Stop Low Battery Situation in Toads (maybe)

[TexasSprinter]

Back to the Patriot and charging/draining. I'm anticipating the same problem but for a different reason. GM has a feature where they shut down all electrical drains after 10 minutes or so if the accessory or run position is not on. I assume that means the 12V outlets as well, so running the Patriot from those will not work. I was thinking about a line from the 7-pin but it sounds like the 6-pin on the Blue Ox cable has the same ability. But now for the complication: My MH doesn't power the 7-pin when the ignition is off. I'm pretty sure on this as I used to use the power pin to run a compressor on my motorcycle trailer air suspension and it wouldn't work unless the MH was on. So that means the Patriot would fault every time I turned off the ignition? That's a major PITA and unacceptable.

Thoughts?

[ShapeShifter]

Originally Posted by COTuscany

I was thinking about a line from the 7-pin but it sounds like the 6-pin on the Blue Ox cable has the same ability. But now for the complication: My MH doesn't power the 7-pin when the ignition is off.

If it was me, I would run that charge line to your toad battery, with sell-resetting circuit breakers on both ends. Then I would add a new 12 volt power point in your toad, powering it directly from the toad's battery with an inline fuse or circuit breaker. That way, it'll always be powered, either from the toad or MH.

And be careful with that 6 pin, it can be wired one of two ways, you need to double check that it's hooked up as a charge line. The most common pin arrangements:
4-pin: lights and ground
5-pin: adds a brake controller signal
6-pin: adds charge line OR reverse (back-up lights) signal
7-pin: has charge line AND reverse signal

[gemini5362]

I guess I need to check but I would imagine the +12volt pin out of the 7 pin connector probably already goes to a fuse. You can just run that to your positive battery post and charge the car battery that way. If you run your brake system to the cigaretter lighter or non switched power plug you will not have to worry about the battery running down. Since you are running off the battery then it wont matter if you turn the ignition off or on for short periods. I did however on one trip by myself forgot to unplug the brake system on the toad and had a dead battery the next day when I started to get ready to leave the campground.

[ShapeShifter]

Originally Posted by gemini5362

I guess I need to check but I would imagine the +12volt pin out of the 7 pin connector probably already goes to a fuse. You can just run that to your positive battery post and charge the car battery that way.

Yes, that usually works. But do put a second fuse (or preferably a self resetting circuit breaker) on the toad end of that connection. There are two power sources on that line (MH and toad) so it's not enough to have a fuse only on the MH end. If you don't add the second protection device, a short in the umbilical can still melt things or cause a fire because of the power back-feeding from the toad battery

[gemini5362]

Originally Posted by COTuscany

Back to the Patriot and charging/draining. I'm anticipating the same problem but for a different reason. GM has a feature where they shut down all electrical drains after 10 minutes or so if the accessory or run position is not on. I assume that means the 12V outlets as well, so running the Patriot from those will not work. I was thinking about a line from the 7-pin but it sounds like the 6-pin on the Blue Ox cable has the same ability. But now for the complication: My MH doesn't power the 7-pin when the ignition is off. I'm pretty sure on this as I used to use the power pin to run a compressor on my motorcycle trailer air suspension and it wouldn't work unless the MH was on. So that means the Patriot would fault every time I turned off the ignition? That's a major PITA and unacceptable.

Thoughts?

My 2012 Buick ( GM) enclave has you pull two fuses when you tow. I do that and I do not know whether that affects the computer monitoring electrical drains or why but the cigarette lighter plug in is on as long as the battery has power in it.

[bobmac]

Originally Posted by gemini5362

My 2012 Buick ( GM) enclave has you pull two fuses when you tow. I do that and I do not know whether that affects the computer monitoring electrical drains or why but the cigarette lighter plug in is on as long as the battery has power in it.

+1 on the 2010 HHR. Pulling the fuse(s) likely disables the power monitoring but does not affect the power to the lighter plug.

[TexasSprinter]

Turns out that the Cadillac leaves one accessory plug hot all the time - the one all the way in the back! So I'm thinking an extension cord. As to keeping the battery charged, we'll start with the "cross your fingers" approach (Blue Ox swears it won't run down a battery in a day) and move past that only if necessary. There was somebody at the national that solved it with a solar trickle charger left in the window of the Toad all day long. Interesting approach.