Brakesmart trouble.

[JimKing]

I installed my new brakesmart controller last week. Took 1 hour. No sweat. Went for my first cruise Thursday. Works fantastic.



Coming home yesterday, I stopped for fuel and had to back up to get closer to the pump. Brakesmart started flashing warning messages, and was dinging like crazy. When I stopped it quieted down but I had no trailer brakes. Controller display said "short detected in trailer brakes" (or similar) so I moved to a open area and disconnected the batteries. 2 hours later I found nothing. I went over every connection, even opened the trailer connector looking for a short. Nada. .

I reconnected the batteries and it had fixed itself, looked normal, acted normal the last 100 miles home. I attributed it to a bad connection, somewhere. Got home and went to back in to my parking spot, Bingo. . It is putting it into reverse that makes the controller go wacko'. Spent 4 hours looking at every wire, connection, ground, fuse, relay. Voltages are correct. No shorts that I can detect. Put the Voyager back on and it works fine in reverse. Installed an external ground. Still does it.



There are 2 trailer connectors on the truck, stock and inside the bad. Been that way since January 2002. RV Dealer installed the second connector in the bed. Controller fails in both when truck is in reverse, WITH THE ENGINE RUNNING. . Thats right. . works fine when the engine is off. .



I made some changes to the settings for gain, turned communications on and off, reset it to default, nothing makes a difference.



Today I am going to try it on a different trailer.



Any ideas ?? I am open to just about any suggestion. .



I will get back to you with my findings. . TIA

 

[RustyJC]

The factory 7-pin connectors are prone to ingress of water, road grit, etc. I had a high resistance short in my factory receiver-mounted connector that kept the "trailer connected" LED on my Jordan glowing dimly - even when there was no trailer connected and the truck was shut off!! I suspect if the Brakesmart sees an applied voltage from the back-up lights (the center pin on the 7-pin connector) making its way to the brake output wire in the connector (in other words, the Brakesmart controller is being subject to a back-EMF condition), it will flag a short and protect itself by opening an internal protection relay, thus disabling the brake output circuit.



The fix for mine was to disassemble the 7-pin connector on the hitch receiver, flood everything with WD-40 to clean it out, pack it with dielectric grease to keep the grunge out and to reassemble it. No problems since.



Rusty

 

[JimKing]

I will try that right now. Tried another trailer, same result, so I can eliminate the towed vehicle as the source of the trouble. .



Assuming you are correct, it would also seem to resolve the question of WHY it only does this with the engine running. Voltage is much higher. .



Thanks

 

[jelag]

I have several trailer with electric brakes... and if you understand what's going on inside the backing plate when the brakes are applied as you go forward and reverse you'll think through the process and have a wire or magnet thats not connected like it should be... or wire at the backing plate... as you back up and apply the brakes everything in the backing plate shifts... . causes the problem and after you pull forward it pulls everything back where it belongs... . I'd be taking the wheels apart and checkng out the wiring at the magnets and these parts...



Jim

 

[Casey Balvert]

I agree wth Rusty. The first place I would look is in the tow vehicle connector. When corrosion gets going in there some interesting things can happen. I know that from personal experience. With the problem occuring with two trailers, the trouble is not likely in the trailer. Good luck.



Casey

 

[OTRPU]

Had one of my connectors, think it was on the Ram not sure, but the inside of the plug was full of green crap and shorting out. Took it apart and cleaned everything up, then coated with dielectric grease and reassembled. Seems to have solved my problem. Might wanna take a look at the plug, if nothing there pull the wheels and see what's going on there.



Cheers,

Steve J

 

[Fireman]

Jim,



This is just a shot in the dark, but since it only happens in reverse check your wire to the back-up lights.



Fireman

 

[Ramtough]

JIMKING - call BrakeSmart. They have experienced some difficulty with their controllers. I'm on my third. I think they have the bugs worked out. Their customer service is EXCELLENT. You can stop beating your head against the wall & get a live engineer from BrakeSmart on the line to help you diagnose your problem. If it is their unit, they'll replace it in a day or so.

 

[rweis]

BrakeSmart controller problem.



It is showing 68 psi brake pressure with zero pressure in the brake system. Therefore it has the brake light turned on because the controller thinks there is brake pressure.



Took the sensor off the hydraulic line - same condition



Took the electrical connector off the sensor - same condition



Stepped on the brakes when everything was connected - showed psi properly, but 68 psi with no brake pedal depression



Disconnected the controller - brake light out but would properly light when the brakes were pressurized.



Called BrakeSmart



They said they have had some component failures on the logic board that cause the above condition. Their manufacturer has found the problem and is manufacturing the new version of the controller board in the controller unit as fast as possible.



They very very willingly are going to ship a new unit as soon as they get product and will include a return label for my defective unit. Might be several weeks though. I will not be using the RV till the EOM so that is fine with me.



This reply is to iterate the problem, what they are going to do about it (again very willingly I might add) so those with a BrakeSmart might be aware of a potential problem.



Bob Weis

 

[Ramtough]

I had the same problem and they replaced my unit over a weekend. I have not had any more trouble with the new controller. The problem you have is related to a manufacturing problem related to the assembly of the circuit board. When this first happened to me, I thought my master cylinder was sticking or the pressure sending unit had gone bad.



Brake Smart's customer service is the best I've ever experienced. Not only do you get a human being on the phone, you usually get one of the engineers who can tell you anything you want to know about their system and what it is doing on your truck.

 

[RustyJC]

So, I guess that the fact that the original poster's problem only surfaced when he put the truck into reverse was a red herring????



Rusty

 

[rweis]

I see it more as additional possibilities confirmed by the manufacturer that had not been posted before.



Once the manufacturing corrections are accomplished concerning the constant brake light, then the information I posted becomes outdated. I thought it was reasonable to post it in this thread rather than create a whole new thread since the subject and failures about it were here.



Bob Weis

 

[rweis]

Followup,



I received the replacement controller yesterday with a pre paid return. Brakesmart called me yesterday to say tracking indicated delivery that day or within a day.



OUTSTANDING customer service!



Steve at Brakesmart said the failure was not widespread. Only a very few units experienced logic board failure.



Quick, accurate, complete problem solving.



Bob Weis

 

[JimKing]

As to the original post. I still haven't resolved the problem. I can pull the fuse for the backup lights and I get no errors. I spoke with Brakesmart, who had no idea. Sorta left me with the impression that I am the only one that ever experienced this type of problem. Interestingly enough, it does it on any trailer with backup lights, both in the factory plug and the in-bed extension. But what the hey...



Still the best controller I ever used. .

 

[rweis]

Jim,



Just a thought. What if you made up a dummy rv plugin with resister or real loads for lights, sort of like a test set. It might help narrow down where the problem is.



ie You plug in the dummy load and you KNOW it is not somewhere in a trailer because there is no trailer only the dummy plugin.



You could also measure the amperage load of each kind of lead, ie running lights, backup lights etc. You could also be able to disconnect the backup light circuit. May provide at least more information.



Bob Weis