Isata 5 12 volt Toad Power

[Tom in Ohio]

Hello,
I'm going to flat tow my 2023 Bronco this year and have a question on the 12 Volt trickle charge availability.

Does the center contact on the 7 pin tow bar plug supply power from the RAM cab battery & alternator only when the engine is running?

I installed a RoadMaster flat tow system including their kit to keep the Bronco battery charged while being towed. Any experience doing this and is the charging rate decent?

[vlamgat]

Most vehicle electrical systems are battery driven not alternator supplied. Put another way, if you remove the battery(s) the vehicle will not run and nor will any systems work. Accordingly, I doubt that the alternator is charging the Toad rather that the power source at the 7 blade is going to be a higher voltage than the Toad thus charging the toad to the extent its below that voltage. So what the charger does is control that flow and prevent overcharging. Given the size of the cabling, I doubt any of these chargers offer more than 2 amps and more than likely 1.5 or less.

[Tom in Ohio]

Originally Posted by Tom in Ohio

Hello,
I'm going to flat tow my 2023 Bronco this year and have a question on the 12 Volt trickle charge availability.

Does the center contact on the 7 pin tow bar plug supply power from the RAM cab battery & alternator only when the engine is running?

I installed a RoadMaster flat tow system including their kit to keep the Bronco battery charged while being towed. Any experience doing this and is the charging rate decent?

Thanks for the info.....I did confirm it only sends power to the #7 pin when the engine is running. I got a reading of 12 Volt or a little better and 1.9 to 2.4 variable AMP reading. That should be OK to at least maintain the battery while flat towing.

Brian....if you see this....Do you have a wiring diagram for the 7 pin connector???

[kenandterry]

Hopefully all vehicles and trailers are wiring to this standard

[Tom in Ohio]

Originally Posted by kenandterry

Hopefully all vehicles and trailers are wiring to this standard

The center pin #7 off the motorhome and Confirmed by Roadmaster is 12 Volt. MANY videos and eTrailer instructions confirm this.

[gremlin]

There are two different 7 pin wiring, one is with backup in the center one is with 12V in the middle.

For my toad I have a 6 pin plug on the front of the toad, and managed to find from e-trailer a cable to connect that to the 7 pin plug on the rig. then I Wired it with the reverse lights pin which is not being used on the toad to the reverse light on the 7 pin on the RV, I opened the RV side plug and pulled that cable shrink tubed it and taped it to the wiring harness for later use, and ran another wire all the way up to the dashboard. This wire in the toad is attached to the Stay-N-Play duo's brakes on output so that I have a light on the dashboard that actions when the toad brakes are on. It's great to know they're working.

[Tom in Ohio]

Originally Posted by gremlin

There are two different 7 pin wiring, one is with backup in the center one is with 12V in the middle.

For my toad I have a 6 pin plug on the front of the toad, and managed to find from e-trailer a cable to connect that to the 7 pin plug on the rig. then I Wired it with the reverse lights pin which is not being used on the toad to the reverse light on the 7 pin on the RV, I opened the RV side plug and pulled that cable shrink tubed it and taped it to the wiring harness for later use, and ran another wire all the way up to the dashboard. This wire in the toad is attached to the Stay-N-Play duo's brakes on output so that I have a light on the dashboard that actions when the toad brakes are on. It's great to know they're working.

Nice set up! I have a Blue Ox Patriot braking system which included a monitor that's on the dash of my Isata 5. I can adjust any braking or sensitivity issues on the fly.
Everything else baseplate, tow bar & wiring are RoadMaster. Blue Ox was a better fit with my electronic brake master on the Bronco....uses very little power and plays nice with the other Bronco electronics.

[gremlin]

We had a similar system previously but I got tired of trying to muscle the unit into the toad each time, especially if you just needed to disconnect it for a short while for some reason (maneuvering etc). The nice thing about the Stay-n-Play is it's all permanently in the Ranger, when I tow it I just hook up the bar and plugs on the front flip a switch under the dash and go