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MWKingSD · 01-29-2018, 10:04 AM

I'm troubleshooting an issue with the battery in my CR-V going flat. I more or less believe I know what to do, but another question came up in the meantime.

I know that the Invisibrake system I have provides a trickle charge to the battery, "up to 2A" per its documentation. What I don't know is what source of voltage is used - I saw one reference to it using "taillight voltage" although I don't know what that means in terms of my 7-pin connector. Maybe that means the pin 1 "12V" line? Or the pin 6 "Running Lights"?

Can someone clarify?

YC1 · 01-29-2018, 10:21 AM

I suspect they just believe that the voltage from the running light circuit will be enough to keep the toad charged, not a chance in any modern car.

Do yourself a huge favor and run a charge line. Your pigtail may have a wire available. It will not charge a lot but more than the invisibrake will offer.

I have an electric pig, Ford Edge Limited that uses lots of power. I ultimately built a brute strength battery charge line. No more worries. I killed two batteries due to letting them get run down too often.

Just a side note. put invisibrake in the little green google search box above. Do some serious research and you will find your issue addressed along with several others.

dons2346 · 01-29-2018, 12:12 PM

When my Invisi Brake was installed, Roadmaster wired the charge line to the headlight/taillight circuit. That way, when you turn on the headlights, the tail lights come on and charge the toad battery

YC1 · 01-29-2018, 06:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dons2346

When my Invisi Brake was installed, Roadmaster wired the charge line to the headlight/taillight circuit. That way, when you turn on the headlights, the tail lights come on and charge the toad battery

Unless something has changed there is NO charge line as such. It just takes any available leftover voltage to charge the toad. That leftover meaning IF the voltage is high enough after the long run to the toad lights etc.

Gary737 · 02-03-2018, 01:55 AM

Lights must be in Park or On.

chindog · 02-03-2018, 06:04 PM

To keep the battery charged on my CRV with the invisibrake, I have to keep the coach headlights on while driving. If I don't do that, the battery runs down.

Dark Sky · 02-03-2018, 06:07 PM

My Invisibrake instructions indicate that the bus lights have to be turned on to charge the battery. My experience was that this charge was inadequate for my 2008 Jeep. Unfortunately the Jeep battery ran down on any trip longer than about 350 miles, even with the main fuse pulled. The Invisibrake unit itself draws from the Jeep battery to function, and things did not get better until I ran a dedicated charge pair of wires from my bus chassis batteries to the Jeep (with inline fuse).

MWKingSD · 02-04-2018, 01:01 PM

Well, sure enough, there it is in the part of my Invisibrake manual that I didn't read:

3. Turn the motorhome park lights on — this will activate the InvisiBrake charge circuit, which will provide a constant trickle charge to the vehicle’s battery during towing.

Thanks for the tips!

Ambiguously worded, however, since it's illegal (in my state at least) to drive with "park lights" on. Looking at the wiring diagram, looks like they really mean that the taillight circuit voltage activates the battery charging. I'll have to experiment with this next time I hook up.

FWIW, I was suspicious of my battery's condition - appears to be the 4-year old original, and I ran it really flat once towing with the seat heaters on, I replaced it this week with an Optima https://www.optimabatteries.com/en-u...e-battery/d51r sealed, AGM type which is rated for longer reserve time and deep cycling compared to the original. Pricy but only a little more than other AGM types We will see next week with a 7 hour drive to Tucson.

MWKingSD · 02-14-2018, 06:02 PM

For those wondering, cruising with coach headlights on has apparently cured my problems, along with making sure everything is the car that can be turned off is off. Add to that the uprated battery & I should be bullet proof.

What I didn't understand was that the Invisibrake is really powered off the car battery, with a trickle charge triggered by the tail light circuit. I think/hope power for the trickle charge comes from the pure 12V line from the coach.

Thanks for the help!