Brakeaway battery charger

[HarleyScooter]

I just bought a 16' 7K trailer with 4 wheel brakes and the brakeaway battery kit. I never had a trailer with the brakeaway kit and I don't know what the battery needs, to be maintained. What are you using to charge your brakeaway batteries?
Thanks

 

[Skyco]

My 4 trailers that have a breakaway battery all have a means to charge the battery when connected to the tow vehicle...my RV trailer uses the house battery as its system and of course it charges when connected to the tow vehicle as well.
There are kits available if yours doesn't, check some of the trailer websites, they run about $15.
Here is one, not an endorsement never used them, just the first one to pop up on google-

http://www.etrailer.com/p-20011.html

 

[Iowachild]

I just bought a 16' 7K trailer with 4 wheel brakes and the brakeaway battery kit. I never had a trailer with the brakeaway kit and I don't know what the battery needs, to be maintained. What are you using to charge your brakeaway batteries?
Thanks

Most breakaway switches I have seen have the charger built right into the box. The battery is charged while connected to the vehicle when the vehicle is running.

 

[HarleyScooter]

I checked my battery box and there are only two wires which go to the trailer brakes. I went to our local truck and trailer store and they had two chargers, one was $30 a small black box and four wires, the other was $15 and it was just wires with something small shrink wrapped in the wires (it did not look to good?) What kind of chargers do you use?
I will add a picture, I know how everyone likes pictures.
Thanks

 

[Diamondpilot]

The first step is to make sure your tow vehicle has the proper circuit to charge the trailer. If its a Ford you will have to install a relay. Its gray and came with the truck. If its a GM its a little more difficult. You must buy a Maxi-Fuse and hook up a wire. The wire goes on a stud for which the metric nut may or may not be supplied. If its another brand of truck give me a PM and I will talk you through it. No matter what brand of truck you should have 12 volts at the 7 pin plug using the 1 o-clock pin (+) and 7 o-clock (-) pins. Sometimes this is always hot. I do not like it this way. Sometimes its hot only when the truck is running. This is a better setup. Check this site for info.



R and P Carriages, Towing and trailer help questions

As for a charger you really do not need one. You can just hook up a positive and negative wire and it will work. The $30 unit you found is a smart charger and prevents overcharging but I have never seen a battery overcharge with just hooking wires up. The $15 unit you saw is more than likely just a diode to prevent back-feeding the truck.

You may already be hooked up. When I wire a break-away I only run two wires to the battery making the connections in a junction. To check first assure you have 12 volts at the pins I mentioned above then unhook the battery on the trailer and plug in the connector and check the two wires for voltage again. If hooked up you will have 12 volts.


Chris

 

[Iowachild]

I checked my battery box and there are only two wires which go to the trailer brakes. I went to our local truck and trailer store and they had two chargers, one was $30 a small black box and four wires, the other was $15 and it was just wires with something small shrink wrapped in the wires (it did not look to good?) What kind of chargers do you use?
I will add a picture, I know how everyone likes pictures.
Thanks

Chris did a great jog explaining, much better than I did. I have a Ford so I did have to add the relay. The relay energizes when the truck is running.

BTW That's a very nice looking trailer.

 

[HarleyScooter]

I will check on the relay tomorrow. The truck is a 2001 F150. I will have to see if I can find the relay that came with the truck, I will also look to see if I allready put it in. Old with a bad memory and getting worse by the day.
Thanks again.

 

[XterraJohn]

My Maxey trailer came wired with the charger hooked up to the running lights. When I bought the trailer, the dealer told me that the battery didn't need to be charged but simply replaced after how ever many years or hours of use. I didn't even know it had a charger until I took everything apart to rewire the brakes.

 

[Diamondpilot]

My Maxey trailer came wired with the charger hooked up to the running lights. When I bought the trailer, the dealer told me that the battery didn't need to be charged but simply replaced after how ever many years or hours of use. I didn't even know it had a charger until I took everything apart to rewire the brakes.

I have seen them done like that. Not knocking your trailer but that is the laziest and dumbest way to wire one I have seen. The trucks of today have everything you need to wire it up properly.

My uncle bought a boat and trailer brand new in 2005 that was equipped with a back up solenoid that was wired the same way. Only way you could back up was turn the lights on. I changed it the next weekend.

Not saying it will not work but its not right.

Chris

 

[Diamondpilot]

I will check on the relay tomorrow. The truck is a 2001 F150. I will have to see if I can find the relay that came with the truck, I will also look to see if I allready put it in. Old with a bad memory and getting worse by the day.
Thanks again.

The relays should have came in a package with the pigtail that is used to hook up the trailer brakes. There were actually 2 relays on that year Ford. One is for the brake controller and the other is to allow the trialers brake-away battery to charge.

If you do not have them any U-haul, trailer dealer, or Ford dealer should have them. If you do not have easy access call the folks at R&P Carriages to get them shipped out. Actually that will probably be the easiest and cheapest way.

First step though is to get out your multi meter, turn on the truck, and check the 1 o-clock (+) and 7 o-clock (-) pin for voltage.

Chris

 

[HarleyScooter]

Thanks Chris, you have given me a lot of good info. I did not get to check yesterday, I was welding on the trailer all day. I hope to get to it today.
Scott

 

[Diamondpilot]

Thanks Chris, you have given me a lot of good info. I did not get to check yesterday, I was welding on the trailer all day. I hope to get to it today.
Scott

Hope you disconnected that battery or it may not matter????? I have seen a few fried from welding. Same thing with a trailer that was on the hitch of a truck why welding and it fried the battery of the truck.

Chris

 

[Iowachild]

Hope you disconnected that battery or it may not matter????? I have seen a few fried from welding. Same thing with a trailer that was on the hitch of a truck why welding and it fried the battery of the truck.

Chris

Good to do when ever welding on anything with a battery. Also once a work a fellow had a grounded ( 3 wire) metal electric tool laying on the welding table and when he struck the arc it fried the tool. Something to think about.

 

[HarleyScooter]

Good advice Mike and Chris. Yes I did disconnect the battery. I checked the truck plug and I do have 12 volts at the charging terminal. I did not connect the trailer to the truck but with the battery still disconnected I checked for continuity from the positive breakaway battery wire to the trailer plug 12 volt hot terminal and there was none. So until I can get the trailer connected to the truck to check it properly I am thinking there is no charger on this trailer? When I get all the modifications to the trailer done I will start a new thread with lots of pictures.
Scott

 

[Ken45101]

The problem with using the truck to charge the break away battery is that it is a slow process that will take hours of running to get it charged if it is discharged (which all batteries do over time). If your trailer sits for months (say over winter) and you hook it up, your break away battery may be useless for a long time and won't meet legal requirements or won't stop the trailer if it does break away.

OTOH, I have to admit that a few years ago I disconnected the break away battery on one of the horse trailers and brought it into the house to charge. It's still sitting in the house!

Ken

 

[Iowachild]

The problem with using the truck to charge the break away battery is that it is a slow process that will take hours of running to get it charged if it is discharged (which all batteries do over time). If your trailer sits for months (say over winter) and you hook it up, your break away battery may be useless for a long time and won't meet legal requirements or won't stop the trailer if it does break away.

OTOH, I have to admit that a few years ago I disconnected the break away battery on one of the horse trailers and brought it into the house to charge. It's still sitting in the house!

Ken

Yes there are times when I would use a small amperage 12 volt charger. I just bought a used trailer that had been sitting a few years and the battery was down around 10 volts. I connected it to a 2 amp charger for a few hours and the charge was right up where it should be. Using the trailer on a regular basis this summer should keep the battery charged via the truck circuit.

 

[HarleyScooter]

I was reading on the Tekonsha web-site about the little battery for the breakaway kit I have. They say (Due to the characteristics of this battery, after six to nine months of storage, the battery should be recharged. Charge the battery at the proper rate. Current should be limited to 1.2 amps or less.) When I read the 1.2 amps max I got an idea, now my plan is to buy and install a 12 volt charger and also install a two connector plug for my Battery Tender plus ( Battery Tender Plus - Batterytender.com ) These are good chargers, I use them on a lot of stuff. I think I will have all the bases covered with this plan.

 

[Diamondpilot]

Battery tenders are great products. We use them in boats and I installed them in my dads and uncles Corvettes. They are a must in Corvettes or Caddys or the battery will go dead in as little as 7 days just sitting.

I would still hook up just a regular wire to the charge the battery. No special charger needed. I do it all the time. Let your truck do its job and keep that battery topped off.

Chris

 

[wingbone]

I've been thinking of getting one of those solar panel battery charges to maintain my dump truck battery since I only use it every once in a while. Is this a good idea and would it do a good job on the breakaway battery as well?

 

[Ken45101]

I would think it would be okay ONLY if the solar charger output was VERY low current. Probably nothing more than 50 ma. Even then, I would not keep it attached full time, just for a couple of days every other month or so.

Anything that puts out enough current to charge your truck battery would probably be way to much for the little sealed break away battery.

Ken