Scode68

I have a 99 F150 with an aftermarket ((Tekonsha - Voyager) brake controller. I went to move the travel trailer the other day and notice the LED on it didn't light up and when I manually applied the trailer brakes they didn't work. All of the lights work fine on the trailer.


I pulled the plug for the controller under the dash and have no voltage at the truck blue wire but have 12.2 at the red. When connected back up, the 7 prong connector has 12.2 volts at the red and 8.9 volts at the blue.


Any ideas?


Everything worked fine all of last year. My truck also didn't come with the towing package.

Scode68

The factory brake controller plug under the dash has a blue, green, black, red and white wires connected to it. Should the black wire and the red wire have voltage? Or should only one of them? I


If the black wire is supposed to have voltage does anyone know which fuse is associated with it? I pulled them all and they all look fine to me.

Scode68

I did some probing under the dash. It looks like the installer switched the black wire on the controller to connect with the red wire on the plug under the dash so there is 12V provided.


While grounded I used a test light and probed the blue (trailer brake) wire and the LED on the controller came on green. While using the manual brake slider on the controller the red LED went from green to full red. I think I'm okay there.


At the back of the truck I grounded on the white connector while probing the blue connector and the green LED on the controller did not come on. Grounded on a good ground and probed the blue connector and the green LED still didn't come on. I read the volts at the blue connector while grounded on the good ground and the white connector and got 8.9V in both instances.


Kind of sounds to me that this should be working but they're not.

Scode68

Can anyone tell me what kind of voltage I should be getting to the trailer brakes in the blue wire? The trailer has 2 axles so there are 4 brakes.

brulaz

Should depend on how much brake is applied, and what you set your brake controller to.

I *think* if you set the controller to max and fully apply the brakes with the controller lever, you should get 12V to the trailer brakes. ANd less if you back off.

Scode68

Thanks, I'll check that out. I was getting 8.9 volts without even hitting the brake pedal. Should I be getting any voltage if I'm not applying the brake pedal?

brulaz

I doubt it, but don't really know. My built-in Ford brake controller works differently than your Voyageur.

It's odd that the Voyageur LED says that all is working ok.

Have you checked that your trailer brakes are working ok by themselves?
Pull the emergency brake-away switch and see if your wheels are braked?

Scode68

The thing is that when hooked up the Voyager LED should be green and I now have nothing. If I ground to metal and probe the blue wire under the dash the green LED will come on. when I jump the blue connector point at the back of the truck to the white or a ground I don't get the green LED were I should. When the fog and drizzle burns off I plan on checking the splices that the Tech did when they installed it.


Tekonsha said I should be getting 12V at the blue in the back of the truck but they didn't say if it was when the brake was applied or not.

Scode68

I'm not sure what you mean by that one Ron.

brulaz

"If I ground to metal and probe the blue wire under the dash the green LED will come on. "
When you do that, the Tekshona probably thinks the resistance of your probe is the brakes and so it lights up. Sounds like a trailer ground problem if this doesn't happen when brakes are plugged in. Check trailer ground to truck's socket ground?

"when I jump the blue connector point at the back of the truck to the white or a ground I don't get the green LED were I should."
You are shorting out the Tekshona's brake circuit so even if you haven't busted it (probably has an internal protect) it probably realizes there's a short and doesn't operate. Normally the blue line from the Tekshona expects some resistance form the magnetic coils in the brakes.

"Tekonsha said I should be getting 12V at the blue in the back of the truck but they didn't say if it was when the brake was applied or not."
Think that would be with the brake lever applied but no load (no brakes connected). And I think it would be adjustable.

Confess I don't know a lot about these things. So mostly guesses on my part.