Should my brake controller light up when it is not connected to the trailer ??

I notced sometimes it does, and sometimes it doesn't.

I didn't think much of it until we hooked my dad's boat up to it and the lights weren't right, but they did work fine on another vehicle.

I'm thinking I may have a short or something in the factory connector on the hitch. The in bed one works fine.

 

This means that somewhere in your system you have a short. May just be a bare wire and when it's damp outside that's enough to draw juice through it, or it could actually be rubbing somewhere. I have run into this problem twice on my truck, the wire keeps falling down and getting pinched in between the fuel tank and chasis rail.

 

It works fine on my trailer.

I'm wondering if it may have anything to do with the way the boat trailer was wired, since it does not have brakes on it, but my hookup is wired for them.

So your saying the controller should not light up unhooked ?

 

Under normal circumstances no. The circuit is not completed until you plug something in.

 

Hmmm...ok...I think the issue is with the factory plug on the hitch...may have to check it out.

 

My light has always lit up. It will even drop cruise if you reach down and slide it on without a trailer. I have had it hooked to tons of trailers, in different trucks, with and without breaks on trailer. Never any trouble with function

 

unhooked, every time you hit the breaks the light should come on, atleast on ours it does...

 

No it should not

I agree 100 percent with 99 cummins, there is a short somewhere or a bare wire making contact and causin it to light... Newer brake controllers need the actual trailer connection to complete the circuit to cause it to light, BUT the more primitive brake controllers (IE the 1996 brake control in my toolbox) would light up without a trailer. So it all depends on how old your control is...

Tx

 

That's not saying that it may not work just fine with this problem, depends on what the problem is. I put several hundred miles on my trailers with it like that until I got around to fixing it, but it is a fact that there is a problem there, and with time and corrosion it will get worse.

 

The electric brake control on the dump trucks at work (they have both electric and air brakes depending on the trailer (don't know if the air brakes stuff matters or not)) light when the brakes are applied with or without a trailer...

 

Is it an electric or hydrualic. My hydrualic light up and will drop the cruise is manually slid on the other hand if it is an electric controller I would have to agree that you have a shor somwhere in the lines.

 

I had the same problem with my Jordan Ultima 2020 controller. The "trailer connected" light would glow dimly with no trailer connected, and the current readout would show a small current flow when the truck brakes were applied - again with no trailer connected.

The problem was the factory 7-pin connector on the hitch receiver was packed full of water and road grime, creating a high resistance short circuit between pins. I disassembled it, flushed it out with WD-40, packed it with dielectric grease and reassembled it. I've never had the problem since.

Rusty

 

Mine won't light at all without a trailer hooked up.

 

What kind of controller is it!?....My Prodigy lights when I hit the brakes unhooked! It will go out when not in use...I believe it addresses it in the manual. Works great for me!

 

Voyager, I can't afford the high dollar stuff you guys have!