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Long Island Mac · 01-15-2012, 04:42 PM

Towing this four days now. Today is fourth day that I had a dead battery!!

Went to Ford twice.....said key was in wrong position. I have now had the key in every position except up (oh never mind!!). Tomorrow at daylight I am going to check every fuse (with the key where I was told to have it ) when set for towing. Should be no power at any fuse and if there is, gonna pull it. I have diode in the rear tail lights, so there should be no draw from the Ford, just from the MH. Any other ideas out there??

tj4dirt · 01-15-2012, 05:36 PM

According to the manual the key should be in the first position, the accessory position.
A bad or incorrectly installed diode can drain your battery. Also, do you have a brake assist like a Brake buddy? It may be set too sensitive and is overly active, and drawing down your battery.
Also, are you sure everythings turned off inside?
I know there are many people towing the Edge without any battery problems.
In the next month I will be setting up an Edge for towing. I'm having it done and I asked the guy doing it if they've had any problems with the battery going dead. He said no, not with their setup, they run a 6 pin cord with one hot to the battery. Maybe this is something you should consider.

Freeny · 01-15-2012, 07:05 PM

I tow a 2010 lincoln MKZ, and had the same problem with dead batteries. Had a charge cord installed so that the battery would stay charged all the time. This works perfectly. The center wire in a seven pin plug is used for this. I turn off accessories and use the first position on the ignition. Hope this helps

rmmpe · 01-16-2012, 06:32 AM

With my 2007 Edge I put the shifter in N and turn the key ALL the way back (you won't be able to remove the key so be aware of that).
I also have a charge line to the Even Brake and a branch to the Battery Tender to keep the Edge battery charged.
When running at night I turn on the Edge parking lights as well.
Never had a dead battery.

Long Island Mac · 01-16-2012, 02:55 PM

Went to third Ford dealer, no answer other than power will still be drawn evenif all accessories off. Battery will only last 3 hours +-. Will definately have the power from the RV plug routed to the toad. Doubt if it can be done before get home. Tomorrow will check to see what happens if I put a battery kill switch on. Always an adventure.

DennisZ · 01-16-2012, 03:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rmmpe

With my 2007 Edge I put the shifter in N and turn the key ALL the way back (you won't be able to remove the key so be aware of that).
I also have a charge line to the Even Brake and a branch to the Battery Tender to keep the Edge battery charged.
When running at night I turn on the Edge parking lights as well.
Never had a dead battery.

+1 on this, I have over 20,000 miles towing and never a dead or low battery.

tj4dirt · 01-19-2012, 02:04 PM

Long Island Mike, did you do the battery kill switch and if so what was the result?

Long Island Mac · 01-20-2012, 06:56 AM

Haven't towed the Ford for a week now. Will tow again this Sunday. Talked with the dealer where I bought car. Said putting the battery switch would not solve problem, but would not hurt anything. This is my wife's driving car. Checked again, but never opened the arm rest in front. She had a phone charger plugged in, that had a light on (unplugged it). Could this be drawing that much current to kill battery?? While parked, set the car to tow status. 4 1/2 hours latter, car started easily. Will post once more after next tow. SOB, its usually the simple s..t that I miss!!!!

dinkie0720 · 01-24-2012, 11:03 AM

Is there anything that has to be done to the transmission to set up the for the flat tow of the Edge I do heard that need some kind of rear drive release to have the Edge flat tow. Or just set up the neutral.
Thanks for the tips.

tj4dirt · 01-24-2012, 11:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dinkie0720

Is there anything that has to be done to the transmission to set up the for the flat tow of the Edge I do heard that need some kind of rear drive release to have the Edge flat tow. Or just set up the neutral.
Thanks for the tips.

Sounds like you heard wrong, just put it in neutral, set the key and go.

YC1 · 01-24-2012, 06:14 PM

The cell phone absolutely will NOT draw that much current. The TOW brake as mentioned can draw quite a bit. That said I have seen brand new batteries that are bad. I wish you were closer. I would measure the current draws etc. The charge line should solve the issue and would be my recommendation in any case. It might mask a bad battery. That said I found my brake controller was running when it shouldn't. I won't try to explain but as an ET I redesigned it so it would only turn on with the press of my brake pedal and not at the loss of suction. I call it my highly modified SMI controller. It works well and absolutely on demand now. It was radio controlled on my previous setup and was never reliable. It comes on with the press of the pedal now. No more dead batteries now either.

Long Island Mac · 01-25-2012, 08:19 AM

Well, towed for 4+ hours and started right away. Nothing changed except the phone charger. Will set up for a charge line when back on Long Island.
Did notice that when I tested the tow status at night, the only thing lit was the P-R-N-D-M symbols.

As I stated earlier,always put headlights off, not on the automatic on/off, turn radio and air off.

BUCKAROO · 01-25-2012, 10:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by long island mac

well, towed for 4+ hours and started right away. Nothing changed except the phone charger. Will set up for a charge line when back on long island.
Did notice that when i tested the tow status at night, the only thing lit was the p-r-n-d-m symbols.

As i stated earlier,always put headlights off, not on the automatic on/off, turn radio and air off.

i have a 2007 edge. I have towed it all over this country. I have never had a dead battery. All i do is put the transmission in neutral turn the key all the way to the left, and go

sandpiper · 01-28-2012, 12:40 PM

I've been towing our 2011 Edge Limited off and on for almost a year now. Rather than take a chance of a dead battery, I installed the Toad Charge and have never had a problem.