Charging The Toad

Have you verified that there is 12V present at your 7 pin connector? Mine originally did not. There was a wire connected to pin 4 but no voltage present. Traced the wire back and it went to an auxiliary fuse panel but was not connected. My Brake Buddy would kill the battery in about 6 hours. Connected the wire and installed a 20A fuse. No more problems.

I'll bite - just connect the alternator to the drive shaft.

And if you don't believe physics then for electric cars connect the alternator to the battery and drive motors and and always have charged batteries. :B

Jerry, Did I graduate to one of those toad forum people? :@

I don't pull any fuses on the Equinox and I am running a charge line from the motor home battery. It must be too small a wire (I think they ran 12 ga) because after about 4 hours the toad battery is dead. If I remember to run it when we stop for fuel or lunch it's ok. I may start pulling the #32 fuse, but I understand that that will induce the death wobble in the Equinox. That's all in another thread so I don't want to sidetrack this one.

My charging problems aside, has anyone seen a wheel charger? I remember a generator on a bike that ran the headlight. Something along those lines.

Not understanding why a toad battery would run down if actually using it every few days. Vehicles are commonly left unused for weeks but start right up when needed. Seems like you may have a bad battery or faulty alternator system.

Move down here where highway speeds seem to approach that of a Cessna and your idea will have some merit.

X2

Why not charge it using the towing vehicle ?

Unless you're set on mechanical charging methods, and unsure of how much power you want to produce, maybe a flex or portable solar panel charger might make more sense? Could put it on the toad roof? Run wires to battery. Done.