Power wiring to Trailer Plug
I have just completed adding a power wire to my 7 pin trailer plug. I will use this wire to charge the battery on my Toad (Toyota Tacoma). My Tacoma is wired with an RVI "Towed Battery Charger". This charger will draw a maximum of 15 AMPS at 12V. Normally it pulls much less.
The orange and black wires route up under the drivers dash near the emergency brake release. Mine had a label that said "Tow Plug Trailer Wiring". I used the orange wire to run my power to the Toad. You have to dis-assemble the trailer Plug. All pins except one will have a wire attached. The empty plug pin matches the standard for the +12V trailer power feed. I attached the orange wire to this pin. My trailer plug was attached to the coach with pop rivets. These will need to be drilled out and replaced with #10 machine screws. You will also need a couple of feet of 14 gauge stranded wire to extend the Orange wire. You can buy this wire by the foot at Home Depot. (they sell Orange wire too)
There is another bundle of 5 or 6 wires under my dash. These are for wiring a Trailer Brake controller. The Blue wire in this bundle also runs back to the trailer plug. It is connected to the standard brake controller pin.
Getting the +12V power under the dash is pretty easy on my Baystar. Newmar has an auxiliary fuse box located under the dash just above the drivers left foot. It's a rectangular box with several automotive fuses installed. There are several open slots for fuses. I picked an "AUX" fuse position near the bottom of the fuse box. It was also labeled 15A. Just to the edge of the fuse is a lug that a spade lug will push over. These are standard crimp on lugs that you can get at any auto store or Home Depot. Crimp a lug on the Orange wire. Push the spade lug over the lug post on the fuse box. I installed a 15 AMP fuse in the AUX position. This 15 AMP fuse matches the wire gauge and trailer plug current capacities. I ordered a special fuse that is resetable. If an overload occurs, the fuse opens up. When the overload fault clears, the fuse restores itself. A regular fuse should work too. The 12V is only active when the ignition is on. When you turn the key off, the 12V is removed.
I went through several complicated options before I discovered this approach. It is actually pretty simple.
Hope this helps.
Jerry - 2013 Bay Star 3002
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