Prodigy Brake Controller Problem

Not a Prodigy, but some related info to add here. ( I will update my old thread on my controller problem once I have completed testing)

My Voyager 9030 was showing all proper lights including the red orange green for gain so there was nothing apparently wrong. However when I tried the manual slider with no truck braking, no braking from trailer. ( I had not been doing this test often enough, so it seems I had been going for months with no trailer brakes, just the truck's.)

Note this truck's manual says over 2000 lbs trailer you must have trailer brakes (The Law may have a different weight, so go by the Law of course.) The trailer is near 10,000lbs so the truck actually can do another 8 thou over that 2 thou and I didn't really notice, including on steep hills. Good thing too, when you might need that extra if your trailer brakes/controller go out on you.

OK, so trouble shooting story. Went over everything several times and decided the trailer brakes must be ok since the breakaway system engaged full braking ( Trimetric showed 12 amps for brakes and it would not move when towed a little with the 7-pin disconnected)

Checked both ends of the trailer 7-pin and after some confusion (more on that) it was ok, so now we are into the truck. Much back and forth trying things with the controller wiring and truck 7-pin, very frustrating, turned out to be intermittent low 12v power to the controller.

By this time I had bought a replacement controller which was not as good but was on sale so I grabbed it. Hopkins "Impulse" time based, has a digital readout. So wiring that I had to check the adapter wire set that goes from the controller's four wire plug to the truck's socket (different adapters needed for Chev, Ford, etc) so I had the Chev one already for the Voyager. I cut and spliced the four wires at the controller end to the adapter and plugged in, no joy. Got the controller fault code SC which means the brake wire is bad, or bad magnet or 7-pin connector bad on blue wire. Checked all that again, no joy. Also it chattered and buzzed badly when manual pushed.

Undid the four wire splice on ground and 12v pos wires and jumpered to battery direct with standard jumper cable set. Bingo! It all worked properly. Tried it with only the ground jumpered, no joy. So the 12v pos was guilty!

More snooping at the truck's end where the controller adapter plug goes into a "Trailer 6 Pin" socket. Turned out there was only 2 volts on the positive pin in the 6-pin socket (of which only four pins are used) plus that was intermittent.

Could not figure out from the truck's diagrams in the manual which fuse works that 6-pin's positive and all fuses checked ok. Very frustrating all round.

Fix chosen was to take out the whole thing on the floor (by left foot) which has that Trailer 6-pin socket and on the back of the whole thing is a fat red wire I tapped into and jumpered to the black controller wire, and still used the 6-pin plug for the other three wires. Ta da! The Hopkins now acts right while parked.

I have not taken it for a test drive yet to see how well it controls and I will also swap the Voyager back in to see if it works now too.
I did have a reply on the old thread that the Voyager has a weakness where over time it loses its gain oomph due to a part wearing out, so that might also have been happening. (it is ten years old) We'll see when I get a chance to do that testing and I will update that old thread then.

Meanwhile for this thread, my lesson is that it might not be the controller or the trailer but the truck and that might be hard to find. Hate to have to pay somebody to do that--it took me hours of several days to chase that one down where it was intermittent and in an obscure place. :(

We had a similar situation early last year on our '11 Montana. Got the dreaded "OL" and "SH" read-out on my Prodigy 2. Tried applying a little dielectric grease to the plug after trying to clean the plug. Still had issues, then checked the trailer for bad wires, again no signs of wear or shorts. Next I checked out the truck, I did find some bad connections at the rear socket and repaired those. Thought that was "it". Still got intermittent "OL" and "SH" messages, frustrated and nervous I threw in the towel and took the rig to a local RV repair place. They went over the truck and the trailer and found one small (what they thought) might be a short and repaired it. A week later while on a trip back to the house we got the messages AGAIN. Took the rig back to the dealer and described what had happened, they re-checked everything and with their "special" meter found nothing. In the end, it was determined the Prodigy was defective and replaced at no charge to me. No more troubles after that.

It's scary going down the road with a "hope the brakes work" feeling, not to mention dangerous. Once our brake controller was replaced I felt better but still a little nervous.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Dan

It's funny that I read this tonight. I ran into a similar problem with my Prodigy the last couple of days. I took my truck in this morning expecting to have the controller replaced. The controller actually tested fine and their suggestion was dialectic grease on the plug between the truck and 5er. I've never done this in 30 years of towing so I was pretty apprehensive. I got some, did what they said and we hit the road again this morning and the brakes worked fine. Not an issue one. Might be worth a try if you don't do this already...

Flattop wrote:
I agree with RCMAN46, but not always. About 7 years ago, when returning from a trip, I was within a 1/2 mile from my storage facility when I noticed when applying the breaks, they would take at first, but then it seemed like they would let go. Happened several more times as I pulled in the storage facility. Took it to my RV service guy a week laterand while driving there, it happend one more time. My older Prodigy was probably 5-6 yrs old at the time. I cannot remember if I got error msg's or not. ANYWAY, he checked out all the wiring, it was fine. He put his controller on and all was good. I replaced with a brand new Prodigy and all was good for several more years before I sold the rig.

Curious you said you agree with but not always. Where do you not agree?

Did you get the new Prodigy under warranty? They are guaranteed for life.

I agree with RCMAN46, but not always. About 7 years ago, when returning from a trip, I was within a 1/2 mile from my storage facility when I noticed when applying the breaks, they would take at first, but then it seemed like they would let go. Happened several more times as I pulled in the storage facility. Took it to my RV service guy a week laterand while driving there, it happend one more time. My older Prodigy was probably 5-6 yrs old at the time. I cannot remember if I got error msg's or not. ANYWAY, he checked out all the wiring, it was fine. He put his controller on and all was good. I replaced with a brand new Prodigy and all was good for several more years before I sold the rig.

You do not have a Prodigy Brake Controller Problem.

Be glad you have a Prodigy that will alert you of a wiring problem with the trailer brakes.

Not all controllers will do that.

It seams most of these topics that have a title Prodigy Controller problem is a wiring problem in the trailer.

Hamnet wrote:
I removed the tape around the location where the brake wires were tapped into the main wire run, moved it around and it seemed to solve the issue. No more error messages. I will see what tomorrow brings.

I would fix it correctly, before you find out you don't have trailer brakes again, intermittently, and possibly injure the innocent. "Seemed to solve the issue" is not the proper correction of the problem, or safety issue.

Hamnet wrote:
I removed the tape around the location where the brake wires were tapped into the main wire run, moved it around and it seemed to solve the issue. No more error messages. I will see what tomorrow brings.

I would get that taken care of ASAP. It sounds like you have intermittent power to the brakes. They could fail at the least opportune time.

I removed the tape around the location where the brake wires were tapped into the main wire run, moved it around and it seemed to solve the issue. No more error messages. I will see what tomorrow brings.

I doubt you have a Prodigy issue.
More likely you have a short in the trailer wiring which will cause both error messages.
If the wiring passes through the axles there is a good chance it has chafed and is shorting inside the tube.
Replace the brake wiring and run it OUTSIDE the axles, held by zip-ties or similar.