I was wondering if anyone here had some insite on a trailer brake issue that I am dealing with.
My brother in law picked up a dump trailer that he had planned on pulling behind 2004 Dodge 1500.
He picked up a simple Hoppy controller that I had offered to help him install on the truck.
The truck has a tow package and is prewired for a controller so I tied the controller into the 4 wire pig tail harness that came with the truck.

We noticed that one of the two wires at the axle of the trailer were cut.
We reconnected the wire and all brake lights to the trailer and truck quit working.
I cut the wire and the lights came back.
I tested the wire with my meter and it showed 14 volts with the controllers override switch pushed.
I pulled the wiring loose at the trailer axle and tied directly to the one brake and had the same problem.
We didn't have a way to pull the wheel at the time so that is as far as I went.
My BIL pulled the wheel and drum today and didn't find anything obvious.
We don't know the history of the trailer other than it is a 2006 dump bed trailer
I haven't heard of the electro magnets going bad but I was wondering if that could be the problem?
Any other idea's that it could be?
Thanks for the help
Ken

 

Check to see if the wires inside the brake hub have worn thru on the underside,you won,t see it unless you physically turn it over.This happened on my 2 yr old fiver.

 

Check the puck - - the magnet that runs on the disk inside the assembly. They wear and can short out.
Bob

 

Thanks for the help.
I just found out more info.
The truck is a 2007 1500 not a 2004 and the controller is a Hoppy impulse.
I went on their site and it doesn't show his truck being compatable. Maybe tail light wiring is different between the years?
He tested the brakes with everything hooked up and the controller does nothing when applying the brake pedal but the trailer brakes lock up when applying the override switch.
No lights show on the display when pressing the brake pedal but a 66 or 99 shows while applying the override switch.
My BIL is an hour away from me so it isn't easy for me to troubleshoot it from home.
Thanks, Ken

 

Found the issue. 2 wires were reversed "My bad"