Community Forums

Crippsfl · 06-26-2015, 05:44 AM

Have been towing my Ford Explorer for about a year now with no issues, until now.

Made a couple of 400 mile runs recently and when I arrived at the campground, the toad was dead. Had to get a jump start and am now carrying a charger onboard. When I had my Blue Ox installed, I'm pretty sure there was a charging circuit for the Ford.
I am not versed on the wiring for this system and can't seem to come up with a wiring diagram. Any words of wisdom would be appreciated.

brobox · 06-26-2015, 06:03 AM

The center pin on the large 7 pin plug is constant hot and the one that would be used for a charge wire. Test it with a test light, then test your tow harness to see if any of the pins are contant hot. If not you will need to use an unused pin to run a charge wire to the positive side of the battery. If they did wire a charge wire, there should be a 20 amp fuse inline. Check to see if that it is not blown.

If you towed through rain that is possible. Everytime I tow through heavy rain, I seem to blow a bulb or a fuse on the toad. I replace a turn signal bulb yesterday have towing through heavy rain.

TXBart · 06-26-2015, 06:10 AM

Maybe your toad is telling you it doesn't want to be towed 400 miles in a day? ;-)

Vance & Robin
Dexter and Winston - Old English Sheepdog Security Service
2014 Entegra Anthem 42DEQ

Crippsfl · 06-26-2015, 06:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TXBart

Maybe your toad is telling you it doesn't want to be towed 400 miles in a day? ;-)

Vance & Robin
Dexter and Winston - Old English Sheepdog Security Service
2014 Entegra Anthem 42DEQ

Trust me. 400 miles a day is not my preferred method. Unfortunately, it Is kinda like the song, "a long way to go and a short time to get there..."

Crippsfl · 06-26-2015, 06:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brobox

The center pin on the large 7 pin plug is constant hot and the one that would be used for a charge wire. Test it with a test light, then test your tow harness to see if any of the pins are contant hot. If not you will need to use an unused pin to run a charge wire to the positive side of the battery. If they did wire a charge wire, there should be a 20 amp fuse inline. Check to see if that it is not blown.

If you towed through rain that is possible. Everytime I tow through heavy rain, I seem to blow a bulb or a fuse on the toad. I replace a turn signal bulb yesterday have towing through heavy rain.

Chuck,

On the plug that goes into the toad, there is a black center wire. However, there is no wire attached to the center pin in the receiver for that pin.
There is a 20 amp fuse mounted next to the battery that was blown when this first happened. I replaced it and figured that my problem was probably solved. Not! The second time it died, I checked the fuse and it was intact. Looks like I am going to be crawling around with circuit tester.

brobox · 06-26-2015, 06:44 AM

Ralph, is there a wire from your tow plug on the Ford running to the battery? The wire at the battery that had the fuse on it...does it go to the tow harness? If so, one of those wire connecting has probably come loose.

Good chance that is the charge wire and if the fuse was blown, that would indicate as loose wire or a short in the line.

dpinvidic · 06-26-2015, 07:08 AM

Your checking the wrong pin.

On a 7 pin connector, the 12V line is at the 1 o'clock position on the coach side.
Center pin is back-up lights.
On the end of your cable (which plugs into the toad), it is at the 11 o'clock positon.

Make sure you do your checking with the key on in the coach because many of them (like Freightliner) have a relay controlled line that is off when the coach is off.

Trailer Wiring Diagrams | etrailer.com

Regards,

Dan

757driver · 06-26-2015, 10:43 AM

Make sure your toad is NOT plugged in to the motorhome when you go to start it. If the car battery is down at all it will try and pull enough power through the charge line to blow the fuse. Learned this one the hard way.

Crippsfl · 06-27-2015, 01:58 AM

Found the problem. The battery charge line fuse (F7 - 30 a pound) was blown as well as the 20 amp on the toad. A few months ago, the wiring on my harness plug came loose. Apparently, it shorted the charge circuit and blew the fuse which I did not notice at the time. Because I usually don't run for more than 3 hours, I wasn't discharging the toad battery enough to notice the problem. Now carrying some mini 30 amp fuses on board.

Thanks to all for the help.

brobox · 06-27-2015, 08:52 AM

Glad you found the problem. Where was the F7 fuse located. I looked in the fuse panels and did not see it. Is it located in the hitch harness?

Crippsfl · 06-28-2015, 03:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brobox

Glad you found the problem. Where was the F7 fuse located. I looked in the fuse panels and did not see it. Is it located in the hitch harness?

It is in the round fuse compartment in the right rear service bay. The fuse is in the upper left quarter of the panel tucked behind a relay. With the wiring harnesses running through there, it is a it tricky to get it out.