplamp switch. It's possible that the wire it's hooked up to allowed the controller to work properly over the last six months, if you haven't used the manual brake switch before. The red wire of the brake controller should be tapped into the green/white striped wire that exits the brake stoplamp switch.

When the manual brake switch is used, it sends 12volts into the stoplamp switch to activate the vehicle's (and the trailer's) brake lamps. If the controller's been miswired, it's sending 12 volts into the wrong circuit which caused the controller's internal relay to fuse. When the relay fused, the controller continues sending voltage down that wire into the vehicle, which would explain all the warning lights.

The smoking indicates that the brake controller shorted out internally, so the controller should be replaced.

expert reply by: Mike L