Tag Axle brake controller questions..

[swinginping]

wasnt gettin much of a repsonse on my older tag axle brake post in the motorhome section as it had been posted onto a good bit and started out with a different question but finally got some time today and went out and checked out the tag brakes.... had no power running back to brakes with the standard controller, so i hooked up the the wires to a tekonsha manual controller i used to have in my tv... its a new model only 1 year, voyager i think, a manual style and my green light was lit, and when i squeezed the thumb control it turned red, and i taped it in that spot and went back and i could hear my magnets on both sides making noise.... however they either weren't grabbing the hub or my pads are too worn... but they dont look to bad. If i hit the foot brake... my controller would turn red then the light would go out altogether.. and this would happen really really quick before the brake was even close to fully depressed.... anyone ever had this happen before??? I've never had any problems with electric brakes so im not exactly the best with them.... seems wierd i can use the thumb brake but not the foot brake... seems like a short somewhere but like i said i havent done much work with electric brakes.