Normal to always see some voltage on Elec Brake pole of 7way

Piece of mind is worth allot, better to be safe than sorry on brakes.

OKAY,well I have to admit the truth... I got tired of trying to fix this and bought a Prodigy RF unit from Amazon. With some rewards points and buying the Warehouse Deals open box, I got it for 235 dollars.

IT's NIGHT AND DAY better. The brakes work, they come on just right and they even sound different. I can actually hear the magnent working.

So, you know I just felt it was better to HAVE brakes I can trust that to keep futzing with a mess.

Nah it's a Quest from Husky Tow.

What type of brake controller do you have? I'm guessing a prodigy!

As others have said, you are reading what is refereed to as pull up voltage. It allows the controller "or any ecm" to see a load attached.

And as others have said the test is meaningless without the load attached, the load can be the brake coils or a high wattage bulb or similar load.

I read but didn't actually see a problem you described, do the brakes just not work effectively? If not have you just tried connecting the brakes to a 12 volt power source and see if they lock?

Do you by chance have a Prodigy? It has a boost feature that sends a quick jolt to the brakes when first applied. It can be varied or turned off completely, which is what I did. I don't like the grabby feel.
You can tell this feature is activate when the display shows a second dot: ".c." when the trailer is connected.
The other thing it could be is that your brakes need adjusting.

ScottG wrote:
A brake controller knows when the trailer is connected by sending out a tiny signal to the brakes all the time - even when your not applying them. There's probably something on your controller that lights up or changes color to indicate this - the load or resistance of the winding in the brakes is what tells the controller it's show time. The signal is not enough to move the brakes but with some controllers (Prodigy) its enough to check the electrical characteristics of the windings and tell the operator if they're out of normal guidelines.
This is also witnessed by the dimly lit LED at the 8:00 position in the first pic.

The issue with surging and then settling down is probably because there is no load (brake windings) present. Your doing this without the trailer connected right? Then anything you measure is really meaningless.
I would not replace the controller unless it fails to work when the trailer is connected.
OTOH, a controller can get weak with use so if it can't stop the trailer on its own, I would then replace it.

Hrmm cool, very good information.

When I do have my trailer connected to the tv, I get the pulse in the brakes each time I stop. It feels like a clunk/chunk/shudder through the entire van each time you hit the brakes.

I have tried everything I can to get rid of it. Well, Short of taking it back to the dealer. They are 30 miles away and it's a daily driver so I never have time to take it there.

I am good enough with wiring to replace it myself. I just never seem to have time and worry about breaking it worse. Plus the places that sell brake controllers are never open when I want to work on it.

I guess the most frustrating part is I am Web Application developer for my job and my calling card is I can fix anything. I am known as the fixit guy around here because I always figure it out.

This I just can't crack yet and that drives me to try harder to fix it without spending any money or taking it to the dealer.

A brake controller knows when the trailer is connected by sending out a tiny signal to the brakes all the time - even when your not applying them. There's probably something on your controller that lights up or changes color to indicate this - the load or resistance of the winding in the brakes is what tells the controller it's show time. The signal is not enough to move the brakes but with some controllers (Prodigy) its enough to check the electrical characteristics of the windings and tell the operator if they're out of normal guidelines.
This is also witnessed by the dimly lit LED at the 8:00 position in the first pic.

The issue with surging and then settling down is probably because there is no load (brake windings) present. Your doing this without the trailer connected right? Then anything you measure is really meaningless.
I would not replace the controller unless it fails to work when the trailer is connected.
OTOH, a controller can get weak with use so if it can't stop the trailer on its own, I would then replace it.

I haven't measured mine but understanding how the brakes work, I would not expect to see any or very little voltage on the line until the brakes are activated.

Not sure about that tester light but seems if it indicates voltage on the other pins of the connector something else is wrong. The other lights probably represent running lights, left and right turn/brake lights, and 12 volt power to the trailer.

Yes, it's normal.
It's so the brake controller can "see" the brakes are attached to it.