toad charge issue?

[Keith & Sharon]

I supposedly have a toad charge system installed when my tow bar and braking system was installed, I was under the coach today and found the wire that is supposed to go to the trailer connector was cut, when I reconnect the ends of the wire with the toad attached I hear a relay activating in the coach. I opend the access to the relay panel and found the the large relay that all the battery wires go to activates when I connect the trailer charge wire. Is this normal? and what is this relay for? it isn't labeled. I do not get power on the wire that is supposed to go the the trailer connector until I turn the coach key. Or do I need to install a different toad charge system with a diode?
Does any body have a picture and a listing of what all the relays/solenoids are?

[Keith & Sharon]

I supposedly have a toad charge system installed when my tow bar and braking system was installed, I was under the coach today and found the wire that is supposed to go to the trailer connector was cut, when I reconnect the ends of the wire with the toad attached I hear a relay activating in the coach. I opend the access to the relay panel and found the the large relay that all the battery wires go to activates when I connect the trailer charge wire. Is this normal? and what is this relay for? it isn't labeled. I do not get power on the wire that is supposed to go the the trailer connector until I turn the coach key. Or do I need to install a different toad charge system with a diode?
Does any body have a picture and a listing of what all the relays/solenoids are?

[Pigman]

Your system is operating normally. The relay is connected in the system to prevent you from draining the coach battery when you stop for a night or more but leave the toad hooked up. Key off, no power going back to drain the coach. The exact purpose of all the relays and solenoids depends on who your chassis manufacturer is and what they put in. Even though Tiffin wrote the specs, your chassis maker actually did that part of the wiring, and he was the one who chose the parts.

John

[Keith & Sharon]

It's a relay on the coach (house) front relay panel not the chassis relay panel.

[Pigman]

If you think it was coach installed, a call to Tiffin would probably be in order to find out more info about it.

To check if my charging setup is working here's what I do. Hook up all systems and plugs just as you would when getting ready for a day's driving. With all keys and switches OFF, use a good voltmeter and check the level at the toad battery. It should be at 12.6-12.9V. Lower, down to 12.0 is OK. Then start up the rig and let it get to high idle RPM. (1000-1200 rpm) Recheck your toad battery voltage at the toad battery again. Now it should be 13.3-13.6. If it's higher, no problem, the toad or rig battery has put your inverter/charger in a higher charge state. If you are still at the original level you found when you checked power off, the system is not charging.

If you want to keep checking, you can buy a 12V meter that plugs into the cigarette lighter port on the toad. I got one at Wal Mart, but found it did draw a bit of power all the time.

John

[Keith & Sharon]

Up date: traced out the wire and found that it goes to a 30 circuit breaker on the forward power panel, then goes to the lower charges battery boost solenoid, when the toad is pluged in, it energizes the charge solenoid I guess this is normal so that the toad will get charged from the coach batteries. I am still thinkig of installing the toad charge to prevent the back powering of this solenoid when the coach is turned off.