I have one of those trailer brake controllers in my 4Runner and since I took the hitch off and I'll never be pulling a trailer the controller is coming out. Along with the controller there's a big ol plug for brake lights that was on the hitch that must also go. All the wires are pretty easily traceable so getting them out isn't a big deal but my question is how does this thing work? If I just rip it out will it affect my brake lights? When I got home today I noticed my brake lights were still on after I got out of the car. I shook the controller and they went out so there's obviously a short somewhere. I don't want to screw up my brake lights so if there's a certain way to remove this stuff please let me know.
Thanks as usual.

 

to the best of my knowledge, the controller simply "sees" the brake light signal. You should have a wire running out of the brake controller onto a wire coming out of the brake light switch above the pedal. I can't for the life of me figure out why the lights stayed on, but I can almost ensure that removing the controller will only help the problem.

(Please feel free to correct me if i'm wrong)

 

Thanks, Rowdy. It's coming out this weekend. I might stop by a local trailer place to ask them.

 

When I was doing installs we would just tap into the brake light wire under the dash with a scotch lock connector, 12v+ at the under hood fuse panel, and use a self tapping screw at any convenient point for a ground, and run a wire back to the plug to activate the brakes on the trailer, unless the vehicle had a oem trailer wire harness than it usually was a matter of plug and play. Also if your rig was set up for travel trailer watch out for a 12v+ at the plug end these are usually constant hot. that can be a good place to put a 12 volt outlet to run other stuff i.e. spot light, BLENDER, etc.

I think the lights were coming on because the controller also sends power to the lights if the manual brake lever is pressed, therefore you are correct in thinking there is a problem there, and removing the controller should fix that.

Chris