adding a charging line

[Horde4Life]

Hey all..
i was wondering if you would be able to help me. ive taken my trailer out the last couple of weekends and noticed my batteries are dead. i thought i had a charging line in place to charge them when i was traveling. my question is, how hard would it be to wire a charging line in place? is it just a simple line going to the positive terminals? is there a fuse that needs to be added? i have a 7 way connection on my truck, but im not sure if it has a wire already in place. is there anyone that can basically walk me through adding in the charging line, or can point me in the right direction to get the information?

[64thunderbolt]

On my F350 it only has power when the eng is running to prevent killing the TV batt. Not sure if it's fact but I would think it should have been. Has the fact tow pkg. Nice safety feature.

If you are leaving with low/dead batt it wouldn't charge them very much.

[jerem0621]

Thank you for this information. I have a similar problem with my TT. I am going to install a turn off switch. Do I need one just on the negative cable?

[Horde4Life]

Thanks for the help Ibyers. i will check those things when i get home from work.

[ibyers]

Horde4Life wrote:

ibyers wrote:
You are probably starting out with dead batteries, depending on how far you are driving, there is no way your TV will charge up the batteries to full on a quick trip to a campground.

Do you have a disconnect switch on your battery? if not all the parasitic loads in your TT are killing your battery.

forgive me for being new and asking questions but what would a disconnect switch and parasitic load be?

a disconnect switch for a lack of a better term "turns it off" It does the same thing as removing the negative cable from the battery so nothing is connected to the battery

There are some items in your TT that will slowly drain the battery. Such as the LP detector, The fridge control board, the radio. These items are always on.

[APT]

If you plug into AC at home and plug into AC at the campground, then your battery should run everything while traveling for a few hours. It should last a weekend. I'd focus on what is draining the battery, not how to charge while traveling.

[Horde4Life]

ibyers wrote:
You are probably starting out with dead batteries, depending on how far you are driving, there is no way your TV will charge up the batteries to full on a quick trip to a campground.

Do you have a disconnect switch on your battery? if not all the parasitic loads in your TT are killing your battery.

forgive me for being new and asking questions but what would a disconnect switch and parasitic load be?

[ibyers]

You are probably starting out with dead batteries, depending on how far you are driving, there is no way your TV will charge up the batteries to full on a quick trip to a campground.

Do you have a disconnect switch on your battery? if not all the parasitic loads in your TT are killing your battery.

[wanderingbob]

On Amazon you can buy for nine dollars a 7 pin check lite . Just plug it in and watch the lites light up , or not !

[naturist]

Gotta remember that above all, you want to make sure the TV battery gets first dibs on alternator output lest you get stranded with a dead starting battery.

That said, most TV alternators do not put out enough excess power to really charge up a dead battery in the TT. And if the house battery is really, really dead, reviving it takes more power than the TV can possibly supply.

[Horde4Life]

thanks for the help all.. i will go tinker with it and see what i come up with.

[WyoTraveler]

On pin #4 of your 7 pin connector you should have 12 volts when ignition is on. Then make sure pin #4 on TT connector is connected to positive terminal of battery. There should be a fuse at TT battery. Once you know vehicle plug has voltage connect to TT. With engine off measure voltage. Start engine you should see an increase in voltage at the TT battery indicating it is charging.

[donn0128]

Should already be in place. Check your 7 pin to see if you have 12VDC present. There will be a fuse on the trailer that might be open(blown). Download the Bargman wiring diagram from the internet for the proper plug wiring sequence.

[Horde4Life]

My TV is a 96 dodge ram 1500.

[donn0128]

What is your TV? If it is a GM variant then everything is here, but you do need to add the fuse, and on newer ones connect the wire.