ITBC not working on 2011 Suburban

bondservant2 · Feb 24, 2020

Picked up a camper to do some traveling with and the factory trailer brake controller isn’t working. This is my first GM product so I’m not familiar with the IBTC.
Is there anything I need to do besides hook up the 7-pin and then adjust the gain..? I don’t think the truck is sensing that a trailer is hooked up....all the lights work.
What gives...? Thanks in advance.

wjburken · Feb 24, 2020

bondservant2 said:
Picked up a camper to do some traveling with and the factory trailer brake controller isn’t working. This is my first GM product so I’m not familiar with the IBTC.
Is there anything I need to do besides hook up the 7-pin and then adjust the gain..? I don’t think the truck is sensing that a trailer is hooked up....all the lights work.
What gives...? Thanks in advance.

Might make sure the pins are clean on both the truck and the trailer portion of the connection. I had a similar problem a few years ago and turned out there was a lot of corrosion on the trailers harness and some emery cloth and dielectric grease solves the problem. I did pick up a cheap tester to make sure the truck portion was working properly.

What type of brakes are on the camper?

avalonandl · Feb 24, 2020

What brand of brakes on the Trailer. THe ITBC works best with certain brakes.

Google is your friend....search.....cough cough

bondservant2 · Feb 24, 2020

Not sure of the brand of brakes.....but I’m confident they are magnetic - it’s a Forest River camper.
I’ll do some more research...seems ridiculous the IBTC would “prefer a brand” of brakes ...:

avalonandl · Feb 24, 2020

Not prefer a brand but work better depending on make of brakes. You have electric brakes, so it should work. What does the ITBC say when you plug it in. Is the fuse good?

swathdiver · Feb 24, 2020

bondservant2 said:
Picked up a camper to do some traveling with and the factory trailer brake controller isn’t working. This is my first GM product so I’m not familiar with the IBTC.
Is there anything I need to do besides hook up the 7-pin and then adjust the gain..? I don’t think the truck is sensing that a trailer is hooked up....all the lights work.
What gives...? Thanks in advance.

First, make sure you have JL1 on your RPO sheet. We've seen guys tear their hair out wondering why it doesn't work and its because the previous owner tried to do the install but gave up. Make sure your have this red wire hooked up like on mine. Once this is sorted, you can also run power to the trailer if you want your truck to charge up the trailer's battery or run the fridge, etc. We can tell you how to do that if you don't already have a wire on that second post.

As Wade said, take apart and clean the connector out back. Make sure you are using a full 7 pin connector and not a 4 to 7 adapter too. I did that once! LOL

bondservant2 · Feb 24, 2020

Thanks for the replies so far. The whole trailer and truck are ridiculously clean and the connectors / terminals are as well. Got a chance to do some checking/testing and here’s what I’ve found:

As mentioned connectors look great.
Factory wiring to the fuse block is connected properly including the power wire for charging the external (trailer) battery. There’s also the extra terminated red/black wire for an aftermarket controller.
IBTC Fuse is installed and good,
12-volts on all the spade terminals of the 7-pin connector EXCEPT for trailer brake power (and ground of course). So no power at the 7-pin for brakes.

hmmmmmm.......

wjburken · Feb 24, 2020

bondservant2 said:
Thanks for the replies so far. The whole trailer and truck are ridiculously clean and the connectors / terminals are as well. Got a chance to do some checking/testing and here’s what I’ve found:

As mentioned connectors look great.
Factory wiring to the fuse block is connected properly including the power wire for charging the external (trailer) battery. There’s also the extra terminated red/black wire for an aftermarket controller.
IBTC Fuse is installed and good,
12-volts on all the spade terminals of the 7-pin connector EXCEPT for trailer brake power (and ground of course). So no power at the 7-pin for brakes.

hmmmmmm.......

Here is a link to Etrailer.com that discusses issues with GM trailer brake controllers. Might be something here that can help.
https://www.etrailer.com/question-92975.html

avalonandl · Feb 25, 2020

I would crawl underneath your trailer hitch on the denali and make sure all wires are connected to the outlet 7 pin connector.

The ground wire at the 7 pin connector should be grounded!!!!

ITBC not working on 2011 Suburban

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