Another method to power Brake Buddy?

[RayDK]

I've had trouble with my battery dying on our 2013 Ford Focus. We have a charge line from the motorhome to the toad battery but apparently it doesn't charge it quick enough and after hours of driving from north Arkansas to Florida, the toad battery died. Replaced old 4 year battery with a new one from Ford before heading home. Still had the same problem.

So now, what do people think of this? I take the charge lines off the toad battery and run those wires to a new separate Accessory plug (cigarette lighter) in the toad. That way I can shut off all power to the toad and the motorhome will run the Brake Buddy through the new accessory plug. No fuses to pull. To me this sounds really simple. Yes? No?

[opbart1]

Would be concerned over amperage to the BrakeBuddy but in theory don't know why not. If you can shut everything down in the toad why not run a dedicated cig plug off the car battery so you have that power. I talked to BrakeBuddy about my setup and that is what they suggested. Have a charge line off 7 pin plug on MH to battery then a dedicated cig plug to power BB. Hopkins the mfr of BB sells these accessories.

[onechaddude]

I pulled my jeep gc for 6 years with a brake buddy before I switched to the air force 1 and never had a dead battery. Sometimes tow 2 days in a row without running the jeep and it never went dead. Sounds like you have something else drawing on the battery. Do you remove fuses to pull your focus, I think you're supposed to? It has to be something if it's killing your battery with a charge line. Are you sure the charge line is working? Something doesn't seem to add up here.

Yes you could run a separate plug for the brake buddy. I would want to make sure there is adequate power so as not to run the brake buddy on low power. All those connections take a toll on the voltage. I've heard of someone using one of the emergency jump starters with an accessory plug to run the BB. You would just need to remember to charge it before towing next time.

Sure sounds to me like something is really sucking the juice out of the battery.

Chad

[KenNJ]

We have the brake buddy in our 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee and never drained our battery. I was going to install a battery tender but did not because I just never needed it. Sounds like you may have some other phantom draw on the battery


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[avid_dk]

Purchase a Diehard jump starter with a 12v outlet and never look back.

[l1v3fr33ord1]

RayDK-

The symptoms point to the charge line not working correctly from the coach end to the toad battery post. Check that completely first. You can start at the coach hitch connector, or further upstream if you can find the fuse/breaker that services the line up near the coach battery.

[Stripe34]

Originally Posted by RayDK

I've had trouble with my battery dying on our 2013 Ford Focus. We have a charge line from the motorhome to the toad battery but apparently it doesn't charge it quick enough and after hours of driving from north Arkansas to Florida, the toad battery died. Replaced old 4 year battery with a new one from Ford before heading home. Still had the same problem.

So now, what do people think of this? I take the charge lines off the toad battery and run those wires to a new separate Accessory plug (cigarette lighter) in the toad. That way I can shut off all power to the toad and the motorhome will run the Brake Buddy through the new accessory plug. No fuses to pull. To me this sounds really simple. Yes? No?

We do this exact thing in our Ford Focus with Patriot braking system. We disconnect a battery cable on the toad also - most people put in a disconnect switch, I'm told. Anyway, the extra outlet in the toad works great.

HTH
- CC

[RayDK]

Originally Posted by Stripe34

We do this exact thing in our Ford Focus with Patriot braking system. We disconnect a battery cable on the toad also - most people put in a disconnect switch, I'm told. Anyway, the extra outlet in the toad works great.

HTH
- CC

If you disconnect the battery or put in a switch, how does the braking unit get power if it's plugged into the accessory plug?
Also our toad has all that fancy info system that connects to the cell phone, temperature controls, and more (my wife's car; I don't use it often so I don't know what all it does). I think it can even tell you how many calories the cookie you are about to eat has.
By disconnecting the battery don't you lose some information settings, clock time, etc?

[Fiesta48]

I had the issue of not charging the car battery in transit. It was the fuse in my motorhome that was blown for the power (+) at the 7 pin connector
Freightliner's fuse box are in the engine compartment. Also.installed a LED on the car so I can see I plugged in the 7 wire. Forget and ran car battery down.

[Cousin Ed]

We don't have a charge line from the MH to the truck but we easily drive four days without starting the truck. The truck follows us with everything off and the key in my pocket.
I would put a meter on your charge line.

[Dale & Mark Bruss]

We have been towing with an Apollo (Brake Buddy like) and never had a battery problem.

[Stripe34]

Originally Posted by RayDK

If you disconnect the battery or put in a switch, how does the braking unit get power if it's plugged into the accessory plug?
Also our toad has all that fancy info system that connects to the cell phone, temperature controls, and more (my wife's car; I don't use it often so I don't know what all it does). I think it can even tell you how many calories the cookie you are about to eat has.
By disconnecting the battery don't you lose some information settings, clock time, etc?

Braking unit power comes from coach, as OP mentioned. Exact wiring I can ask DH, if you really want to know. All I know is that ditsy blondes sometimes forget that that plug won't power the GPS because it's dead unless the car is being towed.

Battery disconnect does make the toad lose time and maybe radio stations IIRC. On a fancier system the info loss would surely be more.

Cookie calories are best gotten from MyFitnessPal app anyway :-)

HTH -
- CC

[alank]

I run a line from the toad battery to a socket for the brake buddy, shut everything else off. Never have had a problem.

[RVRon]

My '14 Explorer has a RVi toad charger under the hood. When the Ford started to lose charge last year, I thought it must be the line from the coach, but, it turned out to be the 15 amp fuse in the RVi charger. No issues after replacing.
- Ron