Does Ground Connection for Brake Controller Have to be Routed Directly to Vehicle Battery

Published 02/11/2022

Question:

I want to verify that its absolutely necessary to ground the brake controller to the battery? The battery for the vehicle is in the cargo area and it makes for a very long ground wire. Is it possible to ground it somewhere else up front? Just want to check before I install it against the guide that came with the parts.

asked by: Jesse

Expert Reply:

When installing the Universal Installation Kit for Trailer Brake Controller # ETBC7 it isn't necessary to connect the ground wire from the brake controller directly to the negative terminal on your vehicle battery - just find a sufficient mounting point at the front of your 2020 Toyota Highlander and you'll be fine.

The reason why our diagram shows the ground to the battery is because the wiring that comes with the ETBC7 kit has duplex wiring for the power and ground connections. Since the negative terminal on your battery is a better ground point and you'll be routing the power wire to the battery anyways we recommend just keeping that wiring in the sleeve and routing the wiring together back to the battery since it's essentially just 1 larger wire if that makes sense.

Attached is an installation video of this wiring kit on a 2019 Highlander that you can use as a reference, but the battery is under the hood of the vehicle as opposed to in the cargo area like what you have on your 2020 model.

expert reply by: Jon G