Charging 5er batteries while driving, question.
My truck doesn’t charge the 5th wheel batteries (2 group 27 batteries) while towing. I installed a Victron Battery Monitor system with dongle on the trailer. So I can get feedback to my cell phone or ipad on in/outbound current along with battery voltage and state of charge. I can see no charging going on while driving. I do see a small drain caused by what I assume is the fridge while driving.
A little history, DW and I purchase (last fall) from a private seller a very well cared for used truck and 5th wheel at a fair price. We were into camping for many years then got out because we just didn’t have time to use the class c we had. The truck is a 2008 Ram CTD 2500 , (80K mile) and a 2011 Montana 3150RL 5th wheel. If at all possible I would like to avoid getting into tow rating and waking up the weight police. I will admit I was a bit naive on all the weight issues related to 5th wheels when we purchased. I have weighed my trailer truck combo and just the truck on a CAT scale loaded and I am towing well under trailer GVWR and I strive to keep things as light as possible. DW and I both have some health issue (bad backs and arthritis) so we bought a used combo as a test to see if we can make this work (health wise) and it’s the right setup for us in retirement doing mostly summer travel. We felt we would take a lighter hit if we were forced into selling it with a used purchase. If it all works long term we may upgrade to new (3500 truck and new 5er or even a class A) in a year of 2. We went through this truck and trailer maintenance wise this spring to try to make sure things were as dependable as possible for use in the meantime. New shocks Timbrens, trailer tires, fluid, belts, brakes and so on and so on. The truck doesn’t feel overloaded and pulls the unit nice and everything runs and tows great so far. We put on maybe 5000 mile towing this summer and for the most part are very happy with the setup.
Back on focus, with all that said what is needed to get the trailer to charge the batteries while towing? I am assuming this is just a truck issue, is that wrong? Is it as simple as installing a fuse in the truck? Or do I need to have a wire run from the truck battery back to the factory trailer plug on one of the pins? Any knowledge shared would be appreciated. I can live with things the way they are, but it would be nice (if it’s an easy fix) to have the trailer batteries charge a bit while towing.
Thanks in advance for the feedback,
Bob
A little history, DW and I purchase (last fall) from a private seller a very well cared for used truck and 5th wheel at a fair price. We were into camping for many years then got out because we just didn’t have time to use the class c we had. The truck is a 2008 Ram CTD 2500 , (80K mile) and a 2011 Montana 3150RL 5th wheel. If at all possible I would like to avoid getting into tow rating and waking up the weight police. I will admit I was a bit naive on all the weight issues related to 5th wheels when we purchased. I have weighed my trailer truck combo and just the truck on a CAT scale loaded and I am towing well under trailer GVWR and I strive to keep things as light as possible. DW and I both have some health issue (bad backs and arthritis) so we bought a used combo as a test to see if we can make this work (health wise) and it’s the right setup for us in retirement doing mostly summer travel. We felt we would take a lighter hit if we were forced into selling it with a used purchase. If it all works long term we may upgrade to new (3500 truck and new 5er or even a class A) in a year of 2. We went through this truck and trailer maintenance wise this spring to try to make sure things were as dependable as possible for use in the meantime. New shocks Timbrens, trailer tires, fluid, belts, brakes and so on and so on. The truck doesn’t feel overloaded and pulls the unit nice and everything runs and tows great so far. We put on maybe 5000 mile towing this summer and for the most part are very happy with the setup.
Back on focus, with all that said what is needed to get the trailer to charge the batteries while towing? I am assuming this is just a truck issue, is that wrong? Is it as simple as installing a fuse in the truck? Or do I need to have a wire run from the truck battery back to the factory trailer plug on one of the pins? Any knowledge shared would be appreciated. I can live with things the way they are, but it would be nice (if it’s an easy fix) to have the trailer batteries charge a bit while towing.
Thanks in advance for the feedback,
Bob
