Does trickle charge also charge tow vehicle?

[Ed Picardi]

If my camper/trailer is still plugged into the truck, does anybody know if putting a trickle charge onto the camper battery also charges the truck battery? Are there any diodes in the truck to stop flow of current from the camper/trailer?

[babock]

What truck do you have? Many are different. Some are always connected and others use relays.

Originally Posted by Ed Picardi

If my camper/trailer is still plugged into the truck, does anybody know if putting a trickle charge onto the camper battery also charges the truck battery? Are there any diodes in the truck to stop flow of current from the camper/trailer?

[Ed Picardi]

I have a 2003 Chevy Silverado.
Thanks for responding.

[babock]

My 99 always had power at the 7 pin trailer connection so in your case, trickle charging the trailer would also charge the truck. Not sure I won't necessarily do that though long term.

Originally Posted by Ed Picardi

I have a 2003 Chevy Silverado.
Thanks for responding.

[Comanchecreek]

I also have a 2003 Silverado. The power to the plug is always hot, which tells me that the trailer can always draw from the vehicle battery. To my knowledge there is no solenoid setup on that vehicle that disconnects the batteries from the trailer. There is a main fuse in the under hood fuse block that protects that circuit. I have had mine blow so that there is no charging, and no connection of the batteries.

[tomkatb]

Technically likely not.

A trickle charge on a battery in the rv has to travel 50 feet thru small wires to your tv. Current model trucks do not allow this.

Use your voltmeter to measure both batteries, I doubt it would do anything.

Leaving a truck hooked up to an rv will discharge the truck battery slowly.

Expect nothing to happen. Might discharge the tv.

[babock]

Lol. His question was about trickle charge. It WILL trickle charge it.

[Mizterusa]

Originally Posted by Ed Picardi

If my camper/trailer is still plugged into the truck, does anybody know if putting a trickle charge onto the camper battery also charges the truck battery? Are there any diodes in the truck to stop flow of current from the camper/trailer?

If ur vehicle battery needs charging you have other problems.... [emoji16]

[tomkatb]

Those trickle chargers typically supply .5 amps of charge or so. 12 amps per day.

The natural discharge rate of a wet cell is 5% per month. About 15 amps for three batteries. About a half amp per day. The purpose of a trickle charger is to eliminate this .

Your battery bank plus the truck is about 300 amps. So it will slightly charge the batteries it is connected to assuming there is no parasitic load on the system.

This it will provide 360 amps of charge per month minus the 5% or about 15 amps. Or 345 amps per month. The parasitic load if not disconnected would negate this.

Your converter likely provides 42,000 amps per month to recharge batteries. About 100 times as much.

If the batteries are connected to the tv the parasitic loads will negate any good the trickle charger provides.

As a battery charger, it ain’t much.

The reason truck manufacturers do not leave the charging wire on is that one bad battery in the system will discharge all of them and the truck will not start.

RV owners are not good about controlling their batteries.

[babock]

With his truck, the charge wire is always on.

Originally Posted by tomkatb

Those trickle chargers typically supply .5 amps of charge or so. 12 amps per day.

The natural discharge rate of a wet cell is 5% per month. About 15 amps for three batteries. About a half amp per day. The purpose of a trickle charger is to eliminate this .

Your battery bank plus the truck is about 300 amps. So it will slightly charge the batteries it is connected to assuming there is no parasitic load on the system.

This it will provide 360 amps of charge per month minus the 5% or about 15 amps. Or 345 amps per month. The parasitic load if not disconnected would negate this.

Your converter likely provides 42,000 amps per month to recharge batteries. About 100 times as much.

If the batteries are connected to the tv the parasitic loads will negate any good the trickle charger provides.

As a battery charger, it ain’t much.

The reason truck manufacturers do not leave the charging wire on is that one bad battery in the system will discharge all of them and the truck will not start.

RV owners are not good about controlling their batteries.