Do You Need A Trailer Brake Controller When Towing a Trailer With Electric Brakes on 1997 GMC Sierra

Question:

Greg answered my question on where to connect the Orange wire to the fuse box and the Bkue wire to the controller box. Do I actually need the brake controller to pull a trailer with electric brakes or can I just connect the Orange wire and leave the Blue wire tucked away? I have a 1997 GMC Sierra K1500 Z71 package What type of brake controller do I need to pull a 16’ double axle electric brake trailer?

asked by: Dave

Expert Reply:

If your trailer was constructed with electric brakes you will need a brake controller to use those brakes. We do have a Curt Echo # C51180 which will not require the additional wiring for the brake controller. This means you can leave the blue wire disconnected in your engine compartment. The Curt Echo will allow you to control up to 2 braking axles from your smart phone using the Curt Echo app. It gets its power from the charge line and uses the brake lights to determine when the brake lights are used. Because of this you are not able to use the hazard lights on your vehicle with this as it can confuse the controller.

If you want to use a wired controller the Tekonsha Prodigy P3 # 90195 is one of my favorite controllers. It uses an easy to read LCD screen to tell you more information about the settings which are easy to understand. It also has a diagnostic mode which helps you to troubleshoot issues with trailer brakes.

expert reply by: Bud M