Hey everyone! I got me a brake controller here. At first, it did not work right at all. I hooked up a trailer to tow a forklift and the lights never worked right. The wiring was all screwed up. I tried fixing it, and it still was not right. Even though I followed exactly what the instructions said. So I took it to a place and it took then like 3-4 hours to fix. Finally, everything was working!I towed a 24' travel trailer, all was well. Well, that was about a month or two ago. I noticed one day, that when I step on the brake pedal, the brake controller light does not come on? It did before after I paid to get it fixed! I checked the fuses, they are good. I have not screwed around with it since it was fixed. Anyone have any ideas?I believe it is one of those REESE controllers. If I hit the slider on the front, the light will light up. Is the controller still functioning or is something up?

The brake controller is not going to produce any signal from pressing the brakes when the truck is standing still. The lever might. I say might because each controller works differently when there isn't a trailer connected. It would help to understand how the controller works first. There are magnets in each electric drum and when you attach the trailer the brake controller measures the amount of resistance (number of magnets) and applies the correct voltage when needed. If the trailer is not connected the brake controller is not going to have any resistance and therefore may not produce a signal. If you are using electric over hydraulic it works differently. I doubt that is what you are using though.When you are moving and press the brakes the brake controller sense the amount of force applied and sends a signal to produce a signal in step with the amount of force it sensed. This is why you get nothing from pressing the brake when you're not moving.It would be best if you could hook up a trailer and test it.

Yes I have done all this with the trailer hooked up and even ran down the road with it. But even sitting in the driveway when pressing on the brakes my controller will normally put voltage out to the trailer depending on where the gain is set. I can tell by the light on the controller it is green when connected and goes from orange to red as I adjust up to full gain. Now all I am getting is the green light showing the trailer is connected but it will not change like it normally will when I step on the brake pedal. I think that it is more on the trailer end because earlier I pulled the break away pin and I get nothing. Battery tested at 12.3 Volts and all connections tight so I think I need to change my troubleshooting from truck to trailer

Most controlers get a signal from the brake light circuit (switch on the brake bracket, touches the pedal arm.) Confirm that the truch has brake lights. My truck had a trigger wire installed from the factory, there was a plug by the emergency brake & a harness that came with the truck. Older trucks were not so wired. Make sure how the controler is wired first. Unplug the trailer & test the rear socket with a meter. That said, there are often brake problems with trailers. Sometimes non-standard wired. Sometimes damaged or corroded wiring. The magnets themselves don't like to grab on rusted drums. Did these brakes combo ever work?

All lights on truck and trailer function as they should. I am 99% sure it is a trailer issue because one of the last things I tried last night was to pull the break away pin (dont know why I didn't think of it before) and the brakes still do not function. I test the break away periodically and tested the battery last night as well. Magnets and contact surfaces on the drum as well as all other brake components are clean and in good conditiion. The last load I pulled before tearing the hubs down to repack the bearings worked fine and the next time after when I hauled my dads tractor is when I noticed they were no longer working. So to answer your question yes they have always worked prior to this. I have owned the trailer long enough to wear out a set of tires and do a brake job. I repack the bearings every year also and I didnt do anything differently than I have ever done in the past and I definitely Didnt touch the brakes other than to adjust the shoes up a little. I have not had time to look at it today hopefully tomorrow or the next day I can get back out and look at it. Got a big road trip coming up quick and I will be working some crazy hours the next 2. Weeks so I have to figure something out soon.

Sound like its time to pull out the DVM and do some more testing like ohm testing the magnets and checking for voltage att the magnets. Dexter axles has test for checking amperage draw if I remember right.

Definitely need to get into it further but what's puzzling me is the fact that the brakes actually work with the manual controller. Which in my mind eliminates a bad connection or magnet which is why I was originally thinking it was a truck side problem, particularly controller. I was just thinking about the other day when I threw my spare brake controller in I may have made one mistake. I wired it up and just left it laying there without leveling the controller. What I mean by that is the adjustment on the left side of the controller that levels the pendulum according to how the controller is mounted on the knee panel. If ImI'm not mistaken that could alter the voltage signals drastically, so I guess I need to go back and check that also. Ill follow up with what I figure out

ever get your brake issues solved?

ever get your brake issues solved?

IF your speaking to me, yes, I got it figured out.