Have you ever had that “What in the world is going on” moment? Well, we had one the day we picked up our new RV. The first time that I pressed on the brake and the new brake controller engaged my instrument cluster lit up like a Christmas tree! That’s when I thought we might have some truck trouble. 

My traction control light was on, my auto engine turn-off light was on, there was another light that I can’t remember that was on and my cruise control no longer worked. It was very weird for sure. After we got home and unhooked the camper, I shut off my truck and when I turned it back on all the lights were off and my cruise control worked again. So, I reached down and pressed down on my brake controller and nothing happened the first time, but when I depressed it harder again all the warning lights came on. That told me that it was something to do with the brake controller.

I wanted to get a Mopar one that would integrate into my truck and work the best but they were back-ordered for about six months!! So we had to settle for an aftermarket one and had the RV dealership install it for us. So maybe they gave us a faulty one or wired it in wrong or something. Whatever happened it wasn’t playing nice with my truck.

So I gave the dealership a call and asked them about what was going on. I spoke with the installation supervisor and told him what had happened. He advised me that with my model of truck and how new it is, the brake controller is just plug and play. He said there is a plug that is in the wiring harness behind my dash that the controller gets plugged into and that was all they did. The supervisor then told me that he had put the controller on a simulator system that they have and it checked out fine. They told me that I should take my truck to the truck dealership and have them take a look at it and that it would be something to do with my truck and not the controller.

On one hand, I could see where they were coming from. There isn’t much to a brake controller so there isn’t much to go wrong with them. 

On the other hand, how could one thing mess up so many other systems on a 2019 model truck that one little addition would cause if it was working correctly?

I will say though, my truck has a lot of ghosts in the system, so to speak. When we first bought the truck, the auto turn-off system wouldn’t work, and then all a sudden started working and I haven’t had an issue with it to this day. Sometimes when I try to raise my front windows from about 2” down they go auto down all the way instead of going up. 

Fine, I gave in and called my local ram dealership. I explained to them what was going on and they said something along the lines of, “OK, we will be happy to take a look and it see if we can find out what’s going on with it. You will need to bring your truck in and leave it with us, we are running about three weeks behind.”

REALLY!!??!!

How in the world can they expect someone to bring their vehicle in to be worked on and leave it with them for three weeks!! Yes, we have a second vehicle, but no I’m not going to leave my truck with you for three weeks and leave my wife without a vehicle with three kids. Aint going to happen!

Time to break out the volt meter and do some testing. With the warning lights and stuff on, I took my volt meter and tested the plug while my wife pressed the brake controller manual button and it showed to be sending voltage back to the trailer to engage its brakes. That told me that the brake controller worked with all the warning lights on. If that was the way we were going to have to use it then so be it.

A few days later we went on our first camping trip and we didnt have a single issue. We stopped several times so I know that the brake controller engaged but the warning lights never came on. My cruise controll worked the entire way, every time I tried it and the auto shut off worked as well. We have pulled our camper several times at the time of the writing and it hasnt happened again. 

The day I started writing this post, I did try to manually press the brake controller to see if it was still doing it. The first time I tried, nothing happened. I tried again pressing it harder this time and I did get the warning lights again. So while it is not totally fixed, it seems the computer in the truck has compensated for it or adjusted to it and doesnt show the warning lights anymore. 

I still should probably take my truck in one of these days and have it checked out but that it for later down the road since we are really only planning on going camping once or twice a week until we are able to do it full time.

Anybody have any ideas why this might be happening? Leave us a comment.

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Until its time to Hitch Up the Camper again,

Happy Camping

NOTE: This post was originally written and posted the first part of this year. I am posting old posts to get caught up with the present then I will start posting new posts.