charging camper from 7 pin while while towing

[KVJ]

Now I have to check mine!

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[KVJ]

You know, that colored chart shows the Red/Black wire and says "Batter Charger/auxillary lights/break away" (as spelled)

The break away is to be powered by the battery on the trailer, not the vehicle. Remember the electric brakes need power to stop and if it broke away from the vehicle the switch is to apply the brakes from the power of the trailer battery.

I'm I getting this correct?

 

[eaglerugby04]

So it looks as the red/black wire would be the charge wire and should be fused. Was the vehicle running when the RV guy checked it? Based on what @sarguy1941 said.

If only every manufacturer followed that scheme. A man can dream, lol.

 

[sarguy1941]

It really doesn't matter what color the wire is in the jeep it really matters what the plug pin is wired. I had a fleetwood bounder and every wire was black. I assume some guy added the plug and that the color he had. On the 7 pin connector Pin 4 is battery/12V. You should be able to put a test light in the plug and see power on that pin when the truck is running.

 

[KVJ]

@sarguy1941

If the #4 pin is hot when the truck is running and I assume not when shut off, it should be OK to leave the plug connected when truck is not running. I always disconnected it when stopped any where for a while like roadside rests, dump stations and so forth.

 

[SwampNut]

I always leave mine connected. On the JK, it was always "on" and could pass power both ways (aftermarket wiring, they didn't have the 7-way plugs from the factory). If the RV was being charged, then so was the Jeep. Obviously I'd disconnect at a destination, but a short stop or even an overnight will not kill the car battery.

I *thought* the JT was always on also, now I will have to test it.

 

[sarguy1941]

Unfortunately the manual doesn't specify. On my 2016 GC is it switched. I'm not home to check my JT until this weekend. My gut says it would be switched. All my Fords (2018 F150 now) is switched and off with the key.

Stopping for fuel, rest area and such you shouldn't need to unplug regardless. If its not switched I would unplug at night just in case. In the cooler months I have run my batteries in the RV dead with the furnace running at a rest area and was nice to be able to start the truck and start charging again.

 

[Jar Jar Insano]

I have two batteries in my travel trailer and have never had to add anything. Both batteries charge the whole time we are traveling. Not sure how long it will take from empty but they seem to charge well.

exactly. I have never had an issue with mine. if you want to do a quick check, just go in your trailer while your car is running and check your voltage on your trailer voltage display. if it read's anyhwere between 13.6-14.7 it's charging. If you are concerned with it not recharging enough while you are driving, put that money toward a solar kit and you won't have to worry about running your car to charge it either. Aside from 1 campsite where we had full service, my trailer hasn't been plugged into an outlet all year and we have camped 24 days so far. always a full charge with a cheap 200W solar kit from amazon. with charging multiple phones, a tablet, running radio all hours of the day, lights and a portable projector, our batteries are fully recharged by noon each day with solar and go into trickle charge mode for remainder of the day

 

[SwampNut]

Tested and confirmed, the charge power on pin 1 is *always* on.

If you are concerned with it not recharging enough while you are driving, put that money toward a solar kit and you won't have to worry about running your car to charge it either.

You'd need a large amount of solar to match what the charge pin provides, which I've measured to be about 34 amps in real world usage. That would be approaching 500 watts assuming a 13.8v charge voltage.

 

[Jar Jar Insano]

Tested and confirmed, the charge power on pin 1 is *always* on.



You'd need a large amount of solar to match what the charge pin provides, which I've measured to be about 34 amps in real world usage. That would be approaching 500 watts assuming a 13.8v charge voltage.

completely agree, however, you use hardly any power in a trailer and despite lower charge from solar, you're looking at 12+ hours of charging during the summer. The max draw I have seen is when the heater fan is running and that's like 2A or 25W so you don't need a ton to recharge the batteries. If you have a 200W tv or something you're running off an inverter, different story. even then, it's not like the tv is on 24 hours a day. my solar is 200W, the actual peak is like 160W that I have seen which is more than enough to recharge the batteries during daylight hours. a phone battery i think is 1800mAh if I'm not mistaken so to replace that charge with my solar set up would be less than 0.2 hours at 160W. as i mentioned before, I have not plugged my trailer in an anywhere other than a full service site in over 20 days of camping and my batteries have been fully charged by noon each day unless I'm in a heavily forested area. even on overcast days the battery is charged by 2-3pm. I haven't confirmed this myself but they say with 2 x 6V deep cycle batteries (220Ah), you can make it around 5-7 days camping before drawing down the batteries without solar.

 

[SwampNut]

The context was "if you're worried about it not charging enough while driving." In that case, solar would not beat the car unless it was huge. For dry camping, solar is a different proposition that requires different math and decisions. I chose to go the generator route instead for our needs.

 

[Jar Jar Insano]

The context was "if you're worried about it not charging enough while driving." In that case, solar would not beat the car unless it was huge. For dry camping, solar is a different proposition that requires different math and decisions. I chose to go the generator route instead for our needs.

What I am pointing out is it can continue to charge after you drive, not that it's going to give you more charge. When you are driving, the charge controller from the solar kit will stop charging the battery so no change there. But say you are driving for 2 hours, the battery will continue to charge for the other 10 hours of the day when you are not driving is all I am saying.

To your point, generator may be a better option than solar depending on what you need. For me everything runs off solar except AC and microwave. microwave we don't even use at home and camping in the mountains, temps drop to low double digits if not single digit celcius every night of the summer so unless you are sitting in your trailer during the day, there is no need for AC. Anything that doesn't recharge from USB ports in the trailer, we have a small 400W inverter.

 

[SwampNut]

Yeah, and that's where everyone has to do their math. We can run dry for several days on just two GC batteries. We've got a lot of RV and boat experience on saving power. But we want espresso, microwave, and occasionally AC time each day. I've done those on inverters but it takes massive battery power. We're in Arizona, so even in fall and spring, we can have very hot days.

 

[kstine98]

Still no luck getting power to pin 1.

Does anyone know the fuse location and/or relay that powers the 12 volt positive to the 7 pin? Maybe someone forgot to put it in.

 

[SwampNut]

I don't know the specific fuse location, but I *believe* the manual said it would be a 30 amp. Have you tried looking all over the fuse box cover, which has the fuse locations?

I found this with a quick search: https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/forum/threads/quick-reference-tow-package-fuses.5460/

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