I researched and spent much time trying to find what was wrong with my new Silverado round connector to not give power inside travel trailer. I had the battery removed from camper for charging. When I put the battery back in battery box and connected it, the lights in camper functioned from the 12 volts supplied from the truck. Must battery be installed in the circuit for tow vehicle to give 12 volts to interior of camper?
Battery required in circuit for tow vehicle????
- Thread starter jsanders
- Start date
JohnD
Moved on to the next thing...
Yes . . . with the trailer battery(s) removed, the circuit is broken, so no power through to the trailer from the tow vehicle.
I'm not sure, however, if the battery is removed from the trailer if you will still have power in the trailer if the trailer is plugged in to shore power?
I've never tried that . . .
danemayer
Well-known member
Hi jsanders,
If you charged the battery and reinstalled it in the camper, I would think your 12V lights would be getting power from the battery.
On some trailers, I think the wiring from the tow vehicle connector goes to the positive battery terminal by way of a 12V DC mini-circuit breaker located on the buss bar near the battery. Maybe yours is open or miswired.
Roller4tan
Well-known member
I've read where some truck manufacturers do NOT install the fuse required for 12v power to the trailerring receptacle. You may want to check that in the engine compartment. my 2 cents.
Jim.Allison
Well-known member
Your tow vehicle should be acting as any other charging source in your tow vehicle.
How do you know that the source of power for your rig is from the TV and not the batt, when you have the batt installed?
The TV charging system is only responsible for maintaining a charge on the battery that activate the brakes in the event of a breakaway. It does this by acting as a charger, the same as your onboard charger/converter.
Your TV system is effectively parallel with all your other charging sources through the terminal ends at your battery, no single charging device is exclusively tasked to do a job, each charging source can act independently. Of course your charger/converter is not activated when driving, so your TV is the only source of power when traveling. In the case of my solar both systems are charging or providing power to the batts at the same time.
I can see no reason why power from your TV is not reaching the DC systems on your rig, unless the TV is not providing power to the rig, or there is a break in the TV circuit. Have you taken a multimeter and starting at your 7 pin checked for current? When you disconnect the battery could you be disconnecting the TV wires inadvertently from the terminal ends of your cables? ex. are there any member wires that would otherwise be connected to the battery post, dangling?
Could the TV have a safety mechanism to prevent you from discharging your TV batts in the absence of a breakaway/house batt? Do your signal lights work?
I would start at the 7 pin and check all the pins with a multimeter. Then I would move toward the batt looking for a break in the circuit.
IMHO if your DC system in your rig is not being provided with 12v DC by the TV, neither is your batt when installed. Meaning that your breakaway system is at risk of not being charged.
How do you know that the source of power for your rig is from the TV and not the batt, when you have the batt installed?
The TV charging system is only responsible for maintaining a charge on the battery that activate the brakes in the event of a breakaway. It does this by acting as a charger, the same as your onboard charger/converter.
Your TV system is effectively parallel with all your other charging sources through the terminal ends at your battery, no single charging device is exclusively tasked to do a job, each charging source can act independently. Of course your charger/converter is not activated when driving, so your TV is the only source of power when traveling. In the case of my solar both systems are charging or providing power to the batts at the same time.
I can see no reason why power from your TV is not reaching the DC systems on your rig, unless the TV is not providing power to the rig, or there is a break in the TV circuit. Have you taken a multimeter and starting at your 7 pin checked for current? When you disconnect the battery could you be disconnecting the TV wires inadvertently from the terminal ends of your cables? ex. are there any member wires that would otherwise be connected to the battery post, dangling?
Could the TV have a safety mechanism to prevent you from discharging your TV batts in the absence of a breakaway/house batt? Do your signal lights work?
I would start at the 7 pin and check all the pins with a multimeter. Then I would move toward the batt looking for a break in the circuit.
IMHO if your DC system in your rig is not being provided with 12v DC by the TV, neither is your batt when installed. Meaning that your breakaway system is at risk of not being charged.
I checked and re-checked pins and had voltage on my 7-pin TV connector. I had signal lights, etc but no interior lights. As said, I had the positive battery cable dangling in previous reply. I did not have 110 volt power so truck was the single power source. As soon as installed battery connectors after re-charging, I have interior lights from the tow vehicle. I suppose different models of travel trailers could be wired differently but would think all Heartland would be the same.
Jim.Allison
Well-known member
Could there be a solenoid activated by the charge from the battery that closes the tow vehicle circuit. This might serve as a safety device that would separate the TV batts in the event of a dead or missing house battery. Such a solenoid could be "theoretically" located on the rig and not the TV since you have power to the 7 pin. I have never heard of such, but something weird is going on here IMHO. Good luck, standing by to see your solution.
camr
Well-known member
I would start by checking to see whether the tow vehicle is providing 13.5 volts to the battery when running. We went for two years not knowing that the truck was not charging the house battery, simply because we never dry camped for longer than a desperate night on a Mal*wart parking lot. It wasn't until we dry camped overnight with the furnace running, and the following evening we couldn't drop the front jacks to disconnect. The coach charger was able to hide the problem.
justafordguy
Well-known member
Does anyone know what pin it the 7 pin plug provides the charging power? This would help him check to verify he is getting power from the truck.
jnbhobe
Well-known member
I think the charge line is the upper right when looking at the recepticle
Diagram was on my receptacle cover too but I had already looked up camper and truck pins online. Identification of pin-outs was never a problem. They check out good with ignition on TV and battery in travel trailer. I no longer have a problem unless not charging on the road like someone else had on here and described this afternoon.
JohnD
Moved on to the next thing...
It is like I said in my earlier post . . . when the battery is disconnected, the complete circuit is broken.
