Trailer Brake Question
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Mountain Pass
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 113
Likes: 4
From: Connecticut
Trailer Brake Question
Hey guys, got a question for anyone who might know. I bought a new Drawtite, activator ii today and put it in my 08' 150. I have the tow package, meaning i have the harness and the fuse for the kick panel, i installed both of them and went ahead and connected the controller.....per the labels on the controller wires and the harness wires.....(i didnt use the illumination wire on the factory harness).....i go ahead and test it out on my trailer and find i have no brakes....lights work, etc.....but not trailer brakes...checked the wiring to be correct and not mishooked up.....my question i guess is...am i missing anything? is there something else i need to buy? is there another fuse i need to install besides the one FORD gave me when i got the truck? any insite....or past experiences would help..thanks..
Laughing Gas
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 1,210
Likes: 69
From: land of 10,000 lakes
Hey guys, got a question for anyone who might know. I bought a new Drawtite, activator ii today and put it in my 08' 150. I have the tow package, meaning i have the harness and the fuse for the kick panel, i installed both of them and went ahead and connected the controller.....per the labels on the controller wires and the harness wires.....(i didnt use the illumination wire on the factory harness).....i go ahead and test it out on my trailer and find i have no brakes....lights work, etc.....but not trailer brakes...checked the wiring to be correct and not mishooked up.....my question i guess is...am i missing anything? is there something else i need to buy? is there another fuse i need to install besides the one FORD gave me when i got the truck? any insite....or past experiences would help..thanks..
Also when you say fuse do you mean relay?.....(it is square and light gray in color)
Thread Starter
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Mountain Pass
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 113
Likes: 4
From: Connecticut
yes i used the harness that ford supplied that plugs into the port under the dash, and connected that to the controler. And yes, pluged the relay into the the right side kick panel. Im wondering if there is another relay...under the hood? Possibly?
Laughing Gas
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 1,210
Likes: 69
From: land of 10,000 lakes
Only thing I can think of is that your wiring could be not hooked up right.....I guess if you did not double check everything I would do that.
Also, The trailer could be the problem.....do you have another truck to test it on?
Thread Starter
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Mountain Pass
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 113
Likes: 4
From: Connecticut
thanks....and yeah, i checked about four times to make sure the wires were hooked up correct. I tried it on three different trailers. I push in the manual control and crank up the output to ten and can drive around like nothing was there behind me. I took one of the trailers out ont he road....Driving around normal, when i press the brakes (no matter where my output is set at, except zero.) it displays .5 on the screen.
Thread Starter
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Mountain Pass
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 113
Likes: 4
From: Connecticut
ok...how about this.... I have my gps unit hard wired into the feed from the battery on the ford supplied harness. I had the unit off durring this whole process, but could that be messing something up? I wouldnt think so, but im not exactly and electrician.
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Laughing Gas
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 1,210
Likes: 69
From: land of 10,000 lakes
I would have to agree with you and say no, that should have nothing to do with it. But electrical things can be very weird acting...
As for a grounding issue.....I would check were the 7-pin harness is grounded at the back of the truck. It is grounded at the frame cross member above the spare tire. If you lay on the ground you should see it and follow it with your hand and make sure it is still attached.
Another thing....Are the trailer plugs all matching up with the truck 7-pin plug? I.E----black to back.....blue to blue?
As for a grounding issue.....I would check were the 7-pin harness is grounded at the back of the truck. It is grounded at the frame cross member above the spare tire. If you lay on the ground you should see it and follow it with your hand and make sure it is still attached.
Another thing....Are the trailer plugs all matching up with the truck 7-pin plug? I.E----black to back.....blue to blue?
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Thread Starter
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Mountain Pass
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 113
Likes: 4
From: Connecticut
im going to check that ground and make sure its ok...something could be wrong there, i mean the truck is branspanken new, but it could be something silly like that.
As for the plug, they only fit in one way, the reciever end on the truck is molded to only accept the plug in one way. But i did notice when i first pluged in that to plug hole on the truck and its plastic notch it is actually turned about 45 degrees clockwise. As opposed to most every other trailer i have pluged into any other truck which have alwasy been 'notch up'.
As for the plug, they only fit in one way, the reciever end on the truck is molded to only accept the plug in one way. But i did notice when i first pluged in that to plug hole on the truck and its plastic notch it is actually turned about 45 degrees clockwise. As opposed to most every other trailer i have pluged into any other truck which have alwasy been 'notch up'.
Hotshot
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 11,537
Likes: 27
From: Long Beach, Ms.
It sounds as if you may have a bad controller. You have done all of the checks of the electrical system and as the display always read the same no matter what the setting I'd call it a bad unit.
I would return the Drawtite and upgrade to a Tekonsha P3.
Tekonsha
tekonsha p3, eBay Motors items on eBay.com
Don't skimp on something as important as a brake controller. I own a Tekonsha Prodigy as the P3 was not on the market then. I am going to upgrade to the P3 as it can work with electric over hydraulic brakes. Quite simply the P3 is the best on the market IMO. It is available for less than $120.00 delivered. Also Tekonsha backs their product with a terrific warranty. I did have a problem with one and they had me take it to the nearest dealer and simply exchange it for a new one.
I would return the Drawtite and upgrade to a Tekonsha P3.
Tekonsha
tekonsha p3, eBay Motors items on eBay.com
Don't skimp on something as important as a brake controller. I own a Tekonsha Prodigy as the P3 was not on the market then. I am going to upgrade to the P3 as it can work with electric over hydraulic brakes. Quite simply the P3 is the best on the market IMO. It is available for less than $120.00 delivered. Also Tekonsha backs their product with a terrific warranty. I did have a problem with one and they had me take it to the nearest dealer and simply exchange it for a new one.
Thread Starter
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Mountain Pass
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 113
Likes: 4
From: Connecticut
thanks for the advice, i looked at the prodigy before i got the drawtite, which wasnt exactly a cheap model, at 115 bucks. I messed with the wires this morning and i think it had a bad ground or power supply, because before when id tap the brakes with no trailer nothing would happen to the controler, now when i tap the brakes with no trailer i get the decimal point showing up, which i think i am supposed to get.
I also unspliced the wires i had spliced in to the power lead and ground that i had used to hard wire my gps unit. It looks like that did the trick, i only have to go test it out on a trailer at my shop and see what it does. Hopefully itll work and ill be back on here posting a new thread asking if anyone knows where i can find a power lead under the driverside dash to plug into to get power for a gps unit so that i dont have to run a lead from the battery and drill a now hole in the firewall.
I also unspliced the wires i had spliced in to the power lead and ground that i had used to hard wire my gps unit. It looks like that did the trick, i only have to go test it out on a trailer at my shop and see what it does. Hopefully itll work and ill be back on here posting a new thread asking if anyone knows where i can find a power lead under the driverside dash to plug into to get power for a gps unit so that i dont have to run a lead from the battery and drill a now hole in the firewall.