Michael in MN
MN
Senior Member
Joined: 01/02/2012
View Profile
 Offline
|
My camper came with a separate brake-away battery even though it has a normal house battery. It's a small, 5ah battery that powers the brakes when the breakaway is pulled, but its not connected to either the house or TV batteries.
If I wire the breakaway to the house battery, is there any reason to keep the breakaway battery?
-----------------------------
LivinLite Camplite 16BHB
2011 Ford F150 EgoBoost
|
opnspaces
San Diego Ca
Senior Member
Joined: 12/22/2004
View Profile
Offline
|
In short, no. I bet the breakaway battery was there just in case the dealer or you never installed a house battery
1996 Suburban 4x4. 350, 4.10 3/4 ton
2005 Jayco Jay Flight 27BH
1986 Coleman Columbia Popup.
|
westend
all over
Senior Member
Joined: 11/17/2011
View Profile
Offline
|
Well, I chose to wire the breakaway to it's own battery for one reason, that battery has no other use than to power the brakes in an emegency. If, for some reason, my house batteries should be drawn down to a very low state or I would lose the connection between the batteries and the switch, the breakaway system would not operate when I need it the most.
I wired the breakaway battery solely into the truck harness so that it is being charged while driving. My plans are to add two more house batteries. At that point, I will wire the truck harness to those batteries and the existing house batteries. I'll retain the SLA breakaway battery, placing a diode into the charge cicuit so that it can't be discharged by the others.
'03 F-250 4x4 CC
'71 Starcraft Wanderstar -- The Cowboy/Hilton
|
MNtundraRet
Bloomington, MN
Senior Member
Joined: 12/06/2007
View Profile
Offline
|
If you ever intend to tow the trailer, a battery must be able to power the brakes in case the trailer detaches from the tow vehicle while towing.
Mark & Jan "Old age & treachery win over youth & enthusiasm"
2003 Fleetwood Jamboree 29
|
keatonb16
New Brunswick Canada
Senior Member
Joined: 07/28/2012
View Profile
|
MNtundraRet wrote:If you ever intend to tow the trailer, a battery must be able to power the brakes in case the trailer detaches from the tow vehicle while towing.
another case of posting without reading the question asked.he wasn't asking what the battery was for he was wanting to eliminate the small breakaway battery and hooking the breakaway up to the trailers main battery.
2007 flagstaff 208
2010 Rav4 V6
|
|
|
Dusty R
Charlotte Michigan 48813
Senior Member
Joined: 04/05/2003
View Profile
Offline
|
I'm going to add another question about the brake away battery.
I had a 16' flat bed trailer with the brake away system, that I bought new in about '99. The battery never needed charging.
A couple of years ago I replaced that trailer with a new 20' flat bed. The brake away system on it keeps the battery charged while driving. But unless I unhook the battery when I'm not using the trailer, the battery goes down in a few months.
Is this normal for this system, or is there a problem with it ?
Dusty
|
Michael in MN
MN
Senior Member
Joined: 01/02/2012
View Profile
Offline
|
westend wrote:Well, I chose to wire the breakaway to it's own battery for one reason, that battery has no other use than to power the brakes in an emegency. If, for some reason, my house batteries should be drawn down to a very low state or I would lose the connection between the batteries and the switch, the breakaway system would not operate when I need it the most.
I wired the breakaway battery solely into the truck harness so that it is being charged while driving. My plans are to add two more house batteries. At that point, I will wire the truck harness to those batteries and the existing house batteries. I'll retain the SLA breakaway battery, placing a diode into the charge cicuit so that it can't be discharged by the others.
I see the logic in this, but right now the breakaway battery isn't charging at all, and I'm assuming that the odds of that battery being dead are higher than the odds of the house battery being dead. If the house battery dies, At least I'll know that its dead.
The diode sounds like it would be the best way to keep the breakaway charged, if I decide to keep it. I'd think that you'd also need a voltage regulator though, as the charging voltage from something like a 3-way charger would be high enough to charge the house battery for long enough to charge the house battery, which might be high/long enough to overcharge the breakaway?
Dusty R wrote:
Is this normal for this system, or is there a problem with it ?
I've always assumed that pretty much any battery needs monthly charging, so I would not think this is unusual.
|
RoyB
King George, VA
Senior Member
Joined: 04/13/2008
View Profile
Good Sam RV Club Member
|
I would think either way is fine as long as the second break-away battery is able to be charged. If your trailer has electric brakes installed then it is a DOT requirement that you have a breakway "working" brake system.
You certainly want your run-away trailer to stop as soos as possible if it becomes disconnected from your truck. I would imagine that it may be possible Insurance problems if it was found your break away braking system was found inoperative and caused a bunch of damages... I have seen reports on here of people being stopped by DOT to have their emergency break away tested. This must be rare as I have never seen DOT stop a RV Trailer before... It was reported here a couple years back... This is also an inspection thing here where I live for my trailer annual inspection sticker...
ETRAILER sells a small battery to be used for the break-away switch setup. My fear would be it wouldn't be charged up when I needed it...
Having the trailer battery as power source is the ideal way IMO to always insure the break-away battery is charged and ready for use.
My Posts are IMHO based on my experiences - PM me
Roy and Carolyn
RETIRED DOAF/DON/DOD/CONTR RADIO TECH (42yrs)
K9PHT (Since 1957) 146.52M
2010 F150, 5.4,3:73 Gears,SCab
2008 Starcraft 14RT EU2000i GEN
2005 Flagstaff 8528RESS
POPUP PHOTOs-Pg52-Pg56
.JPG)
|
MNtundraRet
Bloomington, MN
Senior Member
Joined: 12/06/2007
View Profile
Offline
|
keatonb16 wrote:MNtundraRet wrote:If you ever intend to tow the trailer, a battery must be able to power the brakes in case the trailer detaches from the tow vehicle while towing.
another case of posting without reading the question asked.he wasn't asking what the battery was for he was wanting to eliminate the small breakaway battery and hooking the breakaway up to the trailers main battery.
Since this was his only battery for brakes he would has none for safety braking. You should learn to read a post.
|
Michael in MN
MN
Senior Member
Joined: 01/02/2012
View Profile
Offline
|
Michael in MN wrote:My camper came with a separate brake-away battery even though it has a normal house battery.
Just to clarify, the camper has both a house battery and a breakaway battery. Both the house charger and truck 12v are wired to the house battery, not the breakaway battery.
If I wired the breakaway switch to the house battery, it would have 12v any time the house battery is charged, including when disconnected from the truck.
|
|
|
