What's the purpose of a battery in a camper?
Why does a camper have a battery? You don't have a starter. If you are always connected to shore power, why do you need one? Maybe if I boondocked, but the power from a battery isn't going to do much ...
Forum Discussion
Francesca Knowles wrote:BurbMan wrote:Francesca Knowles wrote:
The battery on a camper (or trailer) has nothing to do with vehicle brakes. It's strictly for use by the camper/trailer.
It supplies power to all the 12volt systems in the camper- but if you have nothing powered by 12 volt, get rid of it.
That's some BAD advice right there! If the camper becomes detached from the tow vehicle it loses the 7-pin connection and the power it gets from the tow vehicle. The breakasway switch will activate the brakes BUT only if there is a battery to power the brakes. This is REQUIRED BY LAW. You will see even utility trailers, if they are large enough to need brakes, they will have a battery even if it's a 12v dry cell.
:h
Breakaway switches must have their own dedicated source of power and can't be powered by the trailer battery.
Not that it matters in this case, since we're talking about a camper.
I'm not sure where you got that info but the trailer brake-away circuit has to be attached to the trailers own battery according to DOT regulations. That on board battery that is used by the brakes in an emergency and by the house is considered "dedicated" and that s why all trailers are set up that way.
