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Butch50's avatar
Butch50
Explorer
Mar 26, 2014

Question for the trailer towers here

I have 2 trailers that I'll be towing at different times behind my truck camper. I just added the an extension cable that you insert by taking apart the connection at the back of the plug and inserting this cable between the cable and the 7 pin connector. So while I was doing this I backed it up to my Aluma 10' flatbed trailer to make sure it was going to work before taking a hole saw to the bed of the truck. All worked but I have a strange situation. When I have the key turned on to try out the turn signals I was getting a click about every 10 seconds from the brake on the passenger side of the trailer. So I turned off the turn signals and the ticking was still there. I'm sure it is my brake magnet clicking but I have never seen/heard anything like this before.

As long as I had power turned on in the truck the ticking continued, when I turned the power off the ticking stopped. Now the Ram is different than my Ford was as there is power being fed to the 7 pin plug as long as it remains plugged in.

I was going to check out the wiring but it has been to cold to start crawling under the trailer to see what I can find.

Any suggestions of what might be happening or causing this?
Truck Campers
  • Jamm3r's avatar
    Jamm3r
    Explorer
    Apr 03, 2014
    Butch

    The integrated brake controllers on newer trucks will send an electrical pulse down the brake line several times a minute to verify that the brakes are connected. It's a short enough pulse that it won't engage the brakes but under the right conditions you might be able to hear a click.
  • btggraphix's avatar
    btggraphix
    Explorer
    Mar 28, 2014
    Butch - you should check out a song by Corb Lund from Alberta called Chinook Wind. It rings so true. Of all the weather we get here in the foothills the one that bothers me the most is the wind (especially in the winter.) 'Course, in my recent trip through West Texas and Oklahoma the winds out there further east were bad too. Dust storms in Midland and I heard storm/tornado sirens in OKC. Had to shut the last window one night because the dust was blowing in even past the day/night shade. Fires and flash floods I can handle ;) I hate it enough to not proscribe to the Sleepy theory of leaving the jacks up and pointing in to the wind; I anchor that baby down with the jacks most times and dream about outriggers for my chassis. My airbags really add to the rocking surprisingly for such a heavy rig.

    Though.....I never liked tornados and at least the Chinooks in the foothills don't bring them.

    It starts:
    "I was born with the Chinook wind howlin in my ears
    That Rocky Mountain gusty sh*t, it dried me out for years
    Way back I think my grandpa had a rope horse by that name
    All I know is, God, here comes that old west wind again"
  • Raften's avatar
    Raften
    Explorer
    Mar 27, 2014
    For me anyway, most often problems with 12V systems and trailers seem to have something to do with a bad ground. First thing I check.
  • Butch50's avatar
    Butch50
    Explorer
    Mar 27, 2014
    Brian,

    Duh I have one of those testers that you plug into the 7 pin to check the wiring. Should have thought of that. I had to use it on my 2011 Ford when I was running a 4 pin trailer so every time I backed up the close proxmity alarn wouldn't go off as it faked out the truck to think there was a trailer with brakes hooked up. I sued this unit for over 11,000 mile for the trip to Alaska and back. This is what DJ found that worked so I bought one of those and it worked great for that.

    I suspect that it is in the trailer. I did not have the hitch on the ball on the truck so it could be a poor ground. I know everything worked right. The extension that I added in is made by Curt. I also need to back the truck up to my other trailer and see what happens there.

    Thanks for the suggestions. If this wind every lets up here this year I'll get a chance to check it out but I don't feel like crawling under it with 20 to 35 MPH winds. I don't function well in higher winds. It drives me crazy. This is one of the reasons I moved out of CO and the wind drove me nuts. I know it was a short drive, thought I would get that out right away.
  • Farmerjon's avatar
    Farmerjon
    Explorer
    Mar 27, 2014
    I agree it is probably, maybe a ground issue even though that doesn't make sense.
    Last week i wanted to check the wireing on our goose neck to be sure everything was still working before Iwas ready to use it and I didn't bother to drop it on the ball.
    Everything was behaving weird.
    I ran a jumper cable from frame to frame and all was fixed. Obviously I have a poor ground wire connection somewhere.
  • SugarHillCTD's avatar
    SugarHillCTD
    Explorer
    Mar 27, 2014
    My first thought is a ground problem.

    The wiring and electrical connections live in a difficult environment and typically those components are not automotive quality.

    That has been my experience on more than one occasion.
  • btggraphix's avatar
    btggraphix
    Explorer
    Mar 27, 2014
    Fun guessing......only one side (and other things) blows my first thought of "you don't have your emergency breakaway pin inserted". :) I'd first remove the extension and see if you can manage to park the truck close enough to connect it without the extension and see what it does. I've got to figure the extension is wired differently than your plug in the truck.

    I keep threatening to buy one of those lighted 7way test plugs that verify the wiring for you....pretty useful. Check the truck, then plug in the extension and check the back end of that. I've had the 4way ones before. But that would be the easiest first step....would only take a few minutes out in the cold. Handy for borrowed trailers that always seem to be wired wrong.

    You have two trailers, what does the other one do?
  • tooldad1041's avatar
    tooldad1041
    Explorer
    Mar 27, 2014
    My dad's ram 2500 had constant power to the 12v line on the 7 way plug. My ram 2500 had a camper mod before I purchased it, so that way the 12v would shut off when truck was off.

    Now I have a ford and there are no issues with 12v staying on. Must be a dodge thing

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