Trailer brake not working

[justinwvu]

I have a new 2021 f150 power boost.

I purchased a 2020 airstream and towed it 10.5 hours from Wisconsin to Nebraska.

I set the trailer brake fine in Wisconsin and it seemed to be working without issue. I did mess with the gain a lot trying to get it right.

I parked in my driveway for 3 days and when i towed it to storage, the trailer brake was not working.

It would show my trailer connected, and allow me to select the trailer, but when I would try to manually squeeze the trailer brake a screen popped up saying “no trailer” and the brakes were clearly not engaging. (I noticed this because I could tell I was getting pushed when i got off an exit ramp.)

Anyone seen this happen? I checked the 7 pin connector and it looks like new. I was thinking it may be a fuse in the truck - but didn’t have time to check.

When the trailer is not connected at all the message from the trailer brake is a bit different, showing a pop up that shows trailer disconnected. When trailer was connected, it popped up like it should - but underneath the gain settings shows “no trailer” and the brakes don’t work.

I should also add that the signal lights, brake lights and everything else seem to be working on the airstream.

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[sonofzell]

Following to see anyone's thoughts - I'm curious to see what the issue ends up being. Like you, the 7 pin connector was my first thought; I know the connection harness on my new truck was exceptionally "stiff"; so much so that I was actually worried about damaging the blades on the trailer cable jamming it in there. I can't imagine a fuse/relay on either the truck or trailer would kill electric braking by design, but I'm certainly no expert!

 

[don.mullins]

I have a new 2021 f150 power boost.

I purchased a 2020 airstream and towed it 10.5 hours from Wisconsin to Nebraska.

I set the trailer brake fine in Wisconsin and it seemed to be working without issue. I did mess with the gain a lot trying to get it right.

I parked in my driveway for 3 days and when i towed it to storage, the trailer brake was not working.

It would show my trailer connected, and allow me to select the trailer, but when I would try to manually squeeze the trailer brake a screen popped up saying “no trailer” and the brakes were clearly not engaging. (I noticed this because I could tell I was getting pushed when i got off an exit ramp.)

Anyone seen this happen? I checked the 7 pin connector and it looks like new. I was thinking it may be a fuse in the truck - but didn’t have time to check.

When the trailer is not connected at all the message from the trailer brake is a bit different, showing a pop up that shows trailer disconnected. When trailer was connected, it popped up like it should - but underneath the gain settings shows “no trailer” and the brakes don’t work.

I should also add that the signal lights, brake lights and everything else seem to be working on the airstream.

I noticed this same thing. Adding some conductive grease to the 7-pin connector leads solved it. Maybe the way this trailering system senses the trailer is a bit sensitive to poor connections.

 

[justinwvu]

I noticed this same thing. Adding some conductive grease to the 7-pin connector leads solved it. Maybe the way this trailering system senses the trailer is a bit sensitive to poor connections.

so you had the same problem I described and the conductive Grease fixed it? I will have to go to AutoZone and get some. I need to check my fuses as well, once I figure this out I will update the thread so everyone knows.

 

[don.mullins]

so you had the same problem I described and the conductive Grease fixed it? I will have to go to AutoZone and get some. I need to check my fuses as well, once I figure this out I will update the thread so everyone knows.

Yes, I dropped my trailer off to get a water leak repaired. Everything worked fine. When I picked it up, all the lights worked, but no brakes. A squeeze of the controller gave the “no trailer” pop up. Multiple reinsertions of the 7-pin made no difference.

Stopped and grabbed some grease and put it on - no trouble since.

 

[justinwvu]

Yes, I dropped my trailer off to get a water leak repaired. Everything worked fine. When I picked it up, all the lights worked, but no brakes. A squeeze of the controller gave the “no trailer” pop up. Multiple reinsertions of the 7-pin made no difference.

Stopped and grabbed some grease and put it on - no trouble since.

Wow, that is the exact problem I am having. Excited to try this, won't be able to confirm if it works or not until Thursday most likely.

 

[justinwvu]

Yes, I dropped my trailer off to get a water leak repaired. Everything worked fine. When I picked it up, all the lights worked, but no brakes. A squeeze of the controller gave the “no trailer” pop up. Multiple reinsertions of the 7-pin made no difference.

Stopped and grabbed some grease and put it on - no trouble since.

Which grease did you use? You talking about dielectric grease or something else?

 

[daemonic3]

I had this problem in my 2017! Everything looks good and trailer is recognized, but squeeze the trigger and "No Trailer" message. I could always get it to go away by getting out, removing and reseating the 7-pin, and testing again.

I was always cleaning the electrical contacts but it was never foolproof. So I developed the habit of checking the squeeze brakes when hooked up, and at stop lights when I remember.

If I see the issue with my new truck, I will definitely try to conductive grease!

 

[daemonic3]

Which grease did you use? You talking about dielectric grease or something else?

No no! A dielectric is by definition an insulator and won't help conduct at all. You want the conductive grease as he described. Dielectric grease is great around circuit boards so if it spills it won't create shorts (which is actually what we want in this case )

I just ordered this, to be prepared if I have issues and I'm on the road. I like the pointy tip: https://www.amazon.com/MG-Chemicals...words=conductive+grease&qid=1618457281&sr=8-3

 

[don.mullins]

Which grease did you use? You talking about dielectric grease or something else?

Conductive grease.

 

[justinwvu]

Conductive grease.

OK, thanks for everyone contributing.

Update:
Went to test the trailer today. Wanted to make sure the trailer brakes were operational. Decided to pull the emergency breakaway switch and could hear the brakes working fine.

Then I turned on the "battery disconnect" button on my airstream and turned on the Inverter, thinking perhaps these being off when I hooked up my truck 4 days ago caused the truck and airstream to not communicate or something.

I then hitched up, plugged in 7 pin, and low and behold, everything worked. Trailer brake now functions without issue.

I really don't know if its a fluke or what happened the other day.

Only thing that was different: I had the trailer in "store" mode with 12v disconnected (I thought this just disconnected some lights and stuff in the trailer) and I had my inverter (I have a nice 3stage inverter from Victron) off to save my battery from parasitic drains when I plugged in 7 pin Monday. Today I had inverter and had the battery disconnect flipped back to use when I plugged in 7 pin connection.

Perhaps it had nothing to do with this - but that's all I did different and things worked fine today. No matter how many times I disconnected, blew in 7 pin, etc 4 days ago it didn't work - so I have no idea.

I did not end up using grease but may still pick up some - wasn't sure what the right kind was.

 

[BLoflin]

Glad you got it working, but something still needs to be investigated.

A trailer that has electric brakes can either use a 12V battery (like that a travel trailer uses) or a small emergency brake battery built into the trailer frame (which is continuously kept charged via the tow connector).

If your trailer is using the bigger 12V battery (i.e. no special small electric brake battery), then your battery disconnect (for winterization, etc) should NOT ever disconnect the power to the emergency (breakaway)brake circuit. That should be hardwired around the battery disconnect. There will be no drain on the battery as the circuit is only complete when the breakaway cable is pulled (during a breakaway) and throws the switch.

If you have an Airstream dealer that you visit with regularly I would ask them to explain. Or get out there with a volt meter and see if power is coming to the emergency brake circuit, both (one at a time) from the tow connector, and then when unhooked from truck, that power is present with both the trailer battery disconnect off and on.

 

[BoostedECO]

I’m having an issue as well. I set the gain all the way up to 10 and nothing. I am not getting the no trailer message. Any suggestions? My 2018 had no issues

 

[Matt604]

I ran into this issue twice now while towing. I can't tell if it's something simple i'm missing but will give the conductive grease a try. I've had 5 towing trips and on two of them experienced a time when starting to go checked all systems and found only the trailer brake gain control reporting no trailer attached. Lights, signals, reverse trailer guidance, etc all reporting and working. Pinching the trailer brake controller flashed "Trailer Brake | Gain: 7.0 | No Trailer". The first time it happened i restarted the truck and plugged the 7-pin connector in/out and then it worked. The second time (yesterday) was not so lucky. I did recently get new brakes installed but left that lot without this message appearing.

If anyone else has ideas i'm all ears. I will report back on whether the grease resolves.

 

[DVD]

Any updates on this issue or other solutions? I‘m having the same problem with my 2021 F150 Hybrid. I picked up my 2021 Jayco Eagle HT camper last night and had the same problem; ”no trailer detected” and no trailer brakes when I squeezed the brake controller. Reconnected harness multiple times, turned off truck, connected the battery (aka has battery disconnect switch), etc, but still nothing. Note the camper running, brake and turn signal lights all work. I’ll try conductive grease, but both the trailer and camper are fairly new. I need to check camper side too, I guess (trailer brake fuse?)

Please note, I also had problem on my last trip after a major rough road that my F150 truck kept ”chiming“ and indicated left trailer light was bad EVERYTIME I hit the brakes or used my left turn signal. i checked the lights and they were fine, but still kept getting the same indication. Only after I stopped and turned the truck off/on did it reset and say everything was ok with trailer lights (until the next bumpy road). It should reset without doing that.

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