TOAD - 2019 Equinox - your experience & suggestions

[swduns]

I just bought a 2019 Chevy Equinox premier trim FWD
I had etrailer set it up for towing
The installed a charge wire and battery charger module
I saw a earlier Equinox under classifieds that has fuse disconnect switches
I didn't see anything in the manual or elsewhere saying any fuses needed to be pulled
Can anyone provide any experience or lessons learned in flat towing a 2019 chevy equinox? (so I don't have to learn the hard way)

[ChrisDParise]

Originally Posted by swduns

I just bought a 2019 Chevy Equinox premier trim FWD

I had etrailer set it up for towing

The installed a charge wire and battery charger module

I saw a earlier Equinox under classifieds that has fuse disconnect switches

I didn't see anything in the manual or elsewhere saying any fuses needed to be pulled

Can anyone provide any experience or lessons learned in flat towing a 2019 chevy equinox? (so I don't have to learn the hard way)

GM and I believe most car manufacturers change procedures from model year to model year depending on how the electrical system is designed.

So if pulling fuses is not in your manual don't worry about it.

Just follow the procedure in your manual

On my 2013 GMC Acadia Denali AWD, the procedure in the manual says to pull the BATT1 and ECM fuses. I installed 2 fuse.bypass switches from Blue Ox to simplify the process.

Later model year Acadias have different, and simpler, towing procedures

Chris

[MO Fred]

Well, after having my equinox hauled in to the dealer twice after towing it, I nearly decided to get rid of it. Then I found the charge wire I paid to have someone install, was not adequate. So I installed the LSL toad charging system myself and it works great even after towing 8 hours without starting at fuel stops. My 2019 equinox is a diesel four-wheel-drive, different than yours. My suggestion is to follow the manual and I highly recommend the LSL charging system.

[ChrisDParise]

Looked at.the LSL and RVi charger.

Found reference to 2019 - Present Equinox owners having to pull the rear windshield wiper fuse, see below, from the RVi charger ad.

I find it interesting if your manual doesn't state this.
I have a non-proprietary charge wire from the motorhome to an auto reset circuit breaker mounted on the Acadias firewall with a charging line to the battery. No issues on a 25 day trip last year.

[MO Fred]

Originally Posted by ChrisDParise

Looked at.the LSL and RVi charger.

Found reference to 2019 - Present Equinox owners having to pull the rear windshield wiper fuse, see below, from the RVi charger ad.

I find it interesting if your manual doesn't state this.
I have a non-proprietary charge wire from the motorhome to an auto reset circuit breaker mounted on the Acadias firewall with a charging line to the battery. No issues on a 25 day trip last year.Attachment 354959

Nope… I do not need to pull any fuses using the LSL toad charging system. I cannot speak for other charging systems.

[NXR]

Originally Posted by ChrisDParise

Looked at.the LSL and RVi charger.

Found reference to 2019 - Present Equinox owners having to pull the rear windshield wiper fuse, see below, from the RVi charger ad.

I find it interesting if your manual doesn't state this.

It's because the RVi Towed Battery Charger has a design that cannot deliver the 10 amps that RVi claims it will. RVi initially claimed the problem was that the Equinox now uses an AGM battery so the original note they added to their web site said "not for AGM batteries". Then they changed the wording to say to pull a fuse that Chevy says does not need to be pulled.

I've got a long thread here that showed the RVi charger can only deliver about 3.5 amps on an Equinox, not the 10 amps they claim.

Chevy did a redesign on the Equinox beginning in 2018 and eliminated the requirement to pull any fuses. I pull no fuses on my 2020.

Ray

[ChrisDParise]

Originally Posted by NXR

It's because the RVi Towed Battery Charger has a design that cannot deliver the 10 amps that RVi claims it will. RVi initially claimed the problem was that the Equinox now uses an AGM battery so the original note they added to their web site said "not for AGM batteries". Then they changed the wording to say to pull a fuse that Chevy says does not need to be pulled.

I've got a long thread here that showed the RVi charger can only deliver about 3.5 amps on an Equinox, not the 10 amps they claim.

Chevy did a redesign on the Equinox beginning in 2018 and eliminated the requirement to pull any fuses. I pull no fuses on my 2020.

Ray

Thanks for explaining

Chris

[NXR]

Originally Posted by ChrisDParise

Thanks for explaining

My guess, and it's only a guess, is that modern power supply and regulator designs have a "current foldback" provision. When the current starts to approach the design limit, the device automatically reduces the current being supplied to avoid over-current damage.

AGMs have a very low internal resistance, meaning they can take a much higher charge rate. The RVi device may have sensed the very large current requirement of the Equinox (relative to other cars) and the low internal resistance of AGM battery now in use as akin to a short circuit and "folded back" the current too much.

That could explain why they initially said that their product would not work with AGM batteries. My guess is that pulling that fuse probably kills part of the car's Body Control Module, significantly reducing the current requirement.

Personally, I would never do that because if I'm correct, what else in the BCM got disabled? If the rear windshield wiper was pulling multiple amps all the time that would generate a lot of heat and the rear windshield wiper is never warm to the touch on mine. 12 volts * 3 amps = 36 watts. Touch a 40 watt incandescent light and it's definitely not cool to the touch when it's turned on.

But again, it's just a guess.

Ray

[ChrisDParise]

Originally Posted by NXR

My guess, and it's only a guess, is that modern power supply and regulator designs have a "current foldback" provision. When the current starts to approach the design limit, the device automatically reduces the current being supplied to avoid over-current damage.

AGMs have a very low internal resistance, meaning they can take a much higher charge rate. The RVi device may have sensed the very large current requirement of the Equinox (relative to other cars) and the low internal resistance of AGM battery now in use as akin to a short circuit and "folded back" the current too much.

That could explain why they initially said that their product would not work with AGM batteries. My guess is that pulling that fuse probably kills part of the car's Body Control Module, significantly reducing the current requirement.

Personally, I would never do that because if I'm correct, what else in the BCM got disabled? If the rear windshield wiper was pulling multiple amps all the time that would generate a lot of heat and the rear windshield wiper is never warm to the touch on mine. 12 volts * 3 amps = 36 watts. Touch a 40 watt incandescent light and it's definitely not cool to the touch when it's turned on.

But again, it's just a guess.

Ray

Couple years back when I was specing towing equipment for the first time, RVi had some fine print on their promotional materials about some GM models having parasitic electronic draw.

Don't know if there's more than what's stated above since then

Anyway, my 2013 GMC Acadia Denali requires 2 fuses to be pulled. I lived with that while on my "training " runs, then bought 2 Blue Ox fuse bypass switches.

My dealer ran a charge line to my battery and no issues on a 25 day trip last summer.