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Old 03-04-2016, 01:53 PM   #1
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Battery charging

We recently took delivery of out new Rockwood 8280WS. On the way home, the first night out we just stopped at a truck stop and ran off the battery. No problems. The next night we again elected to stay along the road, but found that the battery was almost completely discharged, in spite of driving 500 miles. I checked the hot pin on the lights plug and it is hooked up.

I called the dealer and he told me that the battery is no longer recharged by the tow vehicle "for safety reasons". Huh???? This is our 5th trailer and all have recharged the battery while towing. Am I being fed a line of BS, or are all new trailers like this now?

It certainly won't be hard to run a charging line from the hot pin on the lights plug, but I can't imagine why this wouldn't have been done at the factory except for the aforementioned "safety reasons". Anyone else run into the same problem?

Thanks.
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Old 03-04-2016, 01:59 PM   #2
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I would say it's "bull".....take multi-meter and take voltage reading at battery when hooked up with truck off and then running. You will see if charging....it might not charge the battery fully if depleted........
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Old 03-04-2016, 02:03 PM   #3
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Yeah, there is no current connection to the truck. It charges fine when plugged in to 110v, but the meter shows nothing when hooked to the truck.
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Old 03-04-2016, 02:06 PM   #4
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Sounds like the dealer made something up. You probably already know that there is a pin (#4) explicitly for this purpose when the key is in the run position. Sometimes you need to insert a relay for it to work, but it makes no sense not to hook it up on the trailer end.
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Old 03-04-2016, 02:15 PM   #5
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Yes, #4 is hot, but it's not getting down to the battery in the trailer.

Thanks for the replies - you've confirmed that the dealer is full of cow plop. I just love the incompetence in the service fields these days!

Thanks again.
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Old 03-04-2016, 02:23 PM   #6
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Have you traced the wire from the trailer connector to the battery to see if there is a fuse or mini breaker that has blown?
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Old 03-04-2016, 02:33 PM   #7
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The only wire going to the battery comes from the power center and the battery does charge when it's hooked up to 110v, and of course, the battery feeds power back to the RV through the same wire, so all is good there. Knowing that the battery is indeed supposed to charge while driving and not doing so isn't some new "feature", I guess the next step is to take the power center cover off and see if everything (the hot lead from the truck) is connected inside.
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Old 03-04-2016, 03:19 PM   #8
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Battery charging

Quote:
Originally Posted by nitro View Post
I guess the next step is to take the power center cover off and see if everything (the hot lead from the truck) is connected inside.

No. It isn't there nor will it ever be.

What you need to do is find the junction box that the umbilical cord goes to.
On my Sabre it was up in the pin box .

Up there is where the "charging wire" will be.
It should then go directly to your battery "if it was hooked up".






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Old 03-04-2016, 04:10 PM   #9
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just realize nearly all tow vehicles only provide a trickle charge to the trailer battery.

if you've depleted a lot of the battery's charge, it would take hours of driving to recharge it.
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Old 03-04-2016, 04:18 PM   #10
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Originally Posted by bikendan View Post
just realize nearly all tow vehicles only provide a trickle charge to the trailer battery.



if you've depleted a lot of the battery's charge, it would take hours of driving to recharge it.

Maybe all day!


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Old 03-04-2016, 06:21 PM   #11
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Well, I just went over to the storage yard and took out the power center. There, bigger than life was a loose, dead #10 red wire (unstripped) and an unused lug on the power center which read 12.7v - same as the RV battery. Hooked up the truck to the pigtail outside and the unstripped bare wire now read 14.1v (the truck was running). Stripped the wire and hooked it to the unused lug and voila, I had 14.1 volts at the RV battery. Problem solved.

So much for the "safety feature" and factory quality control!

Thanks all.
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Old 03-04-2016, 07:00 PM   #12
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...So much for the "safety feature" and factory quality control!...
Way to go! Sure it's only a #10, but you will get some charge through it anyway. Perhaps your battery is already fully charged, but if I read you right, you had 14.1 from the TV with it disconnected and 14.1 on the battery once it was connected. Not a lot of voltage drop there, must not need much of a charge.
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