Plugged in or not?
I'm sure this has been asked before, but we're leaving shortly and I don't have time to do a real search. I've had other RV's never a truck/5'ver combo. When I went out this morning I noticed that...
Forum Discussion
What you can safely do depends on your truck.
My '06 Ford has an isolation relay, and if the truck is not running, the RV battery is isolated from the truck. The RV cannot run down the truck battery. But if I start the truck, there is a connection between RV battery, truck battery, alternator, and if I was plugged into short power, the linkage would include the RV converter. I consider that risky, so I would do not do that.
I was with a friend when his RV depleted his truck battery overnight. It was a popup with a 3-way fridge, and it ran on 12VDC all night. It was a Chevy from about the 2000 model year, and that model did not isolate.
So you have to know how your truck works, but the safest practice is to not connect to shore power and truck power at the same time. The computers and electronics in new trucks is just too complex and expensive to take unnecessary risk.
My '06 Ford has an isolation relay, and if the truck is not running, the RV battery is isolated from the truck. The RV cannot run down the truck battery. But if I start the truck, there is a connection between RV battery, truck battery, alternator, and if I was plugged into short power, the linkage would include the RV converter. I consider that risky, so I would do not do that.
I was with a friend when his RV depleted his truck battery overnight. It was a popup with a 3-way fridge, and it ran on 12VDC all night. It was a Chevy from about the 2000 model year, and that model did not isolate.
So you have to know how your truck works, but the safest practice is to not connect to shore power and truck power at the same time. The computers and electronics in new trucks is just too complex and expensive to take unnecessary risk.
