1 reply to this topic

[Hugocam]

Hello first time post thanks for all the great info here. I have a 2008 4dr tacoma and an 88 fleet, was tring not to get involved with attaching an isolater for connecting camper to truck. Can I reroute the camper connection located in the front, left and some how attach a connection to my 7pin trailer connection for towing to charge my batteries? Also my toyota comes with that inverter in the back to plug 110 into, has anyone plugged there trailer into that and charged there batteties or run there light? Thanks

[iowahiker]

Yes you can to both but neither is good.  The more connections you have, the greater the voltage drop.  I had dealers hook up my popup trailer years ago and the FWC recently and both came off the battery using a thermal breaker under the hood.  Also, the 120 volt truck outlet consumes about 10% of the current doing the conversion from 12 volt to 120 and  then the camper consumes another 10% of the current going back down to 12 volt, i.e. not a good way (not to mention the 120 volt path is MUCH more likely to over amp the truck because it is expecting serious 120 volt current from a house/hookup).  Meanwhile, camper AGM batteries operate at a slightly higher voltage than wet starter batteries so all the voltage drops from using using the trailer 7 pin connection really cut into AGM camper battery charging.  Also, the 7 pin may use a fuse while the dealers use a thermal breaker under the hood (screwed to the fire wall) which resets if too much current goes to the camper instead of blowing a fuse.  Others can chime in if I messed up in this explanation.  Some folks use better gauge wire off the battery to the thermal breaker (under the hood) to the bed plug/camper to better reduce voltage drop to better charge camper AGM batteries.  

Edited by iowahiker, 30 October 2014 - 12:03 AM.