I just traded my '04 Baby in on an '05 3500 dually for tow ability plus losing about 62k miles so I thought it was a good trade. When I plugged my trailer in it burned up my break-a-way switch. I didn't notice at first. So I started to wire a plug in the bed and noticed the wiring was not right. When I checked it out I found the brake wire and the trailer battery wire were in the wrong place, or so I assumed since the spot where brake wire was supposed to be was hot and the spot where the hot wire was supposed to be was not.

My cousin and I pulled all the wires out of the factory recepticle and wired them back what we thought was right. All my tail, park, brake, and turn signal lights work but no power to the inside of the 5th wheel and no brakes. I can test with a Fluke tester and everything tests right. The wire color is wrong and if I wire it to Dodge specs then my brake and hot wire are backwards again. The way it is wired right now the hot wire shows 12 volts or 14 with the truck running but, will not light up a test light. Doesn't make any sense to me.

Anyone run into anything like this? Anyone give some help, please?

 

Poor connection somewhere. It has enough current to show the meter, but when you put a load on it ( i.e. test light ) it wont power it up. Also make sure you have a good ground on the test light.

 

do any lights work on the trailer, pk lights brake lights, if not then you may have a bad ground. Are you testing at the back of truck without trailer or with trailer. http://www.etrailer.com/faq/wiring.aspx

 

Also there is fuses under the hood for the Trailer brakes, and I think it also feeds the 12 supply to the trailer as well. Pretty sure it is a 40A. Wierd fuse, and not all parts stores have them.

 

Thanks. I have tried with and without the trailer. According to e-trailer my wires are reversed right to left but according to the recepticle which is Pollak etrailer is backwards. The blue wire is supposed to be brakes from factory and I checked the wiring on another Dodge just to be sure. My blue wire is hot though and the hot wire is not. Red with black stripe or black with red stripe on the ones I have looked at. Oh yeah, one more thing. My brakes actually work, just not right. A wire is crossed somewhere just not sure where to start looking. Brakes lock up on trailer wired one way or don't work at all the other way. I finally got them to work by bypassing my new breakaway switch, then when I applied the brakes my trailer inside lights flickered. Something is crossed. I am assuming no one has messed with the wiring and it had to be wrong from the factory. I haven't had time to take it to the Dodge house and I have to pull my trailer again before I will have a chance to do so.

 

without trailer, blue wire should not have any voltage on it until brake controller is active. 7 o'clock position(bottom left). 11 o'clock(top right) is the 12v supply and should have 12v on it key on; if not check fuse under the hood.

 

According to the e-trailer site posted that is correct and I will try and see if that fixes my problem. According to the diagram on the cover of the recepticle that would be backwards left/right. So I am apparently backwards on my wires I hope it is as simple as that. I appreciate all the help. I work out in BFE and live in my trailer while at work. It has been a royal pain since trying to pull it with this new truck. Thank again everybody.

 

best way to do this IMO is make sure that the truck is wired up properly first, according to link supplied, I checked another site and it is correct. Once you are sure the truck is wired right then move on to the trailer, or else you will be chasing your tail.

 

Yeah, I know I never had any problems with the trailer until I got the new(used) truck. I hooked the trailer up to a friends truck and it worked fine so I a m pretty sure it's the truck which is why I been so frustrated. Thanks again.

 

Most of the pics by e-trailer are looking at the back of the plug. Thi pic on the pollack plug is looking into it. That's probabaly where they got mixed up at.

 

When I first hooked up the GN I made to the '05, the lights didn't work right and the Prodigy was inert; so I tested the truck's 7-way pin-outs and rewired the GN's plug appropriately...

 

When I purchased my trailer last spring, the dealer said lets check out the lights and brakes, said that he had been having trouble with late model Dodge trucks not being wired right. What he said that he did to fix the problem was cut the ground wire in the trailer harness. Not quite sure of the fix but I do not that poor grounds cause problems, mine worked right, so I didn't get the opportunity to experience his electrical skills.

 

bogartin, my apologies , just went out and verified on my truck, as vzdude said the diagrams are from looking at the back of the plug. so brake is 5 o'clock(bottom right) and +12v is 1 o'clock(top right).

 

Mine is wired right at the plug. So somewhere else on the truck something has to be crossed. I work all day and haven't had much time to look at it. Been rainin' and everywhere is muddy on top of that. I may have to break down and take a few days off and go to the dealer.