Keeping a battery on a trailer charged

[wngrog]

OK, on my dump trailer and on my large trailer with a emergency battery brake lockup I have this white wire that runs hot in the 7 pin harness that keeps these batteries charged while the trailer is hooked to the tow vehicle.

How do I go about setting this up with a battery on my camping trailer?

I have a little Oddysey 925 that I would like to mount in my trailer to run my ARB fridge overnight on campouts.

Thoughts on how to set this up on the trailer end? Right now I have an adapter for the stock 7 pin to a flat 4 that I have on my trailer.

Is it as simple as getting a 7 pin for the trailer and running the whilte wire direct to the battery or does it need some sort of charger in line?

 

[rusty_tlc]

OK, on my dump trailer and on my large trailer with a emergency battery brake lockup I have this white wire that runs hot in the 7 pin harness that keeps these batteries charged while the trailer is hooked to the tow vehicle.

How do I go about setting this up with a battery on my camping trailer?

I have a little Oddysey 925 that I would like to mount in my trailer to run my ARB fridge overnight on campouts.

Thoughts on how to set this up on the trailer end? Right now I have an adapter for the stock 7 pin to a flat 4 that I have on my trailer.

Is it as simple as getting a 7 pin for the trailer and running the whilte wire direct to the battery or does it need some sort of charger in line?

At the very least you would want a fuse to protect the vehicle wiring harness from a trail wiring short. The white wire probably has a thermal breaker in it already.

 

[D'Animal]

Harbor Freight sells a solar battery tender for around $30.00. It charges your battery up and keeps it charged. It shuts off before it overcharges.

 

[rusty_tlc]

Harbor Freight sells a solar battery tender for around $30.00. It charges your battery up and keeps it charged. It shuts off before it overcharges.

It's a POS, worst $30 I ever spent at HF.


And I've bought some crap at HF before

 

[D'Animal]

It's a POS, worst $30 I ever spent at HF.


And I've bought some crap at HF before

It's just an option.

My neighbor as one on his MG ans his Ducati and has had not problems. One of them did cook the battery on is pilot odessy.

 

[wngrog]

I need something that will do it faster than that.

 

[rusty_tlc]

I need something that will do it faster than that.

If you want info about toyotas go to the experts on Mud.

If you want info about RV's do the same. Try Woodalls, I think you'll find they have their own resident experts that can give you great advice.

 

[hammerhead]

I charge the deep cycle battery in my trail trailer right off of my 40. I have a self resetting breaker near the 40 battery and a 12 guage wire running back to the plug. From there it goes directly to the trailer battery. I even converted an extension cord to trailer plugs so I can charge up the trailer on long campouts without needing to get the cruiser close enough to hitch up...

 

[lx450landcruiser]

my idea was to run the big rig coiled power cord to my trailer since they already have plugs on both ends and are heavy duty for driving.

 

[NMuzj100]

It's a POS, worst $30 I ever spent at HF.

And I've bought some crap at HF before

Solar Power = High tech
High Tech and Harbor Freight =

Had one and it didn't work at all.

You need something that will cut off power when the battery is charged so you don't "cook it". Do you have a 12V converter on the trailer where you can plug it in to 120v power when available?

 

[Rubiconcruiser]

Schauer makes a trickle charger that will be all you really need, take it with you on campouts for shore power hookup, and put an inverter in the Cruiser. Charge line from the Cruiser to the trailer is satisfactory, fused of course.Wal Mart is the store around $20.00

 

[REZARF]

The short answer to your question, is almost.

You will need to isolate the batteries from one another with and isolator. However, you won't get the best of the charging and maintaining worlds through just a 12 ga. wire, but it will work. Something like the Battery Tender PLus that Adventure trailer uses will make your batter last a LOT longer and have a better charge when using it... but you gotta charge off of 120v not 12v

That said, I will be running a wire to charge off the alternator with an isolator and monitor.

Clear as mud?

Rezarf <><

 

[Grim Reaper]

For a camper http://www.bestconverter.com/9100-Series-_c_39.html with the "charge wizard". In the Aristream forums it is concidered the best.

 

[NMuzj100]

This book is recommended everywhere 12 volt systems are discussed.

A good source for converters - http://www.bestconverter.com/index.html

 

[Mike S]

I looked at this issue when I built my trailer (two marine 105 AH batts) and decided that I wanted to use a marine battery charger/tender. Just pug it into 100 and forget it. When you are ready to go, the battery is fully charged. Costs less and works better than a vehicle charger. How much time do you spend driving with th etrailer in tow. Not enough to keep the battery topped up, I bet.

Mike S

 

[hammerhead]

Battery tenders are great when the trailer is sitting in your driveway at home but what do you do with it when you are camping in the sticks? Plug it into a current bush?

All of our vehicles have charging systems to maintain the charge on our batteries so why not use them? There is absolutely no benefit in turning 12vDC into 110vAC and back into 12v DC. In fact it takes more power from your charging system to do it that way...

 

[NMuzj100]

All of our vehicles have charging systems to maintain the charge on our batteries so why not use them?

But this system is designed to charge a battery with a small starting draw and a small constant draw from the vehicle systems not recharge a deep-cycle battery at %50 of it's amp-hour rating.

You can also end up with the trailer drawing power from the starting battery until it won't start the truck.

A maintainer is important so the camper battery starts with a full charge and the tow vehicle doesn't have to work as hard.

 

[hammerhead]

I make sure mine is charged up before I go out and the charging system on my Cruiser does a great job of maintaining the charge while I am camping.

 

[REZARF]

I make sure mine is charged up before I go out and the charging system on my Cruiser does a great job of maintaining the charge while I am camping.

HH-

Do you run an isolator? Or do you just run the charge wire and forget it?

Thanks!

Rezarf <><

 

[hammerhead]

I did not use an isolator since I seldom use the trailer while it is still hooked to the rig. When I get to my destination I unhook and go wheelin'. I did however use a self resetting breaker at the source to protect the circuit. The headlight harness and the trailer charge wire get their power straight off of the alternator instead of the battery since the voltage is a bit higher there. If I need to charge the camper batt I just hook up the cord and let the rig run for a while. To check the voltage I have one of those cheap Voltmeters that plug into a cigarette lighter.