Brake controller question

[CMcDonald]

Earlier this week I posted asking about how to hookup a trailer brake controller. Thanks for the answers. I went out and bought one with the wiring harness to connect it to the plug above the emergency brake. The selling dealer talked me into letting them install it for 44 dollars. I agreed because of what they warned me about. They said Dodge trucks dont have the "green wire" connected up to make the controller hot. I heard about this one time before from a friend of mine that has a 04 1500. When I got it home I saw what they did. I looks like a wire that runs from just in front of and below the driver side battery and comes out of the wiring harness. It then goes back into the cab through a firewall boot and looks as if it connected somewhere near the headlight switch. I have not looked close enough to tell yet. It seems to me that the wiring harness connection would give the brake controller power. It works properly. I checked it with a test light at the plug on the bumper. Any thoughts or info? Thanks-----

 

[JLovas]

Hmmmm... . Strange.



We have pretty similiar pickups, and I just pluged in my brake controller down by the emergency brake and it works just fine. So to answer your question, yes there is power in that brake controller wireing harness, at least there is on mine.

 

[jelag]

I have a 04, my son has a 04. 5, and I also own a 05 and there all 3500's. All 3 came with the harness and we connected that harness to the brake controller and plugged it into the wiring harness... . All works fine including the 12v hot lead to charge the trailer battery. I was surprised to find a backup light lead available also...



Jim

 

[RustyJC]

The 4 wires in the brake controller pigtail used to be +12VDC, -12VDC (ground), brake light signal and trailer brake output. The controller would draw its power from the two 12VDC leads, know that the truck's brakes were applied from the brake light signal (for those controllers that needed this signal), and send the trailer brake output back to the 7-pin connector via the trailer brake output lead.



Rusty

 

[InThinAir]

I am not sure which one you bought but I have a prodigy, and the install was plug and play, I have hauled a few thousand miles with it. No problems here. As soon as I hit the brake the unit senses it with/without trailer attached and comes on... So I assume it has power. Trailer places seem to always have a scam. A place that I was looking at horse trailers told me that dodge wiring was too small of guage to run a brake load through and the install would be $200.



But at least you only donated 44 bucks. Not bad.



---Doug

 

[bpenrod]

I hooked mine up with the pigtail provided and it works great. The only thing I have noticed is when driving with the cruise control on and manually hitting the brake controller it does not shut off the cruise. The truck does not see the brakes being applied from the controller. Other than that little quirk it works as it should.

 

[RustyJC]

The only thing I have noticed is when driving with the cruise control on and manually hitting the brake controller it does not shut off the cruise. The truck does not see the brakes being applied from the controller.

That's right - when you hit the manual control on the brake controller, you're applying the trailer brakes, NOT the truck brakes. Therefore, the cruise control shouldn't shut off.



Rusty

 

[bpenrod]

Makes sense, I just wasn't sure since it does turn the brake lights on. The cruise must get it's signal form the brake switch and the controller just taps into the wire for lights. It has never been a problem but something I noticed when I installed. Can't understand what the extra wire talked about above is for?????

 

[mbadger]

I have a prodigy trailer brake and it was plug-in and work. The wires are marked so my grandson could have hooked it up. I think you were took. Have a great day.

 

[JimBob24]

CMcDonald - I had heard that trucks that do not have the factory installed tow package still have the plug for a brake controller but the "hot" wire for the brake controller has to be installed, while trucks with the trailer tow package have this wire installed. HOWEVER, your sig shows that you have the tow package, so either they just failed to install that wire during assembly or something else is amiss. Like most of the others my truck with the tow package came ready to go.



Jim