Troubleshooting A Curt Venturer Brake Controller That Is No Longer Working

Updated 08/20/2014 | Published 08/18/2014

Question:

Hello, I have a Curt Venturer brake controller, Part C74VV and adapter C51515. The controller worked flawlessly for around 4-6 weeks, and now it is having issues. The light on the controller will randomly flicker and provide no breaking to my camper. One day in town it randomly locked the camper breaks for a quick second, which really surprised me. I have hooked up the exact same controller that a friend has and had no issues. I have unplugged the controller for the fact that it is no longer working properly. I am not sure what the exact issue is, but I do know that this product is not supposed to operate like this. Do you have any guidance on what to do to resolve this issue? Thank you for your help,

asked by: Sean G

Expert Reply:

Per the instructions for the Curt Venturer Brake Controller, part # C74VV, a blinking red light means there is a brake overload or a short. The probable solutions listed for this is to confirm the brake maximum load of 6. If that is not the issue, then you will need to locate the short and fix it. If you find no short in the system, the controller may be bad.

You will need to test the wires at the back of the brake controller for proper input and output. The red wire should only have power when the brake pedal is pressed, the black wire should have constant 12 volt power, the white wire should be properly grounded and the blue wire should have output when the brake controller is activated. I have attached a link to a video on brake controller wire testing you can check out.

You can do a bench test as described in the instructions to see if the problem is with the controller itself. I have attached the instructions you can check out to accomplish the bench test. If you find that the controller is not working as it should it will need to be replaced or repaired.

expert reply by: Jeffrey L