Brake issues!

[NJ High Country]

My wife and I are currently on our way to Maine. About 150 miles from home our 2020 Chevy 3500 DRW dings “check trailer wiring”. We were fortunately a couple miles from a service area in saugerties. Everything on the 7 pin connector works except for the electric brakes. I have a multi meter and verified 13.7 volts to the batteries, and am not sure how to check for the brakes. Had my wife press the brakes and slide the gain and did not pick up much reading, only .97-1.24v. I also pulled the breakaway and tried to pull the camper. The camper brakes locked up so I know the camper is ok. We found a campground and will stay here for two nights. We hope a local Chevy dealer can help us tomorrow. Any input from the community here will be greatly appreciated.

[travelin texans]

Originally Posted by NJ High Country

My wife and I are currently on our way to Maine. About 150 miles from home our 2020 Chevy 3500 DRW dings “check trailer wiring”. We were fortunately a couple miles from a service area in saugerties. Everything on the 7 pin connector works except for the electric brakes. I have a multi meter and verified 13.7 volts to the batteries, and am not sure how to check for the brakes. Had my wife press the brakes and slide the gain and did not pick up much reading, only .97-1.24v. I also pulled the breakaway and tried to pull the camper. The camper brakes locked up so I know the camper is ok. We found a campground and will stay here for two nights. We hope a local Chevy dealer can help us tomorrow. Any input from the community here will be greatly appreciated.

IIRC The built in brake control on the newer trucks are proportional by speed. Stopped you probably won't read any voltage squeezing the manual control.
Check the wire connections in the junction box where the umbilical cord connects on the hitch, that's where I'd start.

[jasin1]

Originally Posted by travelin texans

IIRC The built in brake control on the newer trucks are proportional by speed. Stopped you probably won't read any voltage squeezing the manual control, you'd need to rolling up to a specified speed.
Check the wire connections in the junction box where the umbilical cord connects on the hitch, that's where I'd start.

Looking back through older brake issue posts…the consensus seems to be

Check for chafing of brake wire at magnet inside wheel hub

Check for loose connections in the trailer plug end or receptacle ( maybe wiggle the connector around while someone looks at dash warning)

Some people have mentioned the cheap off brand trailer connector supplied by the manufacturers …get a good Bargman brand

Or bad ground or wire problem at trailer umbilical junction box

[NH_Bulldog]

The “check trailer wiring” message is typically triggered by a grounding issue, either the trailer wiring or on the truck. I would start with removing and cleaning the trailer ground and making sure it is tight.

The brake controllers installed at the factory are proportional to speed and depending on the make/model of truck may not activate below a certain speed or while at a stop. One way to confirm brake function between truck and trailer is to manually squeeze the brake control while connected and driving slowly to see if the brakes activate.

[gearhead]

Pull the break away connection again and walk around the trailer. Listen closely at each wheel. You should be able to hear the brake magnets buzzing.

[GHen]

X2, pull the emergency break away switch, you’ll hear the brakes. Then hook it all up, pull forward and use the brake controller in the truck. You’ll feel and hear the trailer brakes if they are working.

[NJ High Country]

Update-
We met a nice couple at the campground. He offered to bring his truck over to plug in to see what happens. Everything seems ok, so I plug my truck back in and everything seems ok. We still took our truck to the local Chevy dealership. Romeo Chevrolet in Kingston ny if you’re ever out this way. They took it in and scanned. It through a C1114 code, which is a trailer brake code. They trouble shot it for a while and replaced the chassis module under warranty. He retested everything and all seemed well. We drove back the campground, broke down everything, hitched up and hit the road! 10 minutes back on the road we are back to square one. Tomorrow we are going to take our time to get back home. Frustrating and disheartening, but we are going the safe route rather than chancing it going to Maine and be hundreds of miles from home…

[NH_Bulldog]

Did you ever check the trailer grounding? Like I said in my previous post, the most frequent cause of this issue is a trailer grounding problem, not a truck issue.

[ChuckS]

This link .. you will find and fix your issue if you TS . Use a multimeter and measure what the resistance reads when measured at pin 1 of RV side 7 way connector to the chassis of that Alpine..

All four brakes magnet ground is derived via frame ground..

Image of highlighted items and link to info…

https://testing-public.carmd.com/Tsb...131089/5318339