Should Blown Trailer Taillight Fuse Affect Brake Controller Performance
Question:
2014 Ram 1500. Unit installed by Camper World. Worked perfectly. Hooked up to my 2015 Autumn Ridge 289BHS and discovered a blown out tail light while checking the marker lights. Replaced the bad bulb, then checked stop/turn and they were not working on the trailer. All the Ram fuses are OK. With a test light stop/turn is not working on the truck plug. Disconnected the adapter. Now with the test light, stop/turn OK at the factory trailer plug. I am guessing the blown lamp had a crossed filament and killed something in the Prodigy P2 or the Adapter for Ram Cal. compliant?? Replace just the Adapter because now I have stop/turn and everything else at the factory pug? Have you guys seen this problem before? At least now I know if it ever happens again, just bypass the adapter?? How do I keep it from happening again? Or is the blown lamp and bad adapter at the same time, just coincidental?
asked by: Dave H
Expert Reply:
The circuits related to your brake controller and the trailer lighting are actually totally separate. If you are blowing trailer lighting fuses on your truck the brake controller shouldn't be affected at all. The only circuit they may share is the ground circuit on the trailer's wiring.
Testing the brake controller is fairly easy. Sever the blue brake output wire near the brake controller leaving enough room to reconnect it and then apply the manual slide. Using a circuit tester like part # PTW2993, you should get output to the controller side of the wire you severed. If the manual slide activates the trailer brake output wire properly, try the brake pedal. If the brake pedal activates the brake output properly also then the problem is farther back either in the vehicle wiring or on the trailer.
If either the brake pedal or the manual slide are not functioning properly you will need to test the wires going into the brake controller. Make sure you have power entering the brake controller on the black wire. On the red wire you will only want power when the brake pedal is pressed.
If there is power on the red wire before the brake pedal is pressed you have connected the red wire from the brake controller to the wrong circuit. You would then need to find the brake switch wire that has power ONLY when the brake pedal is activated.
If these connections check out and the brake controller is properly grounded then there is possibly a problem inside the brake controller.
I am including a link to a video that will show you how to test the wiring on a brake controller.
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