I am having trouble with my trailer brakes and trailer wiring. I have a draw-tite "activator" that came with the truck when I bought it. I don't know if this is the right place to post this question.

First the brakes. when I apply the brakes the trailer brakes lock up. What I mean by this is even if I touch the brakes just enough to turn on the brake lamps the trailer brakes lock up. It is like I don't have any variable brake ability, it is just on or off. When I manually activate the brakes on the controller they work through a range just fine.

Wiring issues as follows. I have a 6 pin adapter on my truck right now. I have mapped out what pin does what and I am getting good line voltage through the pins. When I plug into the trailer I either get a quick flash or nothing at all for turn signals. No running lights. I know its no the trailer because it worked on my last truck

 

If it worked before and not now then there must be sort somewhere or the wires on this new 6 pin don't match the wires on the trailer. Trailer wiring issues are frustrating some times I've done My fair share for a company fleet and My own, most times if they where both fine before then look for a short or mismatched wire.

 

This is the first time I have used the trailer brakes on this truck. I'm not sure exactly how a brake controller work. I thought they apply a variable amount of braking depending on how hard the pedal is depressed. On newer trucks I believe this is accomplished through the factory wiring with pedal position sensors. The problem I am having is that I can't find any information on our 1st gens.

 

You have adjusted the controller down to minimum haven't you?
Here are the instructions fro the Activator.
http://p.hostingprod.com/@drawtite.com/N5100.pdf

Sounds like you may have some wires crossed either on the truck plug or in the adaptor. I had one of those adaptors years ago and it was built so you could switch some of the pin functions inside it.

 

Happened to me one time. It was a bad brake control. Bought another new one and never had trouble again.

 

Did YOU install the brake controller? First, I would make sure that the brake controller activation wire that runs from the brake pedal switch to the brake controller, (usually red in color), is connected to the correct wire on the brake pedal and/or controller. After that, I would put a test light in the blue output wire of the brake controller, (and right up near the controller), to see if it is putting out variable power when the brake pedal is pushed. If it isn't, it's either adjusted wrong or junque.

I'll guaranty that's a ground issue, probably on the truck but possibly on the trailer too. You lost the ground connection somewhere.

MOST brake controllers work this way; Proportional brake controllers use a pendulum to detect changes in the tow vehicle's speed. When on a level surface, the pendulum in a brake controller is pointing down. As the towing vehicle moves forward, the pendulum swings toward the back of the vehicle. As soon as the momentum of the vehicle slows due to braking action, the pendulum swings forward. Depending on how far forward the pendulum swings forward, the brake controller sends a corresponding degree of power to the trailer's brakes.

 

I think this might be it. I tried towing again and now the manual control gives me a variable braking half of the time and the other half of the time a full lock right away.

I didn't install the controller but I checked the wiring and it looks to be right. I will check one last time with a volt meter instead of a bulb to see if I am getting any variable voltage.

As far as the ground issue I will look into it.


Thanks for all the help!

 

I have tried all adjustments. Thanks for the instruction link.

 

Do not discount a problem with the trailer. Find another truck to connect it to, and see if it acts right on the other truck. I had my trailer, which always worked great since I fixed the wiring when I bought it, but when connected to Dad's truck it acted quite strangely. I attributed it to Dad's truck wiring, since he had just changed the plug to a 7 pin. When I go the trailer back I found that it acted weird on my truck also. In the end, I found that one of the light pigtails had been ripped out and somehow one of the wires got shoved into another connector, causing feedback through the system, even causing weird behavior in the truck lights.
I have also had experiences like Chalkwa mentioned, with grounds, another big possibility.
Point is, verify before you say the trailer is OK.
I prefer the Tekonsha Prodigy, for a progressive controller.

Chris

 

Is the adapter home made one or a store bought adapter. Could be bad wiring or a short there too.

I also have the prodigy and it works very well.

 

Some cheaper brake controllers go bad over time/wear out. I bought a P3 and it is awesome, bought 3 more for other trucks.

Id do what was suggested above. Try another truck, if it acts normal, then it is your truck/wiring/controlller.