Towed vehicle battery charge line

[Butch50]

Has anybody ran a battery charge line to their towed vehicle? If so what size of wire did you use and what size of fuse did you install?

I want to run a charge line to my toad just to make sure I don't drain the battery. I have a very small drain on the battery but would like to keep it topped off. My setup does not run a cable from the MH to the toad. I use a wireless plug on the back of the MH to a wireless light bar on my toad for signal, brake and tail lights. They are LED so not much power drain. The new brake unit I'm going to use is the RVIbrake2 so again there are no lines running from the MH to the toad.

I was just going to use a trailer flat 4 pin plug and wire (16 gauge)from the MH to the toad. I would take power out of the 7 pin plug on the back of the MH to the trailer wire. I would be using the trailer plugs with covers on them to keep from any exposed hot lines when unplugged. I was going to install a 20amp in line fuse.

What do you think, well it work OK?

Thanks

[Robocop]

06Fargo wrote:
Take a look at an isolator kit like:

ToadCharge

to protect your car battery from coach loads.

I know most folks are comfortable with DIY installs and back in the day every vehicle I owned I wired this and that, usually successfully. I bought the Toad-Charge and like having the charge regulator with the status indicator lights.

[Olddud]

I use a 12 gauge wire with 20A inline fuse to the car battery. Run it through the RV connector.

[noteven]

....

[noteven]

Take a look at an isolator kit like:

ToadCharge

to protect your car battery from coach loads.

[91pinnacle]

I sugges that you put a fuse in both ends of the charge line. electricity can flow in buth directions.

[crasster]

Butch50 wrote:
Has anybody ran a battery charge line to their towed vehicle? If so what size of wire did you use and what size of fuse did you install?

I want to run a charge line to my toad just to make sure I don't drain the battery. I have a very small drain on the battery but would like to keep it topped off. My setup does not run a cable from the MH to the toad. I use a wireless plug on the back of the MH to a wireless light bar on my toad for signal, brake and tail lights. They are LED so not much power drain. The new brake unit I'm going to use is the RVIbrake2 so again there are no lines running from the MH to the toad.

I was just going to use a trailer flat 4 pin plug and wire (16 gauge)from the MH to the toad. I would take power out of the 7 pin plug on the back of the MH to the trailer wire. I would be using the trailer plugs with covers on them to keep from any exposed hot lines when unplugged. I was going to install a 20amp in line fuse.

What do you think, well it work OK?

Thanks

You would use a fuse appropriate to the wire you run (as a short answer). (gauge size vs. amps). Typically, if I was going to do it, I would run a 25 amp wire depending one what you want to run in the toad. I would also install a kill switch for the wire.

[Bobbo]

Rule of thumb - 10g wire or larger, fused, wired so it is not hot if the ignition is not on.

[DrewE]

Fuse size depends on the wire size between the vehicles, which depends on the current flow. I thin Dusty's advice is reasonable. You could also put in a Trik-L-Start box and know that the current is limited to five amps and that the towed vehicle battery cannot discharge through the motorhome electrical system.

I would very much suggest using some connector other than a standard trailer connector. Sooner or later someone, maybe you, will plug a normal trailer plug into your connector that looks like a trailer connector but is wired differently and, at the very least, be mighty confused. A weatherpack connector might work--or just wire it with a seven pin connector, and use the wires you care about and ignore the rest.

[williamp321]

On my line I use 10 gauge wire and a 15 amp fuse. I tow a Honda CR-V 2014. I only made two trips with this connection. Before i install it my patriot would tell me it has low batt.Not seen that with my hook up i have now.

[Butch50]

.

[Dusty_R]

If the battery has a full charge to begin with, and it does not take much to maintain it, then it would not take a very large wire, just add an inline fuse to the wire to protect it from being over loaded. I think I would use a #10 with a 30 amp fuse, one at each end of that #10 wire, theres power at each end of that wire, there's a chance you could get a short somewhere between fuses.

Dusty