I have an early 05 low voltage brake controller that does not work with my RL 31 Jayco 5Th wheel. What would it take to upgrade to the higher voltage? what years are compatible? would it be just plug and play? any help would be appreciated seems to be not enough voltage for both axles.

 

I never knew they had 2 diff. voltage controllers. I have an early 05 and it works fine on my 07 jazz by thor.

 

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the truck was built about Sept 04 I found out when I purchased the 5th wheel and started checking voltages. I think Feb or March of 05 they came out with higer voltage .Couldnt get Ford to correct mine.Also no help from dealer.Haven been back to that dealer since.

 

I too, have an early '05. Build in late '04 and my factory brake controller works fine . I've had it on two different 5th wheels..... '94 Prowler and now my '07 Arctic Fox. I think you have a wiring problem either at the truck 7 (6) way plug or on the trailer.

 

I wish you were correct with my case it would be much easier and cheaper for me.if you do a search you will see some post about this.I did a lot of searching back in 05 .I even called Ford they admitted the change in voltage but wouldn't correct mine.I just figured by now someone might know if a switch was possible I believe the voltage is 2 to 3 volts at the controller on the early models and 10 to 12 volts on the later models. in my case the voltage drop from the low voltage going to the trailer is too much.I have a smaller tandem axle landscape trailer that it works great on.

 

My 05 was also built in 04 and no problems.

 

I am really glad for you to have one that works good. Nothing more frustrating to have something that is a problem.Sometimes when you hook up your rig squeeze the paddles on your controller and pull forward,This was an issue with me I needed to do this to slide the hitch to the back position and nothing. too much voltage drop to activate the brakes. being 2 or 3 volt by the time it reached the brakes lucky to have 1 or 2

 

Wow, this is news to me. I think I went through this when I first bought my 5th wheel trailer when I wanted to use my controller to lock my trailer brakes to test that the pin was locked in before hitting the road. I remember "learning" that I had found that the trailer brakes just needed to be rolling before they would engage, due to how the magnetic actuators work in the trailer's drum brake assembly... I seem to recall that I deducted that they trailer brake assemblies are directional and the drum needs to be turning to work.

Mine work fine when I am going down the road, just not when the trailer wheels aren't rolling. Have I been wrong all this time or do the trailer wheels need to be rolling before they work? This is the first I have heard of voltage considerations on early build 05's.

 

When I first hooked up the 5er I was frustrated and did a lot of research to track down the problem. It was new to the Ford dealership they didn't even know.It was also the first year they stopped putting on the block heater cord for some states .I couldn't believe Michigan didn't need a cord. The block heater was their just no cord. I actually unplugged the brake controller and spliced in to the wire. The company that built the controller even told Ford about the problem with low voltage but they had all the answers. I guess the few that they built for 3 or 4 months would cost too much to replace so they kept it quiet. Sounds like the ones that have the higher voltage works great. I do recall something about 15 MPH to work

 

I am sure you know the tow boss package uses a different master cyl and PCM is also programmed for it ,, so if you go to a standalone it won't be using any of the towboss internal features ,
I can't see why their isn't a module out there that won't boost the voltage ,, seems easy enough ?

or did u solve this issue?

 

I was at the dealership yesterday getting a new FICM been going bad for about a year I was lucky it lasted that long.when I unplugged the controller and spliced in I would get a TBC fault and would have to push the reset button each time I started.While I was their the tech took care of it for me not their now.If I do upgrade he said bring it back and he would reset it for me .I cant say enough about dealing with these guys good to work with and don't try to rape me Hopefully some one on this forum knows how to upgrade it would be nice to use the integrated controller

 

what voltage is low? is it the brake signal voltage that varies do to brake controller input to the trailer?

 

have you seen this ?

Thanks for the additional information. Some net research has indeed revealed that the under 25 mph voltage/braking power is reduced by design, so my stationary voltage check (5v) was probably about right. My rolling brake tests may well have been under that speed too.
I'll definitely check brake adjustment, and rig up a way to check voltage at speed.



or this?


Mine won't work on the manual lever either at less then I think 15 mph. There is some date in March of 05 that Ford got so many complaints that they changed to to work normal.

So any 2005 prior to that date in March 2005 came with the non locking at slow spped version. I tore my truck apart trying to figure out what I only got 2.5 volts out the back with the manual lever as I was trying to do a drag test. Then I went on Ford Trucks.com and found the reason. It's made that way.

I even printed off an offical statment you can take in for trailer inspection explaining to the inpector that they cannot use the manual lever to test the brakes, they have to use the breakaway. As they would fail inspection every time.

I have heard some complained enough that dealers did upgrade to the newer version. Since I did not buy mine new, I did not try.

Ford did this to help stop the jerking at slow speed. You get very little braking even thru the foot pedal less then 10 to 15 mph. Look at the litte bar graph. Yes basically the truck is stopping the load.

 

Thanks for the info, does the newer version have to be moving also to work? If it does I might as well keep what I have.