HI all, we left on our trip today pulling a 29 foot forest river from Tucson to nm but started having brake problems about an hour in. The brake controller is flashing oL (overload) accompanied by a loss in trailer braking. Disconnecting and reconnecting fixes it but only for a short time. Not sure what to check. Sitting here in the campground in Wilcox AZ and after about an hour of flashing oL with engine off but trailer connected it went back to normal on its own. Not sure what is happening and any help appreciated. The Prodigy site has very little to offer.

 

Check for any chaffed wires, on the truck/ trailer connector. Also the condition of the pins and plug of truck and trailer, moister sometimes gets in there, some electrical grease would help with keeping the pins from corroding.

 

I just checked over all the wiring. The trailer is new and all the wiring is in good shape. I checked at each wheel and where they pass thru the axle tunes, and the entire length of the harness, all good. Before I did this I disconnected the prodigy then reconnected it. It showed the normal nc code for not connected. Then as soon as I plugged in the 7 pin connector the SH code for short came up. Goes away when I unhook.
another question I had is when driving without braking what should the display read? Mine was reading 3.8 the whole time. Is it possible it was braking and overheated the trailer brakes?

 

I have the P3 so maybe it's similar; go thru the brake set up procedure again. Basically program the trailer brake for engagement as if a new install.

 

I had a similar problem. It turned out the connector for the truck receptacle was bad. Follow the wiring from the receptacle up behind the spare tire and the first connector was the culprit.

 

Trailer may be new, but that does not necessarily mean the wiring is good, however, Your controller should not be showing a 3.8 reading unless it is passing current to the brakes, so yes, it was braking all the time. In the absence of creative wiring to the controller, this would suggest a failure of the controller. Did you use standard plug and play to connect controller? Is all the wiring at the truck seven pin standard? Did this controller work in the past with other trailers?

Steve

 

As an added thought, if the plug and play pigtail was not used, the controller will also do this if the wrong side of the brake switch was tapped.

steve

 

Hi Steve, thanks for helping. We are camped in a remote area so Internet is not always available. The prodigy was in the truck when I bought it and I assumed it was factory. The PO towed a fiver with it and I bought it with 140K on it. Over the last couple days I pulled all the wheels and found melted wire insulation on one of them with a bit of wire exposed and contacting a brake shoe bracket. I fixed this and now when I hook up I get the normal .c. code, and when I depress the pedal I get the voltage readings which increase as the pedal is pushed further. Same with the manual lever. The only thing that seems wrong is when I hold the manual lever over all the way it reads full voltage no matter where the power adj. Wheel is. I turn the wheel all the way in both directions and the volts stay at max, I cannot adjust it down. When releasing the pedal however there is no voltage present like there was when the brakes overheated on Friday. Not sure what happened there. Although I did unplug the prodigy from the truck for a bit which may have reset it?. I bought a controller at AUTOZONE which I will install if the prodigy acts up again. Couldn't find a prodigy around these parts for less than $300. If the p2 holds out till I get home I'll order a new p3 from amazon.

 

if I am understanding you, when you use the manual control all the way, it goes to full power, that is the way it works. Sounds to me like you found and corrected the problem.

Prodigies are after-marke

Steve

 

got cut off. I am camping remote too, very spotty service. Couple of thoughts for everyone. Braking problems are almost never the controller, maybe 5% of the time at most.

P3s are a better choice than P2s not because they stop any better, every controller made will stop the trailer, but the self-diagnostics are so much better. And use the plug and play pigtails. I have seen so many botched wiring jobs both at the controller and at the seven pins. Brake controllers are not the place to save money, if you tow on a regular, even if occasional basis.

My two cents,

Steve

 

Steve, this is what I am referring to. It won't let me do this, the power **** does nothing. Although I did just notice that I am supposed to take the boost setting off before this adjustment which I did not do. I'll try that tomorrow
Quotevfrom trailer life "Just push the boost button until you see only 1 decimal point. Next, connect your trailer and then start the truck. While parked with the motor running, hold the manual override lever all the way to the left and set the power **** to 6.0. Release the manual override and drive forward on a flat surface at 25 mph."

 

i would simply call the manufacturer or refer directly to the instructions for the controller, whenever there is a question. I can't advise you directly as I do not use that controller.

Good luck,

Steve

 

i went online and read through the set-up instructions. Do the same and try the set-up. If it can't be done, call Tekonsha, the Prodigy manufacturer and tell them the problem. They are really good about sending new units, but leave out the part about the short at the brake. My guess is, if it is broken the overload burned the part outbin the controller that regulates current.

Steve

 

Did you ever get this figured out?

Stewart

 

Well I don't remember the details now but I do remember once I fixed the melted wire I had brakes all the way home. The brake controller did display the sh code one more time when we stopped at Elephant Butte for the night but it was OK the next day. The trailer was a rental, we wanted to try it to see if trailer life was for us before we buy one. Now just getting ready for retirement and have the trailer purchase narrowed down to 3. My plan for the brakes will be a new OEM 7 pin harness which I found on Amazon and a new P3. I think my issue could have been caused by the old P2, but I suppose it could have been the trailer as well. Heck it may have been caused by me, but I just don't see how anything I did would cause the brakes to stay on and overheat. The TT experience was so new to me that I didn't notice they were stuck on for a while, could have been 50 or so miles as that's how far we were into the trip when I noticed it.

So with the new trailer it will be the shotgun approach, everything new.