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Troubleshooting Er Code on Activator Brake Controller on 2001 Dodge Ram Pickup  

Question:

Hey there. Ive read just about every question here and around the Inter Web. The truck came with a used reese controller. Could not locate a blue brake wire after it went into the firewall and to the harness near front driver wheel well. I have run a wire from there by passing the harness straight to the plug. I have installed the reese T connector at the taillights into a 7 flat pin plug Blue to blue, white to white, brown to brown, green to green right signal and yellow to red left signal.there is no allotted spot labeled for yellow! Where do I put the stop light wire from the brake controller? Trailer end there is power at the black wire that goes to both taillights but I have nothing to its corresponding post on the truck side. The tail lights come on with the lights, brake lights come on with pedal and manual controller and signals work although marker lights do not. I have brand new brakes installed with clean grounded wires. Driving the trailer around slowly I get a number reading while manually pressing and if I depress it all the way in any setting I get an ER and it does not seem to slow the wheels at any time. Using the brake pedal I always get an ER. I tested the wires behind the controller and all light up circuit tester as they should. I have tired every combo of wires and all connections and wires are clean, no fray or rust and not touching any other or metal. Could it just be the controller!? Sorry for the lengthy explanation Please ANY advice is appreciated! Thanks

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Expert Reply:

The Er display code means that there is an internal problem with the brake controller itself. If you had miswired the connector you would be getting a blank or 2.0 reading on the display. I've provided a couple of wiring diagrams which may be helpful. But, I suspect you will need to replace the controller.

The used brake controller you mentioned, # 5504 is a time-delayed controller. With a time-delayed controller there is a delay between the time that you initially apply the brakes in your truck and the time the controller reaches maximum power output to the trailers brakes. I recommend replacing the brake controller with a proportional controller like the Tekonsha Prodigy P3, # 90195. Proportional controllers sense how the tow vehicle is slowing or stopping and apply the trailer's brakes with the same intensity simultaneously.

If your 7-way connection was factory-installed, you should be able to use the Dodge brake controller adapter # 3020-P to install the Prodigy. If you've installed the 7-way yourself, which it sounds like, you should be able to just switch out the faulty controller since you've already run the wires. I've provided some helpful links to articles on brake controller installation and troubleshooting which should be helpful.

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Amy W
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