NEED QUICK HELP - NO TRAILER BRAKES.

Roy. I will check the breakaway switch before heading home. The brakes worked fine all the way to Savannah. Thanks for the heads up.

Chiefward - You need to confirm your trailer battery is working before your upcoming trip. In the event the trailer becomes disconnected from your truck while being towed there is DOT LAW that your trailer brakes immediately operate to stop your run away trailer. The battery it uses to do this is the trailer mounted battery. Each Electric Brake Assy will demand a good 3AMPS of DC Current when a full 12VDC is activated in this manner. Thats adds up to 12AMPS DC Current for a dual axle setup.

This could go against you Insurance wise if it is known the battery is not working... Even more important your run away trailer will not immediately stop and may hurt someone or worse...

Not to be taken lightly...

Roy Ken

Dunno, but here's eTrailer's reply about a P3 with that error and it includes their phone number. I have not ever called eTrailer but I hear they're good
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Troubleshooting a P3 Brake Controller for a SHORT TO BATTERY Warning on a Dodge 3500

Question:

Have a p3 installed in a dodge 3500 that has a red screen reading WARNING SHORT TO BATTERY and that screen stays on all the time even unhooked from trl. We found some corrosion in the Dodge plug harness and reolaced that. That rectified the problem for 10 minutes and then back saying the same. Popped in a new P3 immediately comes up the same . Can you help?

asked by: GORD

Expert Reply:

It sounds like the problem is corrosion or a short somewhere on the vehicle side of your brake controller wiring. The most obvious place is at the 7-way at the back of your vehicle. I would check the front and the back of the connector for corrosion or exposed wires and fix as necessary.

The P3 will show the short to battery message if the brake control unit is getting a back feed of power on the brake wire. You will want to check and make sure the electric brake wire is ran on its own line throughout the tow vehicle, and to ensure that it has not rubbed through and touching any other power source including the 7-way. If you disconnect the blue wire and display reading goes away you will know that the control should be fine and to check out the wiring of the vehicle.

We have heard of instances of this where the control unit will register this code under excessive moisture and snow conditions. Then when the 7-way dries out the code will disappear.

expert reply by: Jameson C

Here's Tekonsha's number. The line may answer as "Cequent" since they now own Tekonsha.

Technical Service
888-521-0510
Monday - Friday 8:00am - 6:00pm

Thanks guys. It was the ground. I fiddled with the ground wire connection and now have brakes.. On my way to Skidaway Island State Park, Savannah, GA.

Controller is a Tekonsha P3. I connected my battery charger to test batteries and both show open cell. These batteries are dated 10/14 and have water showing. Could both go bad and same time?

Often it is nothing more than a poor connection at the 7 way plug. Try plugging/unplugging it a couple of times and wiggling it around.

Check your trailer ground. I had a similar issue with my flatbed trailer for my tractor and found the ground connection to the frame was rusted and not making contact. Cleaned it up and works great.

We don't have a trailer with electric brakes or a tow vehicle with a brake controller but I've worked on those brakes and installed those controllers. Since you didn't say what kind of controller you have, it can be hard for any of us to offer specifics. But, if you gOOgle

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trailer brake short to battery

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you will get a lot of hits, mostly for Tekonsha and mostly for eTrailer. These might help. I didn't read them, but the teaser for one said moisture can trigger that warning.

I've called Tekonsha with questions and they have been very helpful.

I've called Hopkins about other products and they too have been helpful.

Good thing is both actually answer the phone. You may have to go through an automated call director but when your call gets to the right desk, somebody picks up.