Enclosed trailer electrical question.... looking for advise/help.

JLeosnow · Apr 13, 2008

Hello all,
I recently purchased an enclosed trailer that is wired 110V to run the 4 two bulb flourescent fixtures down the center of the trailer and uses the trucks 12V to run the 4 roof radius cove lights. It also has 110V outlets thru-out the trailer that are live when plugged into the exterior plug-in on the trailer with an extension cord from the house/garage. In addition, it has a deep cycle/RV battery to run the electric tounge jack. What I would like to do is:

1) Utilize the 12V from the 7-way plug to charge the deep cycle/RV battery while traveling down the road.

2) Would like to be able to run the cove lights off the deep cycle/RV battery as well when the trailer is not hooked to the truck for 12V power.

3) Would like to be able to charge the deep cycle/RV battery when it is plugged in from a power source with the extension cord.

Can anyone tell me what I need to purchase and re-wire to accomplish these 3 things??

Thanks much,
-John

attak06 · Apr 13, 2008

enclosed trailer

where is greenfield. for anyone to give you accurate solid advise it should be looked at to see exactly how the trailer is wired. i am in central mn. there are alot of possabilities on what is the best or easiest thing to do. also depends on what the tow vehicle is. most newer trucks have either live or ignition power in the seven wire plugin that is part of the towing package. pm me if you want.

JLeosnow · Apr 13, 2008

attak06 said:
where is greenfield. for anyone to give you accurate solid advise it should be looked at to see exactly how the trailer is wired. i am in central mn. there are alot of possabilities on what is the best or easiest thing to do. also depends on what the tow vehicle is. most newer trucks have either live or ignition power in the seven wire plugin that is part of the towing package. pm me if you want.

Hello attak06,

Thanks for the response. Greenfield is near Buffalo/Rockford MN. The tow vehicle(s) are a 2001 Suburban 1500 and a 2007 Suburban 2500 and yes....both the vehicles have the Bargman 7-wire round plug with a live 12V feed coming out of them. The trailer is wired with the same 7-wire Bargman plug as well and is using 6 of the available 7 wires as it is not using the back-up wire feed from the vehicle since the trailer does not have reverse lights.

Thanks,
-John

attak06 · Apr 13, 2008

what charges the jack battery? it might be hooked to the power wire from the plug already. if not you could get a charger that goes in line to prevent back feeding to the truck and charges the battery when hooked up. red neck trailer is one of the many trailer parts companies that sells them. to charge the battery. it might be wise to add a battery for longer use. for the charging with 110v get a self controlled charger and wire it into the 110v plug in and hard wired to the battery to prevent it from coming off and shorting out. good luck. if you need help or want someone to help. contact beeline seervice in st. joe mn. they sell enclosed trailers and they do use them them selves. talk to duane (donnie) the owner.

snoboy · Apr 13, 2008

JLeosnow said:
Hello all,
I recently purchased an enclosed trailer that is wired 110V to run the 4 two bulb flourescent fixtures down the center of the trailer and uses the trucks 12V to run the 4 roof radius cove lights. It also has 110V outlets thru-out the trailer that are live when plugged into the exterior plug-in on the trailer with an extension cord from the house/garage. In addition, it has a deep cycle/RV battery to run the electric tounge jack. What I would like to do is:

1) Utilize the 12V from the 7-way plug to charge the deep cycle/RV battery while traveling down the road.

2) Would like to be able to run the cove lights off the deep cycle/RV battery as well when the trailer is not hooked to the truck for 12V power.

3) Would like to be able to charge the deep cycle/RV battery when it is plugged in from a power source with the extension cord.

Can anyone tell me what I need to purchase and re-wire to accomplish these 3 things??

Thanks much,
-John

*Try to get a copy of the wiring diagram from trailer mfg.

1) You should be able to tap into the same wire that's charging your trailer brake battery
2) From the battery you'll need to tap into the light branch which should be the same wire as above, HOWEVER you need an inline daiode to alow voltage to flow from truck to trailer but not trailer to truck. You may have one already inplace.
3) The easist way to accomplish this is with a high quality battery charger plugged into the AC outlet. BUT the trick way to do it would be to install converter (like a travel trailer) and hard wire the converter into the breaker box and send power over to a DC fuse panel then branch out to battery and also to the lights. This would allow you to run all your DC lights AND charge your battery while plugged into shore power.

This is one I would use ( I actually have the 60 amp version) and I bought it from this guy. These are outstanding converters and top of the line chargers as well. Pretty easy to install as well.

http://www.bestconverter.com/45-Amp-RV-ConverterCharger_p_84-170.html

U turn · Apr 13, 2008

I did it this way.
1. I ran the hot 12v from the truck plug through a switch to isolate truck/RV battery and hooked it directly to the RV battery. This will also make your 12V lights in trailer available when truck is disconnected.
3. You will need a RV charger/converter(Ebay) to charge RV battery from 110V.

Here is a great source for 12V RV info.

http://bart.ccis.com/home/mnemeth/12volt/12volt.htm

JLeosnow · Apr 22, 2008

Thanks for the info all, I appreciate it.

Ok....so to achieve charging the deep cycle marine battery inside the trailer while hooked to the truck/driving down the road could I simply tap run the trailer plug wire that hooks to the 12V out of the back of the truck and connect it directly to the positive side of the DCM battery in the trailer?

Then to achieve 12V lights while not hooked to the truck simply hook the wire that currently powers the 12V lights which was connected to the 12V power out of the truck plug & connect it directly to the positive side of the battery?

Thanks,
-John

JLeosnow · Apr 28, 2008

ttt

Anyone? Should this work or am I missing something..?

Thanks,
-John

U turn · Apr 28, 2008

Here is how I did mine. I used a standard 20A house switch as an isolator. When the truck is parked, shut off the switch to disconnect from truck battery, in the morning turn the switch on and the truck charges the battery on the drive to the hill.

JLeosnow · Apr 28, 2008

U turn said:
Here is how I did mine. I used a standard 20A house switch as an isolator. When the truck is parked, shut off the switch to disconnect from truck battery, in the morning turn the switch on and the truck charges the battery on the drive to the hill.

U turn,
Yours looks to be about exactly the way I want to do mine except I am going to use the #4 pin on the Bargman plug which is 12V hot all the time instead of the center plug that you used. This should work just like your set-up, correct...??

I planned to use a 50A 2-way rocker as an isolation switch.... do you think this would work OK??

Lastly, when do you turn your switch on.... I'm assuming while traveling to your riding destination(s)? Then do you shut it off while vehicle is sitting and you are riding or the vehicle is parked for several days hooked up to the trailer?

Thanks,
-John

MT boondocker · Apr 29, 2008

JLeosnow said:
U turn,
Yours looks to be about exactly the way I want to do mine except I am going to use the #4 pin on the Bargman plug which is 12V hot all the time instead of the center plug that you used. This should work just like your set-up, correct...??

I planned to use a 50A 2-way rocker as an isolation switch.... do you think this would work OK??

Lastly, when do you turn your switch on.... I'm assuming while traveling to your riding destination(s)? Then do you shut it off while vehicle is sitting and you are riding or the vehicle is parked for several days hooked up to the trailer?

Thanks,
-John

Another option you may want to look at or think about on your wiring. Instead of using an isolation switch between your vehicle and trailer why not wire your hot wire/charging wire to you trailer battery so that it is only hot when your vehicle is running? By doing it that way you wouldn't have to worry about turning the switch on or off, you will always have power going to the battery when you are driving and when you are parked there is no power being run to the trailer battery. This is how I plan on wiring mine up, as I sometimes forget to turn on or off switches.

JLeosnow · Apr 29, 2008

MT boondocker said:
Another option you may want to look at or think about on your wiring. Instead of using an isolation switch between your vehicle and trailer why not wire your hot wire/charging wire to you trailer battery so that it is only hot when your vehicle is running? By doing it that way you wouldn't have to worry about turning the switch on or off, you will always have power going to the battery when you are driving and when you are parked there is no power being run to the trailer battery. This is how I plan on wiring mine up, as I sometimes forget to turn on or off switches.

MT boondocker,
That is what I would have liked it to be but the live 12V wire coming out of the back of my tow vehicle(7-way round/Bargman plug) is "hot" all the time, regardless of ignition position. Tow vehicles are a 2001 & 2007 Chevy Suburban. Supposedly the Ford vehicles 12V power out of the plug will turn off when the ignition switch is turned to the off position but not the Chevys...

Thanks,
-John

6Mile · Apr 29, 2008

JLeosnow said:
U turn,
Yours looks to be about exactly the way I want to do mine except I am going to use the #4 pin on the Bargman plug which is 12V hot all the time instead of the center plug that you used. This should work just like your set-up, correct...??

I planned to use a 50A 2-way rocker as an isolation switch.... do you think this would work OK??

Lastly, when do you turn your switch on.... I'm assuming while traveling to your riding destination(s)? Then do you shut it off while vehicle is sitting and you are riding or the vehicle is parked for several days hooked up to the trailer?

Thanks,
-John

John,

What I did was connect the power sourceto the traile to the alternator on the truck and included a Marine charging diode system to charge both the batteries, and prevent the deep cycle in the trailer from discharging the trucks starter battery.

tudizzle · Apr 29, 2008

KISS

I just unplug the trailer when I stop

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Enclosed trailer electrical question.... looking for advise/help.

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