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Old 07-06-2022, 07:12 PM   #1
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Flagstaff Brakes

I recently purchased a 28' 2011 Flagstaff 8528 5th wheel. I tow it with a 2015 GMC Sierra 1500 with an integrated brake controller. I previously had a Coachman that I towed and stopped no problems.

It had very few miles as it was a seasonal unit. When I first towed it I found the brakes barely worked, even with the gain set at 10. After a lot of diagnostics the tech finally just decided to replace the drums, shoes and magnets. He told me it was working fine on his truck, however when I took it out there was still very little braking.

They did a test where they pulled the emergency brake plug and the wheels locked up, but when it was plugged back in I had no response to the brakes or the display on the dash. They connected the yard truck to it and the brakes held fine. I also connected my truck to a different trailer and those brakes worked perfectly.

For some reason my trailer brakes will not work on my truck. Anyone heard of this before or have any suggestions I can diplomatically I can give the tech please?


Thanks.
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Old 07-06-2022, 07:33 PM   #2
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May be time to break out the manual that came with the truck. Many GMC/chevy trucks have to be programed as I recall there are three level of breaking on the built in controller, High, med and low. Others have said that they had to go to the high setting to have proper braking.
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Old 07-06-2022, 08:22 PM   #3
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Brakes

OK Chuck thanks. I had it to the GMC dealer to check the controller, one would have thought they would check that, but..... I'll follow up on it.
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Old 09-17-2022, 04:43 PM   #4
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Same issue

I'm having the same problem with my 2018 E-Pro. Gain adjusted to max and get slight breaking. Installed new breaks & drums and installed new controller, no change. Voltage out at truck (2018 Chevy Colorado) is 11 volts, alternator and battery check okay. Any thoughts are appreciated.
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Old 09-17-2022, 06:55 PM   #5
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I would suggest that your next step should be to check the amps going to each wheel with a clamp around the wire type of amp meter. Your reading of 11 volts seem a little on the low side to me, but each truck mfr is different. I would use the manual control on the brake controller to ensure that the controller is not reducing your breaking voltage because you are not moving. You should be reading about 5-6 amps going to each wheel with the manual control over to maximum.

I had the same problem with my unit and the basic problem was poor connections and too small a gauge of wire being used.
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Old 09-17-2022, 07:24 PM   #6
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Thanks! I'll try that.
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Old 09-18-2022, 07:06 AM   #7
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A couple thoughts.
1. What Chuck say ... I have a ePro 19FBS, and I had to set my "gain" to 3.5 to get any real effect.
2. Can you amp-clamp DC?
3. Check the wiring to the brakes. My built in April 2022 camper must have been built on a Friday at 2PM. The electrical workmanship was abysmal.
4. If you understand electricity, place a meter with the negative lead on chassis (may need to get through paint), and positive (red) lead on Pin-2 (Blue) and then have someone pump the brake while you observe the reading. This will confirm presence of signal. FYI I say black lead on chassis as sometimes the manufacturer will use the chassis as the common ground point.
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Old 09-18-2022, 08:46 AM   #8
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Yes you can amp clamp DC, I have done this on my unit with a Ford truck. Other mfr use a modulated DC to control the power to the breaks. Therefore a RAM type truck with produce a wave that looks like a square wave, with the amount of area under the square ware modulated to produce the braking.
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Old 09-18-2022, 09:02 AM   #9
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We have discovered that this failure on Ram hd trucks is common.

Voltage to the trailer is regulated by the truck.

Ours is only 6-8 volts. Not enough for a large trailer or fiver. Small ones are often ok.

Dealers see this so seldom they are clueless. Some interconnection issue with the abs some said.

I have a new aftermarket controller to try.

If, when you remove the safety, they work well, well new stuff is necessary.

I also read of similar issues with GM.

Get the wheels off the ground. The safety switch is great. The brake controller is not!
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Old 09-18-2022, 09:21 AM   #10
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We don't even mess with the built in factory trailer brake controllers in any of the new pickups we purchase for the farm (when you could still find new HDs). We have found the factory controllers and towing related wiring to be lacking, no matter which of the big 3 it is.
We install our own controllers when we are wiring the new trucks for the farm trailers . We use a separate power connection for robust battery charging as all our crop trailers have batteries for the dump feature. Then we have another connection for lights/brakes.
Not as convenient as a built in controller and one 7 way connection, but it sure works better!
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Old 09-18-2022, 09:46 AM   #11
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I suspect Scott’s post is correct. Wise!

Even day one the Ram never impressed me..
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Old 09-19-2022, 04:30 AM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by clr View Post
Therefore a RAM type truck with produce a wave that looks like a square wave, with the amount of area under the square ware modulated to produce the braking.

You have my curiosity running. I'm going to have to take the O-scope out and check my 2019 Chevy. Suke2U's comment about 11 volts is interesting. I would expect +12 to 13.8 (running). And what tomkatb said about +6 to 8 volts is interesting, too.



Quote:
Dealers see this so seldom they are clueless. Some interconnection issue with the abs some said.

I had a lot of problems with my local dealer just trying to get information on where I good place would be to pick off a voltage which followed the ignition switch.


However there is a site where you can get the full monty of electrical manual for GM products. THIS MANUAL is huge, but it was helpful to find the points I needed. I suspect Ford and Dodge have similar sites.


I also suspect that many of the new dealer techs are instructed to go by the computer and check list rather than knowing the product "ol school".
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Old 10-09-2022, 01:58 AM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Suke2U View Post
I'm having the same problem with my 2018 E-Pro. Gain adjusted to max and get slight breaking. Installed new breaks & drums and installed new controller, no change. Voltage out at truck (2018 Chevy Colorado) is 11 volts, alternator and battery check okay. Any thoughts are appreciated.

It all came around later in the travels. I needed to let the trailer battery get up to a full charge. Once that happened I needed to move the gain down to 6 to put the brakes even with the truck braking.
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Old 10-09-2022, 08:03 AM   #14
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All the wiring diagrams I have seen for trailer brakes shows that only the emergency breakaway switch uses the trailer's battery. I doubt having a fully charged trailer battery was the solution...


More than likely you may still have a dirty loose connection somewhere..
this time when you hooked it up it got connected better? Don't be surprised if the problem comes back sooner or later.

The truck's brake controller sends various voltages to the magnets to apply more or less braking effort to each wheel

The controller sends a very SMALL CONSTANT signal (0.2v) to the brakes to determine if a trailer is connect.

IF any of the connections are bad your controller and brakes can and will have problems.

Check all connections from:
controller ... 7 pin plug blue wire ...... junction (split off to each side and where emergency switch is spliced) ...... wheel magnet


clean and inspect every connection make sure they are tight


TIP .....
While testing with a multi meter for 12v LOW amp circuits
if I can't find a spot to put a probe, I sometimes use sewing pins to pierce a wire's insulation
OR...... shove the sewing pin into the back of a connector to measure voltage ..
makes checking voltage much easier sometimes
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Old 10-09-2022, 08:20 AM   #15
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Replaced the Ram controller with the P3 aftermarket.

Truck just seemed to act better.

Hard to really test. They have all kinds of devices to limit effectiveness at slow speeds.
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Old 10-09-2022, 10:30 AM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by NMWildcat View Post
We don't even mess with the built in factory trailer brake controllers in any of the new pickups we purchase for the farm (when you could still find new HDs). We have found the factory controllers and towing related wiring to be lacking, no matter which of the big 3 it is.
We install our own controllers when we are wiring the new trucks for the farm trailers . We use a separate power connection for robust battery charging as all our crop trailers have batteries for the dump feature. Then we have another connection for lights/brakes.
Not as convenient as a built in controller and one 7 way connection, but it sure works better!
Very smart ↑ Everyone that I know that has a late model rig with the integrated brake controller has opted to install their own for better brake performance.
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Old 12-11-2022, 10:43 AM   #17
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2023 E Pro 19FD

After leaving the 3-hour set up appointment very tired, I had barely any braking at all with my 2021 Ram 1500 Classic with factory Tow Package. I have a PJ 18' equipment trailer with 2 5K brake equipped axles and at gain of 5 you go through the windshield. I went back and everything seemed to check out and the Tech said they may need to burn in. After 2 days of driving and braking only with the hand controller they seem to be much better, but the gain is still on 10. On the screen it does say Light Trailer. I cant see how to change it.
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