Maintaining Dinghy Battery
I am in the process of getting a new dinghy and would like to have it wired in such a way as to maintain a charge in the starting battery when we tow. The problem is that our MH is currently wired ...
Forum Discussion
One thing you can do is replace your tail and marker lights with LED's to reduce the current requirements for turning, braking, and the running lights...all required by law when towing. Many states now require a braking system too. Which usually plugs into the toads cigar lighter outlet.
The prices of the LEDs have dropped quite a bit, at least on Amazon, making this a economical method of lighting.
Once the old incandescent bulbs have been changed over to LEDs, you'd need 3 more diodes, over what you may already use in the toad, 100 Volt @ 3 Amp is fine, around $0.15 each. You'd install them with their anode connected to the 3 incoming connections of your 4 wire connector on the toad (the 4th wire would be ground). The 3 diode cathode's are connected together to an output wire, a 10 Amp fuse added in line, then connect to the positive of the battery.
The low current required by the LEDs leaves enough charging current in those wires to keep your battery trickle charged enough to run any battery operated braking system you might get.
It would work best if you kept the running lights on, but no need for the RV's headlights to be on. Some RVs have the trailer connector wired so the Running light pin is always hot as soon as the engine is started so check for that. If it is, then you don't even need to turn on the running lights in the RV.
The prices of the LEDs have dropped quite a bit, at least on Amazon, making this a economical method of lighting.
Once the old incandescent bulbs have been changed over to LEDs, you'd need 3 more diodes, over what you may already use in the toad, 100 Volt @ 3 Amp is fine, around $0.15 each. You'd install them with their anode connected to the 3 incoming connections of your 4 wire connector on the toad (the 4th wire would be ground). The 3 diode cathode's are connected together to an output wire, a 10 Amp fuse added in line, then connect to the positive of the battery.
The low current required by the LEDs leaves enough charging current in those wires to keep your battery trickle charged enough to run any battery operated braking system you might get.
It would work best if you kept the running lights on, but no need for the RV's headlights to be on. Some RVs have the trailer connector wired so the Running light pin is always hot as soon as the engine is started so check for that. If it is, then you don't even need to turn on the running lights in the RV.
