Unhooking electric from tow vehicle

time2roll wrote:
As long as the trailer is plugged in to the pedestal, unplugging from the truck will not matter.

X2.

On Fords they disconnect trailer power when you shut the key off (or at least they used to). Rams do not disconnect power and I believe GM also stays on. I put in a disconnect relay in my Ram so when the key is off my power to the trailer power is disconnected.

Bargman Battery Isolator

Thank you everyone for your advice!
We will unplug! Just in case

I unplug when I'm dry camping overnight. Having run down the truck batteries by mistake, I learned my lesson.

The trailer battery charge line power from my truck is thru a relay that is activated when the ignition is start or run. Other wise their is no power to the trailer. However when the tail and brake lights are active when the truck lights are on. I believe all late model trucks are that way-- at least that is how Ford is wired. If the truck is running while hooked to the trailer and the shore power is connected to the trailer, the trailer battery charger is active which will not do any damage to the truck alternator or visa versa. The alternator/charger will see a net reduced load which does no harm....

Does no harm to my setup. I never like doing things I don't need to do.

The OP said he would be plugged into shore power. Why all this talk of draining the battery? I always leave mine plugged in when on shore power. That way the camper converter keeps the truck battery charged. I have a Chevy so the line stays connected with the key off. I like it this way. Between dome lights, stereo, ham radio, etc. I don't mind having the truck battery on the converter while parked.

GordonThree wrote:

It's also neat if I turn the trailer marker lights on, the rooftop markers on the truck come on too.

And on the DRW models you get the fender side markers too :)

Hmm, I never considered disconnecting from the truck. No problems so far.

I unplug to keep the truck isolated from the pedestal/trailer.
I do not want the trailer to drain the truck battery due to a malfunction of some sort.
Unplugging is cheap easy insurance that the truck electric cannot be impacted by the trailer electric