Troubleshooting Hopkins Brake Controller that Is Not as Strong as Voyager

Published 01/26/2018

Question:

I have the Hopkins agility installed on my 2000 Yukon xl and ever since I replaced the teconsha voyager with the Hopkins agility it has not applied the brakes very hard at all. I ask this because a friend borrowed my trailer and was able to manually apply the brakes through the controller on his rig. I have a bypass switch for loading trailers is it likley that turning this on has backfed the controller and caused an internal controller issue!

asked by: Justin

Expert Reply:

The Hopkins brake controllers don't have the best reputation as being the most reliable on the market so it's very possible yours has an internal issue like you mentioned and would need to be replaced with something like the P3 part # 90195 which is a very reliable brake controller.

Testing the brake controller is fairly easy. Sever the blue brake output wire near the brake controller leaving enough room to reconnect it and then apply the manual slide. Using a circuit tester like the Quickee Tester, part # 3808, you should get output to the controller side of the wire you severed. If the manual slide activates the trailer brake output wire properly, try the brake pedal. If the brake pedal activates the brake output properly also then the problem is farther back either in the vehicle wiring or on the trailer.

If either the brake pedal or the manual slide are not functioning properly you will need to test the wires going into the brake controller. Make sure you have power entering the brake controller on the black wire. On the red wire you will only want power when the brake pedal is pressed.

If there is power on the red wire before the brake pedal is pressed you have connected the red wire from the brake controller to the wrong circuit. You would then need to find the brake switch wire that has power ONLY when the brake pedal is activated.

If these connections check out and the brake controller is properly grounded then there is possibly a problem inside the brake controller.

I am including a link to a video that will show you how to test the wiring on a brake controller.

expert reply by: Jameson C