Brake Controller?

My brake controller has been acting funny. Sometimes when I plug it in it doesn't work for a little while, 5-10 minutes or so. Then it works fine. But lately it's been fritzing kind of off and on. I was pivoting it up and down and wondering if it was a loose connection but i'm also suspecting that maybe it's not my controller nad maybe it's the connector on my truck hitch. There seems to be a little black stuff on one of the pins and maybe it's my controller pin. I tried some WD40 and sandpaper. It may have worked a little but i may be fooling myself.

Does anyone know which pin is my controller pin? My lights all work fine. I'm wondering if I can use my voltmeter to test this somehow and see if it's getting current. If it is then I'll know it's the connection. If it's not i'll know it's the controller itself or the connection.

Check out this site and see if this helps you on the pin connections.... http://www.etrailer.com/faq-wiring.aspx

So it looks like the blue wire is the brake controller. So i'll put my voltmeter on that pin and depress the brakes and see if i'm getting a signal. If I am then I'll know it's not the controller, if the signal goes in an out I'll know it's the pin or something. Sound right?

What brand of brake controller do you have does it have an indicator of any kind...

when you say its is working intermittantly do you mean that trailer brakeing is not working or the controll has no power to it...

The power to the controll is supplied under the dash and has no bearing on the trailer connection...

so if it seems that the controller is not getting power ie. no indicator light or display I would start checking the connections under the dash...I hate to say this but I have seen scotch locks used many times to make power connections for BC's...also there is usually a ring eye ground wire on those controls that must be securely attached to a good chassis ground...new vehicles can be hard to find a good grounding point under the dash and I've seen rv shops cheat on installing them...

hopefully you have the connections made with the factory harness adaptor but this is not always possible...

If you trace the wires up under the dash and see those little blue 3m scotch locks they have to go!!!

Brake controllers can go bad after a while. The one in my previous TV, had been moved a couple of times to different vehicles, I hadn't noticed the problem because all the trailers I was hauling before I got the cat were under 3500#, and I believed that the long braking was just normal. When we got the cat and went to leave the dealership, it was obvious that the controller was no longer working. After some troubleshooting we found out that the controller was putting out a max of 10 volts even on the highest setting which was not enough to fully engage the brakes.

Yes those little blue 3m crimps can drive you crazy... Was going on an outing a couple weeks ago and couldn't get the brake lights to work on the small bumper pull we take for my Mom. I would check it and would have 12-12.5 volts at the plug and then when I would plug it up the lights would not work . So I finally hooked it up and took my meter lead and stuck into the wire and got my DW to apply the brakes and it would drop to 7 -8 volts . It was a bad connection under the bumper with one of those scotch locks.

My controller is a Tekonsha. It has an indicator light that is green and then when it's applied it turns orange and glows brighter, into red, depending on pressure applied.

It has acted weird for a while. It wasn't working well unless I pivoted the controller up in the harness, then it would engage better. So I thought loose wirese or something, but I pushed nad pulled and got nothing.

I also had a short while where depressing pedal wasn't working but using the manual slide was working my brakes.

Finally last night, after working for a little while, my green light went off completely. That never happened before. I guess I just have to replace this thing but I don't want to swap it out if the problem is really just a loose wire or a bad 5 pin connector in the back of my truck.

It turned out to be my connector on the back of my truck. The wires in the back of it were all corroded. Once it was replaced everything works great!!!