Do etrailer Electric Trailer Brakes have Specific Power and Ground Wires

Question:

My old break sets had a blackpos and whiteneg and now the new ones from etrailer have a double blue...is there a pos neg choice or doesnt it matter? The reason I ask is I installed new LED tail lights back to my truck thru a 4 pin connector...my traler breaks are on a seperate dbl. wire lead back to the break control box..plug in sep. the lights worked, then the breaks..but with BOTH plugged in it blows the LED lights out. Any ideas?

asked by: Ralph A

Helpful Expert Reply:

The brake magnets on etrailer electric brakes such as # AKEBRK-35L are not polarity sensitive which means either wire can be power and either can be ground.

The trailer brakes and brake lights should be on separate circuits. It sounds like that is how you have it but there must be a short somewhere because the brake lights and brakes are on separate circuits. The draw of the brake magnets, if the source of the short, is much higher than what the LED lights are rated for so that could explain what happened to them.

expert reply by: Michael H