Why Would Prodigy Brake Controller Show Random Numbers Occasionally With No Trailer Connected

Published 12/20/2018

Question:

Our prodigy controller will periodically show numbers in the display even though our trailer is not hooked up. Sometimes it seems to work ok, 2 little blue dots and nc when you turn the engine off. Other times the minute you start the vehicle, numbers appear in the display and they go up and down depending on how hard you are applying the brakes. The trailer dealership that put the system on our vehicle has tried to remedy the problem and we had the vehicle to the Chevy dealer to have them check the wiring. Can you help?

asked by: Christine J

Expert Reply:

Somehow a 12 volt power source is shorting out to the red wire of the brake controller. This is the circuit that tells the controller to turn on and start looking for braking so an intermittent short here is going to cause the controller to show numbers on the display when you hit a bump. Try checking the wiring of the controller to see if you can separate out the red wire better from the other wires and the problem should go away.

expert reply by: Jameson C