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Old 11-24-2014, 05:55 PM   #1
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Battery charge while towing

Does anyone know if I have to do anything to a 2014 Ram 1500 in order to charge camper battery while hitched? I read somewhere that I might need to add a fuse or something.

I don't have the factory brake controller, I bought the wiring harness and used a Tekonsha that I had.

Thanks in advance.
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Old 11-24-2014, 06:08 PM   #2
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Maybe they left the fuse out to the pigtail for some reason in your truck. You can just use a multi meter and check your male plug end at the TV. I know on my ford I have a fuse for running lights and another for tail lights. Your break controller also has to be fused in your panel. Just a guess I have a good truck Fix or repair daily.
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Old 11-24-2014, 06:11 PM   #3
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Check your manual for the fuse location-I'm sure you have one.My F-150 had a fuse location-but no fuse.It's a cheap fix-less than a few bucks for the fuse-but it's good to know that your tow rig is charging the TT battery while your driving.I think it sends the power to the "Brain Box" and that feeds it into the battery.
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Old 11-24-2014, 06:11 PM   #4
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Many TV's have the wiring for the 12V aux in the harness, but do not install the fuse/breaker in the fuse box. You may have to install one. In addition, due to the length of the wire run and the gauge of the wire on most vehicles, you will not have a very high charging capacity. If you are trying to charge a battery that is 40% depleted, the voltage at the battery will not be sufficient to accomplish a good charge, If you are installing things and want to charge the TT battery from the TV, add a larger gauge wire.
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Old 11-24-2014, 06:56 PM   #5
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Most trailer plugs have a charge wire and whether it is hot or not depends on the vehicle. If yours is hot, it will take several hours of driving to charge it if it is down to 40% charge. Most regular battery chargers only have 16 ga charge wires, at least the 3 Schumacher chargers I have are all 16 ga with clips.
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Old 11-24-2014, 07:01 PM   #6
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I had a Tekonsha installed on my Ram which was pre-wired from the factory and it does charge the batteries while hooked up and the truck is running.
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Old 11-24-2014, 07:02 PM   #7
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Yes your battery charger may have 16g wire, but it is at most 3 ft long. The wire in your TV /TT setup is probably closer to 20ft plus a plug and a few feet to the battery. At 10 amps and a 0.2ohm charge wire resistance, the 14.8 V from the TV alternator is now only 12.8V
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Old 11-24-2014, 07:15 PM   #8
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Yes your battery charger may have 16g wire, but it is at most 3 ft long. The wire in your TV /TT setup is probably closer to 20ft plus a plug and a few feet to the battery. At 10 amps and a 0.2ohm charge wire resistance, the 14.8 V from the TV alternator is now only 12.8V
Well, after having numerous tow vehicles since I started towing rv trailers in 1975, I've never had a problem charging the batteries with the wire in the plug and they sure are not heavier than 14 ga at most and most are just 18 ga. Look at your tail lights, brake light wiring on your vehicle where the trailer pigtail is hooked to.
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Old 11-24-2014, 09:42 PM   #9
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When I bought my 2012 F150 new there were two fuses in the glove compartment that had to be installed in the high power fuse box under the hood. The hot wire was dead until they were installed. When checking to see if your hot wire in functioning be sure and check it with your truck running. And then with it shut down. This will tell you whether you need to unplug your trailer from your TV when parked and hooked up. If the wire remains hot when not running it could leave with a dead TV battery. Good luck.
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Old 11-24-2014, 10:37 PM   #10
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Initially the voltage drop would be higher but as the battery gets charged it would decrease and eventually 13.8 volts would be at your battery.

25 feet of 16 gauge

30 amps charge rate is a 3 volts drop
15 amps charge rate is a 1.5 volt drop
7.5 amps charge rate is .75 volt drop
Trickle charge at 2 amps would be .2 drop of Charging at 13.6 vdc

You are not going to boil the battery dry with too much charge current.

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Old 11-25-2014, 10:01 AM   #11
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Turn on Tow/Haul mode. That's how mine works in my '14 Ram 2500 but I do have the integrated brake controller.


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Old 11-30-2014, 05:37 PM   #12
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Has anyone every actually checked the amount of amp hours delivered by the tow vehicle to an RV battery bank as it's towed down the road? You guys with the Tri-Metric meters could shed some light on this. My guess would be that it's an insignificant amount.
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Old 11-30-2014, 10:20 PM   #13
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My guess is that you are right Hambone...a simpler method would be to use a clamp amp meter and take a reading on the charging wire. I'm thinking a lot more folks have those and for those that don't..they are handy for lots of things and relatively cheap.

In any event...there seems to be a general assumption that a couple hours of charging down the road and you are all set to go. No matter how many amps your battery charger or alternator can put out all the way down the wire to your trailer batteries.... it will take a MINIMUM of 4 hours (and likely a LOT longer) to fully recharge a 1/2 depleted battery. Minimally charging a battery...then depleting it below 50% is the quickest way to early battery death. No matter WHAT the voltmeter says after you've been driving down the road a while... you aren't fully charged if you haven't driven at least 4 hours because you are reading surface charge not the real state of charge.

Here's a decent & wll priced clamp meter for those interested:

http://www.amazon.com/Auto-ranging-D.../dp/B001VGND88
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Old 12-02-2014, 04:24 PM   #14
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Hey GLJ...cannnot respond to your pm to me just a while ago...your mail box is full. Clean it up a bit and let me know when I can respond!
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Old 12-02-2014, 05:33 PM   #15
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I cleaned it, now you can send me your answer, thanks glenn
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Old 12-02-2014, 08:32 PM   #16
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By all means go to E-trailer and copy down their trailer wiring schematics, I believe there are about 6 diagrams, its's a piece of gold to carry with you...!!
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