brake controller... possibly - Hi-Lo camper travel trailer forum

chicken89 · 07-11-2016, 11:44 PM

i purchased a used hilo. i purchased a used brake controller. either one doesn't work, or both don't work. MY BRAKE DE
when i purchased the trailer, i was told that the brakes are not hooked up. well, when i was installing my LED light bar (with backing lights), i had issues with the backing lights not working. i traced it back to the 7 way plug. turns out, a previous owner replaced the 7 wire wire with a 6 wire wire (reverse lights wire on plug was used with the blue brake wire). once i replaced the wire with a 7 wire, i got the reverse lights to work. so. when i hooked up the brake controller (tekanosha (sp?) voyager), the light on the controller did not come on.
here is my problem- i have tried to separate the issues and try and figure out which one it is. i got the Hopkins plug to use to hook up the controller. when i went on their website, here is what i got. hopefully the pic works. my truck is a 99 silverado. (ok, looks like you will have to click on the pdf, see the diagram at the bottom)

the truck side only has 4 wires, and the guide shows no white wire, but 2 blues (light and dark). we tried a couple combinations of wires- color to same color, red and black switched, white to red, then to black. nothing was working (light on controller did not come on when connected to a trailer with known working brakes). so i finally had the idea to just hook up the 12v line on truck to the blue wire to see if maybe it was a broken wire. the blue wire on the trailer had power. i don't think this necessarily concludes anything, but at least i know that the blue with is not broken.
question regarding the controller. is there a way to test the controller AT the controller, or should i assume that it is the controller and just purchase a new one?
once i get the controller figured out, then i can see if the brakes on the trailer work. but as of now, it looks like the first issue is the controller. i have a friend coming over tomorrow to hook his truck up to the trailer to see if the brakes work (the same friend whom i tried hooking up his trailer to my truck to see if my controller works)

RichR · 07-12-2016, 08:12 AM

Is the controller hard wired to the tow vehicle or is it plugged into the prewired socket under dash socket with a Tekonsha adapter cable? Do you have the Tekonsha instructions? What is your tow vehicle? Does it have a prewired trailer cable socket? Have you checked the brake wiring on the trailer? You could have a misplaced connection somewhere.
I don't know of a way to check a controller by itself, RV shops have a tester that plugs into the tow vehicle socket that tests the lights and the controller. You can use a test light or a multimeter to check for power to the socket. Having your friend plug in may be a good idea to see what end has the problem.

RichR · 07-12-2016, 08:50 AM

I found the instruction sheet for your controller. It says that no light indicates a corroded connection at the trailer plug, or loose power or ground connection.

Here is a link:Tekonsha - Voyager®