Just purchased a 19 RANGER LARIAT. 7 pin connector is there but it doesn’t seem to be powered. all the wires look to be connected underneath. Is there something I have to do besides turn the truck on.. Leaving on first towing trip in a few days and am now having a fit. please help.

 

Welcome to the forum

7 pin trailer wiring is standard regardless of car maker, so it matches a trailers 7 pin plug

If you have no voltage, then the other end of the wiring may not have been connected or fuses are blown, check engine fuse box
Owners manual as well

I assume it was a used 2019 so original owner may have added the connector
In any model Ranger you had to pay extra for the 53R package to get factory trailer wiring

 

If you have the factory tow package with the 4 pin / 7 pin outlets....
The 4 pin is wired into the truck for the standard 4 pin plug on the small utility trailers, boat trailers, ect.
The 7 pin is wired into the truck as far as the light / turn signals / brake lights. The other wires / pins are for an electronic brake controller which does not come with the truck. Don't know what your towing, but if it has a 7 pin plug than it has electric breaks, and a proper controller must be wired in.
The wires for the brake control hook up are located behind the drivers side kick panel. Just google up 2019-2021 Ford Ranger brake control wiring for photos of where and what color they are.
Will be purchasing a travel trailer in next several months, but just haven't gotten around to wiring up a controller yet.

If your truck dosen't have the tow package, and previous owner wired up his own plug, then all bets are off as to how/where he ran wiring, and what type of controller he had.

 

I'd check owners manual. I believe on my f150 when it was brand new had a fuse or relay in the glove box that had to be plugged into the under dash fuse panel to power the 7way.

 

If it's a factory tow set up with the factory plugs, the plugs are already "powered", but to utilize all the 7 pins you need a break controller.
If you take a simple probe tester and probe the lights, turn signals on the 7 pin you'll see they work and are p[powered. The wiring for the controller is separate and feeds needed power to the trailers breaks, and there is an additional "hot wire", that feeds a charge from the truck to the trailers battery to keep it charged.
There will not be a "plug" on the wiring under the kick panel...just the taped wires, and you must hard wire the controller to the truck.

 

Thanks for all the quick responses. So if I have this right then when I plug in the trailer I will have lights and turn signals but number 4 pin(12V charging and the #2 pin (trailer brakes) will not have power. I was hoping to us a Curt Echo off of my old tow vehicle unless someone else has an idea I guess I will be forced into having an aftermarket controller installed.

 

No reason you can't, you just need the 12v power on pin 4

 

That’s the problem, no power to number 4 pin. e-trailer had a answer to a older question where they said you had to have the truck in gear, engine running. and push on brake to activate power to #4. tried that and it didn’t work.

 

OK. so I spent the whole day trying every tip I can find on the internet and still can’t find a way to get power to the #4 pin. I did hook the trailer up and found that the Curt Echo will power up using the power from the trailer battery. It worked but the power was not steady and a couple times the trailer brake did not function as they should. Also eventually the trailer battery would go dead. Thinking of trying to run a separate wire from the truck battery directly to the #4 pin but worry that something might be damaged if I disconnect the #4 pine from the wire that it is now hooked to. THOUGHT”S?

 

The #4 wire from the factory should be/probably is fused or on a relay that might be blown....not sure as I'm still learning about my 2021. Check owners manual for possible location and if it is fused/relayed.
If you cannot find the problem, than yes, you can simply run a proper gauge wire from the battery to the truck plug, and it will directly power the #4 wire to your trailer. Make sure you use at least a 12 gauge wire.
All the #4 wire does is trickle charge the trailer battery while you are underway.
Once disconnected from the trailer, the #4 wire is "off".

 

Found this at another site regarding Ford F-series

"The system requires a power draw on the 7-way and then, engine running, holding the brake pedal for about 3 seconds until your dash registers "trailer connected". At that point, the vehicle will deliver the 12V power to your trailer connector and not before.
That 12V power will be on the 1 o'clock pin location on the 7-way so the corresponding wire will need to be probed to test."

 

Thanks for the above. I tried it and it works. I am using a Curt Echo that worked very well with my last Tow V. With the Ranger and using the guide lines above I first must start the truck place in gear for a second then back to park, close doors. I can then first plug in the Curt Echo then the trailer into the echo. Only then can I turn on the Echo App. Any other sequence will not work.
I have only done one short test drive of 10 mile onto the freeway and then back home and there was one point at which I don’t think the brakes worked for one stop. I do know that I was getting power to the 12volt pin because my trailer battery was fuller at the end of my trip than the beginning.
Certainly much more complicated than it needs to be so I think I will look into a more conventional TBC. And sell my Curt Echo which works fine on most other vehicles.

 

Final Answer. It now works. I drove around town for maybe 10 miles with lots of stop lights. Then after turning truck off for a short time, i restarted it and the first time I hit the brakes it worked. Made a few minor adjustments and now every thing is working as it should. Have no idea why it started working jut hope it continues.