12V system question

[Dovetail]

Went to storage facility and tried to bump out slide. Battery dead. My fault, had mot disconnected battery.
Hooked up the trailer cord to the truck and trailer still dead.

Does the truck only charge the trailer battery?
Or does it supply power to the 12v system.

I only left it connected for a couple of minutes. Had i waited a while would it have mattered?

and did not have the hitch connected. Would it be lack of ground?

Never had to place in storage before, but new house has no place for the trailer.
Thought i could just plug it into the truck and i would have power for the landing gear, but now am a little worried.

[Rrickim63]

Originally Posted by Dovetail

Went to storage facility and tried to bump out slide. Battery dead. My fault, had mot disconnected battery.
Hooked up the trailer cord to the truck and trailer still dead.

Does the truck only charge the trailer battery?
Or does it supply power to the 12v system.

I only left it connected for a couple of minutes. Had i waited a while would it have mattered?

and did not have the hitch connected. Would it be lack of ground?

Never had to place in storage before, but new house has no place for the trailer.
Thought i could just plug it into the truck and i would have power for the landing gear, but now am a little worried.

It will take more than a few minutes to recharge. I would suggest removing battery and charge it at home.

[PhoneDude 8289]

Originally Posted by Dovetail

Went to storage facility and tried to bump out slide. Battery dead. My fault, had mot disconnected battery.
Hooked up the trailer cord to the truck and trailer still dead.

Does the truck only charge the trailer battery?
Or does it supply power to the 12v system.

I only left it connected for a couple of minutes. Had i waited a while would it have mattered?

and did not have the hitch connected. Would it be lack of ground?

Never had to place in storage before, but new house has no place for the trailer.
Thought i could just plug it into the truck and i would have power for the landing gear, but now am a little worried.

I believe that the cord from truck to RV has a ground in it. I don't think the wiring is heavy enough to carry enough power for the slides or landing gear, a battery with a good charge in it will be required. It would take quite a while to charge the RV battery from dead to be able to operate slides / landing gear plugged into the truck.

[OldCoot]

Hooking the trailer up shouldn't make any difference as the plug has a ground wire in it. The truck/tow vehicle should have charged the battery(s) if you had left it hooked for a while unless the trailer battery(s) are completely dead. If they're dead, you will have to replace them.

[TexasBob]

Originally Posted by Dovetail

Went to storage facility and tried to bump out slide. Battery dead. My fault, had mot disconnected battery.
Hooked up the trailer cord to the truck and trailer still dead.

Does the truck only charge the trailer battery?
Or does it supply power to the 12v system.

I only left it connected for a couple of minutes. Had i waited a while would it have mattered?

and did not have the hitch connected. Would it be lack of ground?

Never had to place in storage before, but new house has no place for the trailer.
Thought i could just plug it into the truck and i would have power for the landing gear, but now am a little worried.

Your truck only charges the battery.
Your trailer plug should provide a ground.

Basics:
My truck has to be running to charge the battery.
If your battery is completely dead it may take a while for your truck to charge the battery.
Worse case: Your battery could be so flat and damaged that it will not take a charge.

[fonzie]

You can either remove battery and bring home and recharge, hook up trailer cord to truck and wait 30 minutes at least with truck running (maybe will do it) or use booster cables from truck to trailer battery with engine running.......always use safe boosting procedure.

[ependydad]

I've done just what you expected to happen- plugged the trailer into the camper so that I could run the slides in/out. I had left the truck running and waited for a few minutes.

[garbonz]

If the battery in your camper has been sitting dead for awhile, It is likely not going to be much good. Might as well take it home and charge and test it out. This is a good link for a procedure to evaluate deep cycle batteries.

Pacific Power Batteries - About Automotive Batteries

[Dovetail]

Thanks to all for responses. Brought the battery home and charged it. Glad i went out to the trailer and discovered this before i planned on using it.
Will disconnect in the future and maybe find a discinnect switch for it.
Now i know.