Truck not charging RV Battery

NewCyclone

Active Member
I don't think the cable for my trailer power is hooked up to the battery/fuse box. This weekend I went out to my trailer and found the batter dead. I backed up my truck and pluged her in in hopes that I could get the battery charged enough to start the generater, no luck. I looked under my hood this morning and saw a wire that was still taped up from the factory with a white label on it that said "Aftermarket Trailer Brakes" on it. The wire was red and had a terminal on it like it was supposed to go to a battery or fuse box. Has anybody had any experience with this? Does anybody know what pin on the trailer hookup is supposed to be the charge power?

PS. Yes my trailer lights do work. When I go inside to the panel and push the "Test" switch while hooked up to the truck, it doesn't show that it is charging.
 

ct0218

Well-known member
GM trucks do not come from the factory with the fuse for the charging circuit in the fuse box. It is normally found in the glove box, 40A, and goes in place of the plug that's in the under hood fuse box. Your owners manual will show you the exact location of the 40A fuse. Doesn't make sense that they don't install it in every truck, unless a lot of the trucks don't have the trailer towing package as a factory install.
 

ct0218

Well-known member
Boy, they did make some changes with the new platform. I see they still don't put the fuse in though.
 
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NewCyclone

Active Member
Thank you everyone for the assistance on this issue. I took the truck by the dealership today to see if it was as easy as slipping in a fuse. I did try to locate it myself using the chart on the inside of the fuse box, but could not find it. The guy at the dealership thought it was fuse related as well, but after looking at my truck, we discovered the problem.

The dealership that installed my hitch and wiring did a sloppy job. Instead of using the factory harness that was ready to be used under the truck bed, they spliced into the factory trailer hookup on my bumper. I am not talking about splicing and soldering either. They used those plastic clips that eventually rust and fall apart. The 12v power accessory hookup was not attached to the fuse box like it was supposed to be. The dealership could not help me out and the place that did the original install is in New Mexico. So now I have to go to the local RV dealer and see if they can fix the problem. I am going to call the original dealership tomorrow and give them an ear full as well. I think at a minimum they should have to pay the ticket to have this mess fixed. I can't believe how lazy some people are. What really bothers me is if something would have happened with our trailer lights or worse breaks when we where transporting it back to Texas three weeks ago.

Thank you again to everyone that piped in with assistance.
 

ct0218

Well-known member
"The Dieselplace.com" has more info than you could ever need to know about your truck. There will be some resistance using those small connectors so using the factory wiring harness would be best. Too bad they did all that extra work when it was so simple to do it right to start with. Good luck.
 
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