I have a double axle WW and truck with Prodigy brake controller, I started to loose my trailer brakes intermittently while driving a couple of months back. At that point I thought I had an issue with the plug, but the brakes worked when I needed them too. Last week I started to get the S.H. and OL reading on the Prodigy, Sunday I lost brakes completely getting the same reading. I figured it was time to change out the plug on the trailer, changed and still same issue, but back to intermittent brakes. I have visually checked all the wires that I can see, found a piece of wire that looked crimped and cut that and wire nutted back together, still intermittent. FYI, I did switch trucks and same read out on Prodigy.

Here is what the error codes mean:

Q.) The Display shows "SH".
A.) The Prodigy® detects a short to ground on the brake wire (Blue wire). The Prodigy has to have a complete circuit from the control to the brake magnets to the ground and has to have the proper resistance. Possible Causes:
• Short to ground on the brake circuit wire.
• Trailer has electric over hydraulic brakes.
• Faulty control.

Q.) The Display shows "OL".
A.) The Prodigy® detects an overload caused by a short to ground on the brake wire (Blue wire). The Prodigy has to have a complete circuit from the control to the brake magnets to the ground and has to have the proper resistance. Possible Causes:
• Short to ground on the brake circuit wire.
• Trailer has electric over hydraulic brakes.
• Faulty control.

Where else should I look? Brake drums?

Thanks in advance

Take your drums apart and look @ the magnets and wiring to them, could be a wire rubbing on the inside of the drum, if the wire came loose from the clips that hold them away from the drums. Good time to check and adjust your pads and drums if needed. Had the same problem with mine and found a wire rubbing on the inside of the drum, problem would come and go, since fixing no problem.

Thanks for the quick response.
Is it a difficult job? Once the tire is off, does the drum come off easily?

Just a big wheel bearing nut. You might get a little greasy, but not hard at all. If the drums are worn you may have to back out the adjusters on the back side to loosen the shoes.

Had the same problem. I did have one wire to a magnet shorting... my biggest problem was the wires running thru the axle tubes. It was shorted about 3 places inside the axle tubes.

I would bet you check both of those things and you will find your problem.

two of my brakes did this about a year after I bought my trailer, last year i had a wire wear through inside the axle tube. none of these are tough to repair

Perfect. I will try and tackle Thursday.
Thanks for the info.

In Excess,
How did you find the short in the axle tube?

It was a bear to back down my driveway without brakes!! Scary for sure!!

ill bet that was scary, that is a steep hill hoping the trailer doesnt drag you where it wants to go

unfortunately i started by taking the drums off all 6 wheels and inspecting, not finding the problem I started to isolate it by axle until i found whcich axle it was(I have 3)

I then pulled a new wire through the axle tube and when i pulled it out i was surprised at how much bare wire there actually was

I wish your shop was closer!!
Sounds like it may be easiest to just pull new wire through both axles and replace!
I guess I will just see when I pull the drums.

Thanks

I have a 2003 triple axle WW and I just dealt with this same issue. My controller would show an intermittent "OL" (overload) condition. First I thought it was a bad brake controller (Prodigy), so I replaced it with the new P3 model. That didn't solve the problem.

Camping World told me to inspect the magnets first, because if they start to wear out, the wires could begin to make contact with the brake drum signaling an overload. My brakes were all only about 18 months old, so I didn't think it was a magnet problem.

Once I was able to get the problem to continually occur while I had the trailer at my house, I started cutting the brake wires (starting from the back of the trailer and working forward), until the problem went away. That narrowed it down to which axle was causing the problem.

It ended up being the brake wire that ran through the axle tube. Over the past 7 years, the rubbing inside of the axle tube wore the insulation off and the copper wire was making contact with the axle tube. I rewired all 3 axles, zip tying the new wire to the outside of the axle tube. So far this seems to have solved the problem.

WW originally used really cheap wire (almost your basic lamp cord) when they originally wired these. I went to a trailer shop and bought some much heavier brake wire to use.

This was a real PITA to find. But once I found the bad wire, the fix wasn't too difficult.

Good luck.

Don't run new wire through the axle tubes. Just zip tie it to the outside of the tube.

Awesome!!
I feel much better about the problem. Glad I am not the only one.
Great idea leaving the new wire outside the axle tube!!!!

You have to love this this site.

X2- Same problem in my WW Trailer, there's not very much Sheathing on the Brake Wires running inside the Axle Tubes (look's like cheap Speaker Wire). I had the same codes come up on my Prodigy Brake Controller and it was the Wire inside the Axle Tubes shorting out where the Sheathing had completely worn off. I ran new Wires on the outside of the Axle Tubes with a much heavier Sheathing to fix the problem...

Good Luck!

A quick way to check, have someone hold the brakes, go to each axle and listen for the hum of the magnets. No hum means problem.

Do you know which wires are supposed to go to ground on the plug? If so, disconnect all power (this is a must), set your meter to the position that makes it beep when the leads are touched together. Place one lead (doesn't matter which one) to the frame. The other to one pin at a time. The meter will beep when you find the wire that is going to ground. If you know that this wire is not supposed to go to ground, than you have found the broken wire. Some wires will break and never go to ground. Then you must check them the old fashion way. They do sell tools that clip on to a wire and tell you how far away there is a break in the wire. Probly expensive and may not be practical for you unless you do this alot. Disconnect all powere first. Good luck.

At this point I am just going to replace both axle tube wires and go from there, hopefully it will be obvious when I pull the wire from the axles tubes.



When you say disconnect all power, do the batteries need to be disconnected or just the plug to the truck?

put wire loom on mine it works great so it wouldn't rub if thats the problem or trace the wire all the way to the plug and look for any chaffing

Only what would put power to the plug.

Thank you all.
I had 3 spots in the back axle tube that were showing copper. Unfortunately, I took the no money approach and put electrical tape around the areas that were bad and put the entire wire in the black plastic wire cover for both axles, then tested. Everything worked as it should, now just need to make it look pretty.

Thanks Again

Cool. now I know whats going on with my warrior

I have this same exact problem on my 2010 Stealth. In fact, I was going to post a new thread the same day as Chris did. I'd take it back to Giant RV but haven't been too impressed by their Service Dept at all. Anyways...

I clipped the wire from the plug/trailer brakes/emergency stop switch so I could isolate the the electric brake circuit. When put a meter on that circuit I've got 1.2 ohms to ground. I went around and shook all the connections from the brakes all the way up to junction box with the plug especially where the wires run through the axles. Nothing. No change. Anybody know of the trailer brake circuit should be totally open to ground or am I just reading through the magnetic coils to ground?

my ww had the same issue with my prodigy, it was a couple of things, first i held the brake on full and moved all the wires around, on one of the axles i herd a snap sound, it was a bad crimp on one axle, also found the main ground wire on the trailer was loose.

a quick way to see if it is the trailer or the tow, is what does it do with a different trailer.

I will be looking into my WW. Same problem with mine.

you are likely reading thru the magnets

check the continuity between wires on both sides of the axle with an ohm meter it will tell you if you have a short. if you need help HARDKORE Metal FInishing is really good and REALLY takes good care of there customers there number is 619-448-8693 they do EVERYTHING for EVERYTHING and wil beat just about anyones prices and there work is usually better then what i have seen

Had the same thing with My WW. I just ran new wire and zip-tied it on top of the axle tube... Problem solved