mikestock
Vestavia Hills, AL, USA
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Joined: 12/01/2002
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I have a Prodigy brake controller. When brakes are applied I get intermittent "SH" (short) and "OL" (overload) on the readout.
Talking to a Prodigy technician I was told that if the error only showed up when hooked to the trailer the problem is in the trailer. I have, so far, pulled all four wheels and checked wiring under the trailer, looking for bad wiring insulation. Also, I have checked the junction box wiring. Much of the wiring from the junction box to the axles is not easily accessible but I don't see the likelihood of the problem being there. Other than replacing magnets I can't think of anything to do next. I'm considering disconnecting two wheels at a time to see if the problems goes away.
Any suggestions welcome.
2005 F250 Crew Cab LWB Power Stroke, 2007 Montana 3500RL Fifth Wheel,Honda EU3000IS, Twin Honda EU2000i's, S&W security system
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ScottG
Bothell Wa.
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Joined: 02/25/2005
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If the wires cross through the axle tubes then that's probably where the short is.
Eventually the insulation of the wires will chafe through and short to the inside of the axles.
Scott, Grace and Wesly
2003 Dodge 3500 4x4, 6 speed Cummins (lightly bombed),
2004 Forest River 25RKS many, many mods.
H0NDA eu2000i
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Ozlander
Rose Hill, Kansas
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Joined: 04/23/2003
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ScottG wrote:If the wires cross through the axle tubes then that's probably where the short is.
Eventually the insulation of the wires will chafe through and short to the inside of the axles.
X2
Ozlander
06 Yukon XL
2001 Trail-Lite 7253
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enblethen
Moses Lake, WA
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Joined: 01/05/2005
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Remove the housing from your connector. It is psossible that one of the wires is loose making contact with ground or another conductor.
Bud
USAF Retired
Suzuki XL7 pushing Pace Arrow
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mikestock
Vestavia Hills, AL, USA
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Joined: 12/01/2002
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enblethen wrote:Remove the housing from your connector. It is psossible that one of the wires is loose making contact with ground or another conductor.
I'm not sure I understand. If you are referring to the junction box I have checked this carefully, twice.
ScottG wrote:If the wires cross through the axle tubes then that's probably where the short is.
Eventually the insulation of the wires will chafe through and short to the inside of the axles.
I have tried pulling these wires around to see if I could temporarily clear the short. It didn't work. I guess the next easiest thing to do is to pull all new wires through the axles.
The message doesn't show up when sitting still. This made me think it had to be within the brake assemblies where the activity is. I thought I had cleared it up when I found a suspect wire in the left front assembly but that didn't do it.
I recently had to replace a gray water dump valve which required pushing the wiring around inside the under covers. Don't think I did anything that could have caused this but it showed up the next time I towed, so I guess I'll go back and take a look.
* This post was
edited 05/31/12 09:01am by mikestock *
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enblethen
Moses Lake, WA
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Joined: 01/05/2005
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I mean the end of the ambilical cord at the TV end.
Trailer connector
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mikestock
Vestavia Hills, AL, USA
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Joined: 12/01/2002
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enblethen wrote:I mean the end of the ambilical cord at the TV end.
Trailer connector
I have a jumper running from the bumper female connector to the truck bed for convenience. I tried bypassing this but no help. The connector and pigtail from the junction box are factory molded. I can't get to it.
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enblethen
Moses Lake, WA
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The molded connector could be where the problem is. Moisture gets in and corrodes the connections.
Try running an external jumper between TV brake terminal and the blue wire in the junction box. Disconnect the blue wire from the ambilical cord. You need to connect the ground also. This is just to test for connector problem.
If you have a multimeter with a high resistance scale you could try and read from the blue wire to all others in connector to see if any resistance exists. Disconnect blue wire in junction box. This could be easier then jumpers if you have a meter.
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mikestock
Vestavia Hills, AL, USA
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Since I am now camping and not too far from home I've decided to disconnect the front axle brakes to see if that stops the error messages. I don't have any seep grades or heavy traffic to deal with. If the error messages still show up I may stop half way, reconnect the front axle and disconnect the rear.
I did find that, after disconnecting the front brakes the left front magnet measured 17.6 ohms resistance and the right measured 5.2 ohms. I don't think this would be a factor since the error messages say short and overload. Maybe somebody knows better. I guess I will order new magnets but don't think this will solve the problem.
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mydazeoff
Annapolis MD
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Joined: 03/13/2007
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Sounds like the magnets are a problem. I just went through a wiring diagnosis because I had resistance somewhere an the brake wiring and losing about 4 volts. I eventually found that all 4 magnets were defective. Ohm reading of 5.5. Once I clipped the wiring at a magnet, I could test the voltage at the king pen (hitch) and see the voltage increased. I'm now in the process of replacing all brake magnets.
2006 GMC Sierra 2500HD Duramax LLY, CC, LB
2005 Jayco Eagle 323RKS
Reese 15000 lb. 4 way hitch
Annapolis, Maryland
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