Charging battery with tow vehicle
I didn't want to hijack the current thread on time e to charge a battery with the tow vehicle but I read of people changing the charging wire to a larger size to get better charging. For those that h...
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There may be a doubled edge sword here if you beef up the charge cable from your Truck Alternator system.
The typical Truck Alternator setup was only typically designed to charge up the ONE Truck Start battery. Each battery in a system when being hit with 14 PLUS DC charging voltages could demand as much as 17-20AMPS DC Current from the source. This could be more DC Current demand than the standard Truck Alternator setup can produce. Using the standard #10 gauge wire back to the trailer connector most likely will compensate heavier load by having some voltage drop which in turn may protect the truck alternator better from too big of DC load providing less charge current of course.
Also some of the older trucks have this charge line always connected which may run down your truck start battery if left connected for a long period of time without the truck motor running. This is why the newer trucks have this charge line under ignition key ON only control...
Adding the smart relay to the truck alternator setup to only be connected when the truck alternator is in CHARGE MODE ONLY will in most cases be governed by the truck start battery being so close proximity to the Truck Alternator. The Trailer battery may be too far away distance wise to effect any charge mode changes to the truck alternator sensing setup. In other words the Truck Alternator will sense the Truck Start battery meet its charge mode state and then drop the smart relay back to its OFF state. The trailer battery would then stop being charged by the truck alternator and may not have met its charge state yet... It may take a longer time to get both batteries fully charged to their 90$ or 100% charge state so they can be used again...
The Trailer Rv Batteries can withstand a 50% charge state and can be recharged backup to their 90% charge state and be used again whereas a Truck Start battery can only withstand a 80% charge state and in many cases when this has happens your truck start battery never really returns to a good state after being recharged again.
As always one of the golden rules is to watch what you do with your Truck systems as this is usually the only way to get back home on...
Good planning prevails here...
Yes - I have been caught with my batteries down many times in my off road camping trips... My 2KW hand Crank Honda generator is my number one PLAN B on my trips...
Just saying...
Roy Ken
The typical Truck Alternator setup was only typically designed to charge up the ONE Truck Start battery. Each battery in a system when being hit with 14 PLUS DC charging voltages could demand as much as 17-20AMPS DC Current from the source. This could be more DC Current demand than the standard Truck Alternator setup can produce. Using the standard #10 gauge wire back to the trailer connector most likely will compensate heavier load by having some voltage drop which in turn may protect the truck alternator better from too big of DC load providing less charge current of course.
Also some of the older trucks have this charge line always connected which may run down your truck start battery if left connected for a long period of time without the truck motor running. This is why the newer trucks have this charge line under ignition key ON only control...
Adding the smart relay to the truck alternator setup to only be connected when the truck alternator is in CHARGE MODE ONLY will in most cases be governed by the truck start battery being so close proximity to the Truck Alternator. The Trailer battery may be too far away distance wise to effect any charge mode changes to the truck alternator sensing setup. In other words the Truck Alternator will sense the Truck Start battery meet its charge mode state and then drop the smart relay back to its OFF state. The trailer battery would then stop being charged by the truck alternator and may not have met its charge state yet... It may take a longer time to get both batteries fully charged to their 90$ or 100% charge state so they can be used again...
The Trailer Rv Batteries can withstand a 50% charge state and can be recharged backup to their 90% charge state and be used again whereas a Truck Start battery can only withstand a 80% charge state and in many cases when this has happens your truck start battery never really returns to a good state after being recharged again.
As always one of the golden rules is to watch what you do with your Truck systems as this is usually the only way to get back home on...
Good planning prevails here...
Yes - I have been caught with my batteries down many times in my off road camping trips... My 2KW hand Crank Honda generator is my number one PLAN B on my trips...
Just saying...
Roy Ken
