How To Wire Brakes From Trailer To 2004 Honda Odyssey

Question:

I have a 2004 Honda Odyssey that has a 4-way flat wiring connector. I purchased a Draw-tite part #20321 to connect the van to my trailers 7-way plug. Do you have any wiring diagrams for wiring in the trailer brakes from the van to the draw-tite hitch? I want the trailer brakes to work. Thanks

asked by: Doug

Expert Reply:

To activate and control the brakes on your trailer you will need to install a brake controller and 7-way connector on your 2004 Honda Odyssey.

For a brake controller, I would recommend the Tekonsha Prodigy P2 Brake Controller, part # 90885, which is a proportional brake controller. A proportional brake controller sends power to the trailer brakes in proportion to the brake force applied to your vehicle.

To install the Prodigy P2 Brake Controller, you will first need to install the Brake Controller 7 and 4 Way Installation Kit, part # ETBC7. First you will begin by mounting the included bracket to the bumper or hitch of your vehicle and mount the 7-way connector into the bracket. Then, plug the 4-way on your vehicle into the 4-way adapter plug on the 7-way connector. For the wiring, the White wire coming out of the 7-way is the ground wire, and should be attached to the vehicles frame. The Purple wire is for reverse lights, and can be taped off and tied out of the way if there are not reverse lights on your trailer. The Blue wire coming out of the back of the 7-way will be connected to the white wire that is inside of the gray duplex wire and will be ran up and connected to the blue wire coming out of your brake controller. The black wire coming out of the 7-way will be connected to the black wire inside the gray duplex wire and will be ran to the engine bay to a 40 amp circuit breaker which should then be connected to the positive terminal on the battery. I would recommend wrapping all the connections that were made with connectors with electrical tape.

After wiring part # ETBC7, you can now install your brake controller. You will want to mount the brake controller to where it can easily be reached by the driver of the vehicle. To wire, the White wire on the brake controller will need to be ran to the negative battery terminal. The Black wire will run to a 20- or 30-amp circuit breaker, depending on what is specified in the instructions of the brake controller, and then attached to the positive battery terminal. The Red wire will be attached to the stop light wire on the brake switch. To find this wire you will need to use a circuit tester, part # PTW2993. The Red wire needs to attach to the wire that only has a signal when the brake pedal is activated. The Blue wire will connect to the White wire that is inside the Gray Duplex wire.

I have linked instructions for the Tekonsha Prodigy P2 Brake Controller, a video installation of a brake controller on a 2009 Honda Odyssey and an FAQ on Brake Controller Installation that you may find as a good reference.