break-away switch activated...Tekonsha Voyager fried??

[Mik]

had the 5th wheel trailering, spare tire in back of the truck slid around and pulled the break-away switch out...brakes locked up yes

question is: i thought i read somewhere that the activation of the break-away switch sends a current back to the controller that kills the controller, fried, toasted

the little green light no longer comes on the controller when i plug into the trailer

the rear axle brakes seem to apply as soon as the trailer is plugged into the truck

(by truck I am referring to the 91 E350 hauler)

thanks guys

[JimTJr]

It seems I recall reading that too, if you activate the breakaway with the trailer plug still hooked up, it can damage it,,, I don't recall where I read it, maybe in the instructions for the controller when I was trying to rewire it,,since I thought I had a problem with mine,,(It did, seems the original person had it wired wrong on my 99 )

[Mik]

was just doing some testing on the 7-pin connector on the hauler

the blu pin for the trailer brakes has 12.5 volts when key is off (also when key is on)...so the trailer brakes would be receiving 12volts all the time

so something is haywire there

[Mik]

from the Tekonsha website:

Q.) There is 12 volts on the Blue Wire all the time.
A.) This is normal operation. The Voyager® sends a low current voltage checking for the trailer. Once the Voyager has a complete circuit to ground on the Blue wire. Then the Green light will come on and the voltage will disappear.

[Mik]

and also from the Tekonsha website:

Q.) There is no green light on with the trailer connected.
A.) The Voyager® has to have a complete circuit to ground through the brake magnets on the Blue wire to turn the Green light on. Possible Causes:
1 Trailer not connected properly or completely.
2 No power on Black wire.
3 Bad ground on White wire.
4 Open in brake circuit wire.
5 Truck and trailer mis-wired.
6 Power back feed on brake circuit (Blue wire).
7 Faulty control.


the first 3 possibilities I am fairly certain can't be my problem, but # 4, 6 and 7 are pretty good possibilities

[ritschner]

I had a Tekonsha Sentinal that did the same thing when the break-away switch was activated on a gooseneck while trying to diagnose a brake problem. I opened up the brake controller and what I found was a 6 amp diode inside had shorted with the current reversal. I replaced the diode and resolved the problem. Fortunately, when the diode shorted, it did not fry the rest of the electronics. I am not familiar with the Voyager internals, but imagine it is the same basic system.

[Bob C.]

Yep, it's fried. You would think that Tekonsha would anticipate the activation of a breakaway switch at some point & beef up their circuit protection.

[jhughd]

I accidently activated my break-away switch with no problems when reactivated the switch. This was with a prodigy.

JD