Troubleshooting Brake Controller And Trailer Brakes That Lock Up

Updated 07/18/2016 | Published 07/16/2016

Products Featured in This Question

Hook Probe Circuit Tester

(70)

$13.94

Digital Multimeter with 42" Long Test Leads - LED Display

(3)

$23.20

Question:

My question is regarding my Prodigy P2. I purchased this from you over a year ago, and has been working just fine. So, after about 5 hours of travel with gas stops of course, my brakes begin to lock up and I have to bring the P2 settings way down to around 2.3 from an average 5.6 initial cold setting. You would think it would be the opposite with hot brakes and they would fade and i would need to increase the setting. Have you heard of this? Is it an issue with the controller instead? Thank you.

asked by: John M

Expert Reply:

There is a long list of possible issues you can check out. First, are the hubs really hot and could that be due to a lack of grease? That could cause the brake to stick as you described.

If that is not the issue you may have a short somewhere. You can test the brake output pin with a circuit tester like part # PTW2993 and it should only show power with the manual override. To test for the amount of voltage you are getting you can use a meter like part # PT89ZR. If it shows power any other time, then there is a short somewhere between the connector and the brake controller you will need to track down.

If the vehicle side checks out fine, then it could be a problem with the brake magnets or the wiring for the magnets. Inspect the power wires to the magnets and look for damaged or pinched wires and repair as needed. Make sure the ground wires are attached to clean and bare metal surfaces.

You can inspect the magnets and if you can see the copper windings coming through, then the magnets will need to be replaced. To do some additional testing of the magnets you can check out the attached helpful article.

I have also included some helpful articles on testing and troubleshooting your brake controller you can check out.

expert reply by: Jeffrey L