Posted 2015-09-25 10:06 AM (#164824) Subject: charge horse trailer battery
Member
Posts: 9
Location: Wisconsin
looking for help with regulator apparently needed to add on to dodge ram truck so the battery on the horse trailer is charged as I go down the road. I thought the tow package would automatically allow this but tech service at Dodge said I need a regulator added to truck. Does anyone have any information on this?
Posted 2015-09-25 10:50 AM (#164826 - in reply to #164825) Subject: RE: charge horse trailer battery
Member
Posts: 9
Location: Wisconsin
thanks for this. . . I then dug deeper into this forum's old posts and see that all trucks are different and I need to take it back to my trailer guy who I thought had already taken care of this!
Posted 2015-09-25 12:16 PM (#164827 - in reply to #164824) Subject: battery charging
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 448 Location: Los Angeles, Ca.
Forget the Dodge tech....The battery will charge but only very slowly...for two reasons. 1. The wire going from your vehicle to the trailer is relatively small.....doesn't allow a lot of current to flow. 2. The vehicle's voltage regulator will limit the voltage available to the trailer battery. Since the regulator "sees" both the vehicle battery and the trailer battery,and the vehicle battery is charged, it thinks that the batteries are full and therefore will limit the voltage used to charge.
Posted 2015-09-25 9:14 PM (#164831 - in reply to #164824) Subject: RE: charge horse trailer battery
Veteran
Posts: 153 Location: Grant City, Missouri
I got on here tonite to ask the very same thing! I thought that my trailer battery system would be recharged as we go down the road. We went this week about 40 miles away and I didn't see any difference in the battery charge in either trip to or from.I bought brand new batteries last year. I can't remember for sure but I think I got 2 yr batteries. I have been having a problem with my batteries in that once they are fully charged they only last about 3 days. Is that right? I have had other trailers and I used to travel a lot and boon dock and I don't remember having an issue with my batteries. We are considering going out West next summer and possibly being somewhere without plug ins for a week. We do have a generator which we will take for sure but I'm wondering about my batteries. I think they should be lasting longer than they do.
Posted 2015-09-25 9:34 PM (#164832 - in reply to #164824) Subject: RE: charge horse trailer battery
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 448 Location: Los Angeles, Ca.
Assuming the batteries are in good condition, how long they last depends on the electrical demands you place on them. Lights, fans, detectors, pumps, refrigerators all use some of the battery capacity. A few days use is probably typical before they batteries are discharged. Always start with fully charged batteries and do not allow them to become fully discharged...that damages them, as does not maintaining the water in the battery. If you do not have shore power available to power your on-board converter/charger, you will need a generator to provide that power. A small 1000 watt will power that and most of your other needs. It will not provide enough power for the a/c....marginal for the microwave.
Posted 2015-09-25 10:16 PM (#164834 - in reply to #164824) Subject: RE: charge horse trailer battery
Expert
Posts: 3853 Location: Vermont
Originally written by toocurious on 2015-09-25 1:06 PM
looking for help with regulator apparently needed to add on to dodge ram truck so the battery on the horse trailer is charged as I go down the road. I thought the tow package would automatically allow this but tech service at Dodge said I need a regulator added to truck. Does anyone have any information on this?
As has been mentioned...unless you are driving acroos the country...don't expect much out of your tow vehicle charging your trailer battery(s)...:)one of these tenders are nice when you are not near a plug...:) http://www.batterystuff.com/solar-chargers/
Posted 2015-09-29 9:01 AM (#164868 - in reply to #164834) Subject: RE: charge horse trailer battery
Member
Posts: 9
Location: Wisconsin
Have looked at these solar powered tenders. Debating whether to get one of those or a second battery and try to keep the 2nd battery as a backup. I'm mainly concerned about my auto jack. I need to be able to get out of a site to get to shore power or home! I don't think I want to deal with a generator gas engine and the issues that may bring. Will a solar tender keep the battery charged enough to use the 12 volt auto jack?
Posted 2015-09-29 10:16 AM (#164872 - in reply to #164824) Subject: battery
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 448 Location: Los Angeles, Ca.
You can get a second battery or long jumper cables and use your truck battery incase you need more power to operate your elec. jack. A quick connect could be added near the rear bumper to simplify matters.
Posted 2015-09-29 8:17 PM (#164887 - in reply to #164868) Subject: RE: charge horse trailer battery
Expert
Posts: 3853 Location: Vermont
Originally written by toocurious on 2015-09-29 12:01 PM
Have looked at these solar powered tenders. Debating whether to get one of those or a second battery and try to keep the 2nd battery as a backup. I'm mainly concerned about my auto jack. I need to be able to get out of a site to get to shore power or home! I don't think I want to deal with a generator gas engine and the issues that may bring. Will a solar tender keep the battery charged enough to use the 12 volt auto jack?
Posted 2015-09-30 7:57 PM (#164904 - in reply to #164824) Subject: RE: charge horse trailer battery
Expert
Posts: 1989 Location: South Central OK
Either a solar charger or plug-in trickle charger will keep it topped off. I'm waiting to finalize my new trailer order and it's got an equalizer power jack on it too. Thankfully I knew enough from this thread to ask while we were doing to speck sheet on it and the builder recommends a trickle charger. For just an electric/hydraulic jack a fully charged battery should do about 30 hitch/unhitch cycles.
Posted 2015-10-19 9:31 AM (#165143 - in reply to #164824) Subject: RE: charge horse trailer battery
Member
Posts: 9
Location: Wisconsin
Update: My son has ordered a 100 watt panel from Renogy and a controller. Their customer service seemed to help him think through all. I also purchased another 12v battery and now both batteries will be hooked parallel and all of this should do the trick! Battery will constantly be recharged with this on the roof set up. I also purchased a heavy duty long cable jumper cables. Thanks for all the support!
Posted 2015-10-20 8:19 PM (#165149 - in reply to #164824) Subject: RE: charge horse trailer battery
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 430 Location: TN
Please let us know how this works. We can't park our trailer close to a source of electricity and are stuck pulling our batteries and charging them in the house. Would love to know how solar does!
Posted 2015-11-07 8:19 PM (#165323 - in reply to #164824) Subject: RE: charge horse trailer battery
Member
Posts: 9
Location: Wisconsin
So far so good. All the lights that should be blinking are blinking and the battery is charged! We store in a shed without light off our property so we will have to pull the batteries and put a trickle charger on them- in our basement over winter in Wisconsin. That's too bad since all of this work. However, we used the 100 watt so supposedly will pull in a bit of a charge even on cloudy days next camping season. Will be going out tomorrow to drain all water and clean out. Will turn everything on for a while perhaps and see what happens!! If I don't post anything else in this thread, means all is well!
charge horse trailer battery
