Brake Controller - Helpful Videos and How To Articles

Brake Controller Installation - 2008 Chevrolet Silverado - Video

Today we are going to install brake controller part number 90185 from Tekonsha, the Prodigy Brake Controller, and we are going to install this on a 2008 Chevrolet Silverado. And on the back of the vehicle, we are going to install part number PK11916. This is a 7-Way Car Replacement Socket, and we are going to use part number 20047 from Tow-Ready, the 7-way car replacement socket. The replacement socket is going to fit right here where it would normally be a factory connection. Since this vehicle does not have it, all you have to do is unscrew this counter-clockwise, pull it out, and there is actually the wiring harness right behind it. So all you do is just push down on this tab right here and it comes apart. Then we will take our connector and just pop it back into place. Make sure the latch is secured, and then go ahead and reattach it like the cover was. Now we will go underneath and inside the cab of the truck and go ahead and start installing the brake controller. more

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Posted: 7/23/2009 9:17:40 AM

Brake Controller Installation - 2007 Chevy Silverado - Video

Today we are going to install a Prodigy brake controller, part number 90185 from Tekonsha, along with the accompanying wiring harness, part number 3015-P, and we are going to install these two components on a 2007 Chevrolet Silverado pickup. The first thing we are going to do is install the bracket for our brake controller. There is a nice piece of steel underneath the dashboard here, so we are going to attach it directly to that. And you can put it anywhere you want, but just about right here is a good, even spot. And we are actually going to clamp it in place, and then we will just drill out our attaching screws. Now we are using self-tapping screws. These did not come with the brake controller we outsourced those. So let us go ahead and run those self-tapping screws in there. Just one more check to make sure it did not move on you or anything, and set the other screw in. more

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Posted: 7/23/2009 9:24:39 AM

Brake Controller Installation - 2009 Chevrolet Silverado - Video

Today we are going to install part number 90185 from Tekonsha, the Prodigy Brake Controller, and we are going to install this on a 2009 Chevrolet Silverado. The tow package wiring harness is located underneath the dash, below the steering column, a little bit off to the left side. It is stuck up behind some wires up underneath there so it is kind of hidden, but there is a little tag that comes with it to help you locate it. So we will just untape it from that bundle right here and pull it out, and then we will have room to work on it and make our wire connections. OK, we have got our wires pulled out, and we can go ahead and get them ready to install. And you want to take a second to look at the tag to see which wire does what. Blue is kind of a giveaway, that is the big wire that goes out to the brakes on your trailer. And then red is going to be your 12-volt battery supply right here. And the blue with the white tracer here, that is going to be your brake light circuit. And the white wire will be ground, and the orange wire will not be used at all. more

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Posted: 7/6/2009 12:23:01 PM

Brake Controller Installation - 2009 Chevrolet Silverado - Video

Today we are going to install part number 90185, and we are going to install this brake controller from Tekonsha on a 2009 Chevrolet Silverado. This is where our wiring harness is it is tucked up behind the ventilation port. It is behind some wires. It is taped up, and you can see the blue and the orange wires. They are kind of on the heavy side, so it is a good indicator of which harness it is. We have got a label here that shows you which wire does what. But we will go ahead and cover them here. The white is going to be our ground wire. This blue, light blue wire with the white tracer is going to be our brake feed off the brake switch. The red wire with the black tracer is going to be our 12-volt power supply. And the blue is going to be our power output from the brake controller going out to the back of the truck. And this orange wire here is not used at all. Let us go ahead and connect our wires up per function. more

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Posted: 5/15/2009 4:23:24 PM

Brake Controller Installation - 1993 Chevrolet Suburban - Video

Today we are going to be installing part number 90185, the Prodigy by Tekonsha, on a 1993 Chevrolet Suburban. We are also going to be using the Brake Control Installation Kit, part number ETBC7 as well. We are going to start at the rear of the vehicle and go ahead and install the 7-pole wiring adapter that is included in the ETBC7. We have already installed the 4-pole wiring harness under the vehicle, so that is going to be the basis of what the 7-pole is actually going to plug into. The installation kit also comes with a mounting bracket for the 7-pole. Typically, you would need to find a mounting point for the bracket itself, like on the bottom of the bumper, or somewhere of that sort. The hitch that we previously installed as well actually has a mounting bracket attached to it, so we are going to attach the 7-pole bracket there, and then mount the 7-pole inside of there. With the 7-pole attached and into position, we want to go ahead and make our connection with the existing 4-pole into the 7-pole here. These two wires here, the blue one and the black one, are going to be for the brake lead for the brake controller and then the hot lead that goes directly to the battery. And we are going to connect that to the double-bonded wire that came with the ETBC7. The purple wire here is for the reverse function on the 7-pole harness. If your trailer does not have reverse lights, you do not necessarily have to hook this one up - you can just kind of tape it up and out of the way. The white wire is for the ground, and that does need to be grounded directly to the frame here itself. I have an existing grounding point from the pre-existing 4-pole harness that we have in place so I am just going to use that one as well. We actually have put a smaller ring terminal on the white ground wire here to accommodate the smaller screw that I have used to attach the ground. OK, we are going to go ahead and attach the double-bonded wire that was provided in the ETBC7with the two wires on the 7-pole harness now. So I am going to strip back a little bit of the jacketing. And, as you can see inside the jacketing here, we have go two wires. We have got a white and a black. We are going to go ahead and use the white wire and connect it to the blue brake lead on the harness and we are just going to cut-connect black to black here. more

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Posted: 12/16/2008 4:31:21 PM

Brake Controller Installation - 2004 Chevrolet Suburban - Video

Today we are going to be installing the Prodigy, part number 90185, on a 2004 Chevrolet Suburban. We also are going to using the Prodigy adapter for the Suburban, part number 3015-P. The first thing we want to do is to locate the port that the brake control plug is going to plug into. As you can see, we are in the drivers side cab area, underneath the steering column. It will be located on the top row, second from the left. So what we are going to do is go ahead and remove the cover here, and go ahead and plug in the brake control plug. And we are going to go ahead and plug in part 3015-P. And it plugs in right there. And as you can see, the other end of the harness here has the plug end for the Prodigy itself. So I am going to go ahead and route these wires up and over, out of the way. And then we are going to go ahead and find a suitable mounting point for the Prodigy itself. OK, I went ahead and routed the harness up and out of the way. I have routed it over here to the right side of the steering column. On the Chevy Suburban here, there is actually a lip that is folded under on the bottom side of the dash here, which makes a perfect spot to mount the bracket for the brake controller itself. So I am going to go ahead and mount it in that location there. more

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Posted: 12/15/2008 3:30:43 PM