Ok heres the deal:
I'm FINALLY wiring up for trailer lights and brakes, after my original post requesting help a year ago! I think I've got most of the lights figured out, but not the trailer brake.
The unit is a Draw-tite Activator II, p/n 5500. It has 4 wires, ground, power, trailer connection and stop light. The instructions say the stop light wire ties into the trucks stop light, for obvious reasons. My only question is this: which wire is my stop light wire? It says to plug into the cold side, if that helps.

Thanks, Cal

 

Somewhere about the brake-pedal lever, you will find the brake-light-switch.

There will be two wires to this switch, one is all-the-time HOT, the other is only HOT when the brake-pedal is pushed far enough to work the switch; that one is the "COLD" side of the brake-light-switch.

The wire that connects there is the trigger-wire that tells the controller that you have applied the brakes.

It also should light the brake-lights when the controller is operated manually.



Be sure and wire the trailer tail-lights/markers on a switch/circuit to themselves; DO NOT tap into the trucks parking-lamp/tail-light wiring to power the trailer.

 

I think it's convenient to have the trailer brakes pulse when I signal, it helps me slow down for the turn.

 

Many brake-controllers require a "pulse-eliminator" be spliced ahead of the controller to fix that.


It could be included in the controller, but they had rather get you for another twelve bucks.

 

bearkiller, could I ask a huge favor of you? Do you have some sort of diagram drawn up that I could look at, showing how to set up all this? I understand the basic concepts, but am by no means an electrician, so I need visuals to show me where to connect wires!

 

i thought only i had this problem....i feel better now

 

Sorry, the only diagram is printed inside my skull in some weird foreign language.


There ain't nothing to it; just do what I said in my first post and that will get the brake-controller actuater-wire connected.

Left and right turn-signal/brake-lights will need be tapped into easiest at the trucks tail-light pigtails; here is where a good test-light is necessary.


The trailer "markers", (tail-lights, running lights, parking lights) should ALWAYS be wired on a circuit entirely their own, with their own fuse(s) and BIG TOGGLE SWITCH---one that sounds like the hammer on a 45 coming back.


To accomplish this, tie a 12AWG wire, with in-line fuse, to the positive battery terminal; run this wire through the firewall, into the cab, to your BIG SWITCH; from the cold side of the switch, back through the firewall, down the truck-frame, to wherever the truck's end of the trailer-plug is.


Wired thus, the trailer marker-lights will not have any bearing whatsoever on the trucks lighting circuits.


Use plenty of solder and heat-shrink, so it will appear that you know what you are doing, none of those squeeze-together wire-biters or twisting wires together and black-tape mess.


Does any of this help ??

 

bearkiller, just PMed you, you can ignore it though cause you just answered my request!

 

Too late, I just PMed you nearly a twelve-page set of BearKiller's copy-righted instructions on trailer wiring.