Posted 2008-04-21 9:00 AM (#82348) Subject: Wiring Brake Controller into '04 Chevy Pickup: Help with factory harness.
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 455 Location: Texas
I'm trying to wire my Tekonsha Voyager brake controller into my 2004 Chevy 2500HD. When I bought the pickup, it had a plug with 5 wires pigtailed out that I assumed (yeah, yeah, I know) was for the brake controller. On the controller the wires are as follows: Red-stoplight, black-12V power, white-ground, blue-brakes. The pigtail I have has a Red 12 ga wire, blue 12 ga, blue 18 ga, black 18 ga, and a brown 18 ga wire. The brown is just looped back and taped off. The pickup's owner's manual doesn't talk about brake controllers at all. Does anybody know which wire is for what? Or if I even have the right pigtail? Thanks.
Posted 2008-04-21 1:05 PM (#82378 - in reply to #82348) Subject: RE: Wiring Brake Controller into '04 Chevy Pickup: Help with factory harness.
Member
Posts: 43 Location: Cheyenne,Wy
The dark blue on the truck harness goes to the blue on the brake . The light blue goes the the red wire on the brake . The black wire goes to the white wire on the brake , and the red wire goes to the black wire on the brake. The brown wire isnt used .
Posted 2008-04-21 1:17 PM (#82380 - in reply to #82348) Subject: RE: Wiring Brake Controller into '04 Chevy Pickup: Help with factory harness.
Member
Posts: 8
Location: San Luis Obispo, CA
It's not as bad as you might think but it doesn't help that GM and the trailer world use different color codes.
Sounds like you have a factory pigtail plugged into the block under the dash near the parking brake. If it's like my '03 Suburban, it should be plugged into (the no longer unused spot) near the upper left corner. It's the 2nd from left in the top row. The legend inside the connection block cover on my model calls it the 6-way trailer connector.
Whatever the GM pigtail colors are, here's how I suspect they match up to the trailer world. Upper left corner on the 6-way should be spliced to your Tekonsha pigtail heavy blue wire (trailer brakes). The heavy wire just below it should go your Tekonsha heavy black (+12volts).
The light guage wire from the upper right should go to your Tekonsha red (stoplight). The light guage wire from the lower right should go to your Tekonsha white (ground).
If all else fails, order the Tekonsha to your truck pigtail from e-trailer or Southwest wheel. It should have the digits "3015" somewhere in the part no. Watch out too as the part changed with the '03 model.
Posted 2008-04-21 2:15 PM (#82382 - in reply to #82380) Subject: RE: Wiring Brake Controller into '04 Chevy Pickup: Help with factory harness.
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 455 Location: Texas
The mismatched wire colors don't bother me, but the odd wire sizes got me wondering a little bit. Tekonsha must go overkill on some of the wire sizes in order to cater to different auto manufacturers.
Yeah, the pigtail plugs into the second spot from the upper left on that block. I think that's the only one it fits into. I didn't try the others, but it didn't look like it would fit anywhere else. I was working in low-light and missed the legend on the inside of the cover--thanks for the heads up. I also missed the difference between light blue and dark blue, but assumed the wire going to the brakes would be a larger gauge wire and the one coming from the stoplight circuit would be smaller gauge. I've never had a vehicle that had a plug like this, so I've always just hardwired everything.
I don't think the Tekonsha pigtail would work with my Voyager model, as I see no place where it would plug in to the controller.
Thanks for the help, I think I can get this figured out without too much trouble.
Posted 2008-04-22 7:42 AM (#82404 - in reply to #82348) Subject: RE: Wiring Brake Controller into '04 Chevy Pickup: Help with factory harness.
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 455 Location: Texas
I got it wired up and mounted without problems last night. I didn't get a chance to actually hook up the trailer, because it's still in it's winter parking spot in the back of the quonset. I'll probably try it this weekend.
Wiring Brake Controller into '04 Chevy Pickup: Help with factory harness.
