towing a 2016 Ford Edge

Bumpyroad wrote:
I think parasitic loads drew more juice from the toad's battery than the activation of the brake buddy.
bumpy

Quite possibly, bumpy... The toads we've had, don't have much electronics running when the vehicle IS running, let alone when not.

Sold ones:

1988 Mitsubishi Mighty Max pickup

1993 Toyota Tercel EZ (the one with four speeds and no power steering)

Present ones:

2006 Corolla CE (not even power windows)

2009 Frontier XE (not even power mirrors OR windows)

All manual transmissions, no Navigation, Traction Control, Stability Control, and so on. The Stereo will play in Unlock/ACC but I turn it OFF.

But still, if the owner uses a battery disconnect or pulls fuse(s), without those parasitic loads, the toad's battery should run the BB for a full day, maybe longer. We towed a day, stopped for the night and didn't disconnect. Then towed a second day without running the car (this was the Tercel). It still braked, and the car still started on its own battery, two days' towing.

j-d wrote:

Bumpyroad wrote:
I plugged my brake buddy into a small jumper/starter battery that I wanted to have along anyhow. bumpy

My point exactly! I have a start pack that's larger than many and it contains a 17-amp-hour battery. If one of those packs works, so will the battery in a the average toad. The one in our Corolla is about 3x those amp-hours.

A always, Your Mileage May Vary. Back mountain roads or city stop and go will actuate the BB many more times than a day on the Interstate.

I think parasitic loads drew more juice from the toad's battery than the activation of the brake buddy.
bumpy

Bumpyroad wrote:
I plugged my brake buddy into a small jumper/starter battery that I wanted to have along anyhow. bumpy

My point exactly! I have a start pack that's larger than many and it contains a 17-amp-hour battery. If one of those packs works, so will the battery in a the average toad. The one in our Corolla is about 3x those amp-hours.

A always, Your Mileage May Vary. Back mountain roads or city stop and go will actuate the BB many more times than a day on the Interstate.

I plugged my brake buddy into a small jumper/starter battery that I wanted to have along anyhow.
no relying on additional wiring, etc.
bumpy

Call Brake Buddy and ask them for a 12-volt kit. Receptacle, wiring, fuse, terminals. Makes the BB outlet hot all the time, and with enough capacity to run the BB well. Wire it on the battery side of your disconnect(s). It carries a price, but I've never heard of them billing for one when you call support and tell them you have it in a late model vehicle. The old "Lighters" were wired heavy enough to run a BB. The new 10-Amp "Outlets" are not. BB will send the kit rather than have you calling back with trouble. This pic shows a plastic socket. I think they send only metal ones now. If you get one with plastic, cut your losses now. Go to the auto supply and get a metal one.

If I have a good (I don't mean expensive or special, just not a failing one) battery in the toad, I can tow all day. A "charge line" isn't a bad idea. Just that I don't have one and have never needed one.

I toad an explorer a 2016 ,previously a 2012 explorer ,I hard wired a receptacle direct to the battery w/fused line .I put a disconnect on both battery posts , owners manual say disconnect + post problem was I got a ground connect via tow bar every thing works great ,1 recommendation I would make is use magnetic tow lights because of the sophistication of canbus wiring in computerized systems I would be leery of cutting in to lighting system any electrical problems down the road and they would blame it on toading system . if your brake buddy is the newest one your in coach monitor will let you know if voltage on toad drops below acceptable charge state ,happened to me once and there was still enough left to start the car ,let it run for 15 minutes and finished towing my last 75 miles , only other thing iv'e found is after towing sometimes the check engine light comes on easy fix start and stop the engine 10 times light goes out and everything is fine, we have had our ex for a year it only gets driven when we are rving and serves us well.
any questions I can help with just post here and I will try to help
brianj

brianj