Installing a Brake Controller on a 2014 Thor Palazzo on a Freightliner XCS Chassis  

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Expert Reply:

I do not have a plug-in style brake controller harness that was designed for a Freightliner XCS chassis brake port, but I do have a hard wire kit that will allow you to complete the installation of a brake controller. I spoke with Thor Motor Coach, and he said Freightliner will put a brake port on their chassis, but they are not aware of a harness that will fit.

There are 4 wires on a brake controller that need to be connected. Since your RV has a brake controller port, you may be able to splice into the wires coming from that port. On the brake controller the black wire is for 12-volt power, the white wire is ground, the blue wire is electric brake output power from the brake controller and the red wire is for the stop light switch.

I do not have a wiring diagram for your RV, so I do not have information on wire colors or functions on the Freightliner brake port, but you can test the wires to see if they can be used. One wire should have constant 12-volt power, this will connect to the black wire. One wire should only have power when the brake pedal is pressed, and this will connect to the red wire. One wire is ground, and one wire should run back to the 7-way trailer connector for the blue wire.

If the wires do not function appropriately or are not accessible, then you can hard wire the brake controller the traditional way using our brake controller wiring kit, # 5506. The black and white wires will run to the positive and negative posts of a 12-volt battery on the motor home. The blue wire will run to the electric brake output circuit on the 7-way trailer connector. You may need an additional length 10-gauge wire, like part # 10-1-1, since it will need to run the length of the motor home. Finally, the red wire will tap into the stop light circuit. This is typically found at the stop light switch on the brake pedal arm. There will be several wires coming out of the stop light switch, but you will want to splice into the wire that only has power when the brake pedal is pressed. I recommend using a circuit tester, like part # PTW2993, to test for the correct wire before splicing.

expert reply by: John H

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