Electric trailer brakes

[opsirc]

The electric brakes on my boat trailer started acting up last week. The green light on the controler inside the cab comes on right away, when plugged in. The first few seconds I step on the brake pedal it will change to red showing the brakes are working, but then a second or two later it starts to fade and flicker. After that they will not work at al, no green light or anything. I have checked the connectors and ground wires, everything seems to be fine. hoping the controler is not goingbad. any ideas????

thanks

[Big Buck Buster]

Is there a break away switch with a battery in this system? If there isn't I would think from what you are describing, there is a corrosion problem somewhere, with a large amount of voltage drop between the controller and the brakes.

Have you tried it on another trailer? I would try it on a different trailer, and if it works fine on that one, it leaves the problem in the boat trailer. If it does the same on both trailers, I would look real close at the wiring from the controller all the way back to the trailer conector on the truck to see if there is any pin holes in the wire where water can enter and corrode the wire. The most common problem I have ran into was the connector on the vehicle itself. Corrosion build up in the connector where the wires are attached. You will have to take the connector apart to see them.