Troubleshooting Prodigy Brake Controller Not Sending Enough Power To Brakes

Updated 08/21/2025 | Published 08/11/2025

Question:

I recently purchased a hydrastar electric over hydraulic brake actuator and a proportional brake controller.I believe that I have a bad brake controller.I set it up as desribed and dont get enough power to the brakes to blead them.I only get about 2 volts to the blue wire but after set up in the mid range I get 7 volts on the manual overide.The brake switch seems to be working fine I get 12 volts to the red wire when I press the brakes. I have gone back to the old electric brake controller and the new actuator seems to work fine but I am worried that this controller will burn out the pump motor in the actuator as when I press the brakes I have 12 volts at all time to the blue wire at the actuator. I replaced both the actuator and controller. Is there a way to test if the new actuator is faulty.I have tried both the electric and hydraulic in the set up.Not sure what would be correct being both electric and hydraulic. The controller is the prodigy P3 and the actuator is the 1600 psi hydrastar.

asked by: Ken N

Expert Reply:

Hey Ken,

Considering you went back to the old brake controller and new actuator and it worked fine, I do think the issue is with the Prodigy 3. If there is no error message popping up on the screen of the controller it could be an issue with the ground or gauge of wire on your trailer. I would inspect all the grounds and insure they are solid connections, as well as making sure the trailer wiring is at least a 10 gauge wire to be big enough to handle the power.

If those do not fix the issue let me know and I will continue to troubleshoot for you.

expert reply by: Nick S