Quick question: on the trailer side of the wiring- what do i attach the "hot" wire to? To the positive terminal? First through the "automatic charge relay"? do i need to connect to both positive terminals even though they are wired in parallel?
I took a different route as I did not want a constant hot lead running to the back of my Jeep when the trailer was not connected.
Essentially, I am using a constant rated solenoid along with a 100amp Buss fuse block underhood with the solenoid switched into my passenger compartment so that I can manually switch whether or not the trailer batteries are being charged. I also routed the charge wire into my 7 pin RV connector so I have a very clean trailer connection. I am powering this with a 220amp Mechman alternator and all of this is in addition to a Kodiack Industries dual battery (Odyssey pc1200's) conversion for my TJ. I think I have plenty of battery power :sombrero:
Wow, was I horribly naive in thinking I was just going to run 10Ga wire back to my 7 pin connector and that's all there is to it?
I'd read somewhere that you *want* the battery to charge slower, as it's easier on the battery. If your battery is 50% discharged, and you hit it with 100Amps, that's not too good for it.
I'm not sure I wouldn't. With the circuit protected properly for the smallest wire I think it could work well. Voltage drop is a function of amps, wire size and length. So running a 4g to the back of the truck would keep the drop to a min for that run. Then you could drop down to the 10 in the plug and then maybe step back up a bit to say 8. The plug will be your 'hot' spot but keeping it short will minimize the loss of power while avoiding the complications of a dedicated power connection.you wouldn't want to use 4Ga on the truck, to a big power connector, into 10Ga trailer wire
The problem here is that it will not lower the amps. It will only lower the volts and the difference is simply made into heat. This is a wast of power. Amps is a mater of how much the devise pulls. You need the volts to charge the bat. If you try to charge a bat at to low a voltage it is hard on it. Aside from cost and with the proper fuse/breaker, bigger wire is always better.My understanding about using 10g the whole way, is that it is a self-regulating circuit. You *need* the resistance of the 10g wire to lower the amps to something manageable. If you run 4 Ga to the back, your total circuit resistance will drop, and maybe cause the amperage to be too high for the 7 pin connector.
I took a different route as I did not want a constant hot lead running to the back of my Jeep when the trailer was not connected.
Essentially, I am using a constant rated solenoid along with a 100amp Buss fuse block underhood with the solenoid switched into my passenger compartment so that I can manually switch whether or not the trailer batteries are being charged. I also routed the charge wire into my 7 pin RV connector so I have a very clean trailer connection. I am powering this with a 220amp Mechman alternator and all of this is in addition to a Kodiack Industries dual battery (Odyssey pc1200's) conversion for my TJ. I think I have plenty of battery power :sombrero: