Powering and Troubleshooting Blue Ox Patriot

Updated 09/02/2020 | Published 08/31/2020

Products Featured in This Question

Blue Ox Patriot Portable Flat Tow Brake System - Proportional

(396)

$1505.17

12 Volt Outlet Kit, 20 amps

(331)

$40.45

Question:

Can it work off the usb port? If you have an adapter or does it need to go straight to the battery? My unit will not setup, goes red after setup. Thanks

asked by: Bill N

Expert Reply:

The Blue Ox Patriot # BLU37TR requires 12 volts to operate and uses a cigarette lighter style plug. So the Roadmaster 12 Volt Outlet Kit # RM-9332 would be perfect to power.

The 12V kit is designed to hook directly to the battery of your towed vehicle, and gives you 5 foot of wire to route the socket into the front seat so you can plug the Patriot 3 in. I would not recommend using any kind of adapter because that can change how much voltage is getting through the plug and potentially cause power loss or other errors.

Before putting the main brake unit in your towed vehicle, you should plug the monitor/ RF controller first. This will give you a display of what the error codes are if any occur during set up.

A typical error code is when the lights are solid red and blue on the unit. That means there is too much pressure being put on the brake unit and it needs to be pulled away from the brake pedal until the lights go to flashing blue and green. If they aren't flashing it will not let you continue with the set up.

Another thing to keep in mind is any time that you start your towed vehicle you must reset the brake system and go through the set up procedure again. I've included a copy of the instructions for the Patriot so you can take a look at the troubleshooting section. Let me know if that does not fix the issue so I can help you continue to troubleshoot the issue.

expert reply by: Robert C