How To Wire Up Electric Trailer Brakes

The service brake circuit must be disconnected from an existing trailer plug.

How to wire up electric trailer brakes. Traditional trailer with brakes use a 5 pin connector. But if you re going to be part of the population that is pulling a trailer make sure you put safety first. A wiring diagram is a streamlined conventional pictorial representation of an electric circuit. Brake magnet wires like what are on the brake assembly 23 106 that you referenced can be wired up with either wire getting the positive and the other getting the ground.

Install a rubber grommet into the hole to protect the wire from chaffing very important caulk the gap between the inner diameter of the rubber grommet and the power wire if necessary to prevent water from running down the wire. This brake controller wiring diagram shows which wire goes where. We then run a jumper wire from the electric brake power wire to the right side brake assemblies see photo. With this setup a power cable runs from the battery to the dash mounted or engine bay mounted controller.

The brake controller wasn t there but the wiring from the brake switch to the trailer plug was already in place. Assortment of electric trailer brake wiring schematic. How electric trailer brakes work. 1 4 wire the first 4 pins white brown yellow green just like the 4 pin connector above.

Many new cars and trucks come with towing packages but most do not come with a trailer brake control. If the trailer wiring is running down the left side of the trailer then we splice the left side brake assemblies into the main electric brake power wire coming from the 7 way connector. A control cable then runs all the way through the vehicle to the trailer connector and then onwards to the trailer brakes. The trailer brake control is a module that controls the electric brakes found on many trailers.

In older controllers the power provided to the trailer brakes is supplied through a separate cable. Step 3 ground wire white wire this wire connects from the brake controller to any reliable ground location. If a trailer has brakes then it needs a connector with at least 5 pins. Hooking up the brake controller was pretty straightforward with the standard wiring harness that comes with the controller.

Ensure it is sealed off and cannot create a short circuit with any other wire or the chassis. As long as current runs through them it doesn t matter which wire gets the positive circuit and which gets the negative run to the trailer frame.