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ANOTHER question for house battery charging.......:)


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#1 DavidGraves

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Posted 30 July 2016 - 01:48 AM

I understand the need for properly sized wiring back from truck battery or alternator in order to charge a house battery bank.

 

On the other hand, given I start with a fully charge house battery, will a # ten wire from my trailer hitch plug (running lights terminal) connected to the separator, contribute at all to charging my house battery?

 

The only load will be interior lights during a quick two week trip with lots of daily driving.

 

We have no refer, no solar, no nuttin that needs 12 V but the lights.

 

Many thanks

 

DavidGraves

 

NOrth ORegon COast 


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#2 Wandering Sagebrush

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Posted 30 July 2016 - 01:53 AM

David, my opinion is it will probably work. If you have a 7 pin on the truck, I would consider using the 12 vdc pin for charging, then hook up the running lights and ground to their appropriate pins.
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#3 ntsqd

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Posted 30 July 2016 - 04:38 AM

Are the lights LED's? That will help tremendously if they are.


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Thom

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#4 DYNOBOB

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Posted 30 July 2016 - 05:06 AM

You'll be fine.

 

.


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#5 Beach

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Posted 30 July 2016 - 09:44 PM

The running lights terminal is not a great choice, especially if the house battery is really low and requires a lot of charge. The wiring to the plug is only 16 or 14gauge and is only going to have 12.6v max avail. per the running lights requirement. Between the voltage drop(small wire size) when your put a large load on it and the battery needing 13-14 volts(approx.) to charge, any charge would be minimal. I would use a separate feed from the battery or connect to the 7pin as mentioned above.


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#6 ntsqd

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Posted 30 July 2016 - 11:18 PM

I think what WS is saying is to use the 12VDC hot pin in the 7 pin connector to connect to the camper's battery. Those are usually fed by a 10 ga. wire and while not ideal, will work well enough considering the light loads & uses.

 

What I'm blanking on is if there is a ground pin in the connector as well. There needs to be a ground of at least 10 ga. from battery to battery. I would not count on the truck's frame being a good conductor.


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Thom

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#7 Wandering Sagebrush

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Posted 30 July 2016 - 11:56 PM

Typical 7 pin. Check the truck to be sure...

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#8 DavidGraves

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Posted 31 July 2016 - 12:13 AM

Thanks all for the imput...my old T100 does not have the modern 7 pin trailer plug.....( like my 16 Tacoma does ).

 

I think we can get by on this trip with nothing but a good charging ahead of leaving......

 

I will get around to wiring up the camper properly this Fall when I take it off for the winter.

 

DavidGraves

 

 


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#9 Wandering Sagebrush

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Posted 31 July 2016 - 12:58 AM

David, pick up a couple of LED lanterns to augment. The Energizer is $20-30 and works nicely. It has a night light function, too.


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