Troubleshooting Flashing Blue Screen on Tekonsha Prodigy P3 Brake Controller

Updated 03/23/2020 | Published 03/22/2020

Question:

Dear Sirs, Just so you know I sent a request to customer service and found this QandA after. Just installed order #for a Tekonsha Prodigy P3 Trailer Brake Controller this weekend. My vehicle is a 2011 GMC Sierra. We followed the on-line video for my vehicle year and model and everything seemed to go well. We connected vehicle power and the unit lit up and seemed to be working fine until we connected our trailer. We made the connection to the trailer, set the unit up as instructed in the manual and was on our way to test and set the brakes. However, as soon as the brake pedal was pressed the unit started to flash a blue screen. Because it is a continuous flashing blue screen we took a video and I would like to attach it but dont think we can. One thing we noticed was when the brake was not pressed the screen flashed slower than when the brake is pressed down. Not sure if this makes a difference. We looked through the manual and dont see a problem like this mentioned. Any ideas? If you want me to send over the video just let me know. Thank You,

asked by: Charles P

Expert Reply:

Thank you for all of the info that you provided.

From what you described I believe you have a wiring issue going on. If everything tested out just fine for the P3 # 90195 after you installed it on your 2011 GMC Sierra then it leads me to believe that the problem lies on your trailer wiring as opposed to the installation of the brake controller. If you jump to page 10 of the instructions for the P3 (which are linked to this page for you to check out) you can see that there are multiple times where the screen can flash and it all has to do with warnings.

If you are able to read the screen it should give you some extra info on what the problem is and then you can refer to the instructions to see what is going on and what the possible solution would be. I would imagine that you're going to need to start off with the ground connections on your trailer. This goes for your main ground as well as the grounds for your trailer brakes.

Let me know if your screen is flashing a different warning than what is in the instructions, and if you have verified that all of the wiring on your trailer is properly connected and I can help you troubleshoot further.

expert reply by: Jon G