Charging the battery

[Cuthbert J Twillie]

Please excuse the naivete of this question but I'm greener than grass when it comes to TTT (or any trailer actually).
My T/V has a 110 outlet in the pick-up bed.
Can I run a line from that outlet to the 110 inlet of my trailer - for the purpose of charging the battery while we are rolling?

[absolutsnwbrdr]

I don't see why not, other than the fact that you'd have to secure it to the teardrop power inlet somehow.

And chances are that your 120VAC power outlet is only rated to about 400W or so. Which is 3.33A. Which really isn't much charging power. But it would work... at least a little bit.

[jstrubberg]

You could do it that way, but considering this is something you will want to happen pretty much every time you hook up your trailer, I think you are better off going through the wiring harness.

Take a look at this thread. It's fairly simple to set up.

viewtopic.php?f=30&t=28620

[eamarquardt]

I don't agree with some of the things said in earlier posts and some things that have gone unsaid.

You can certainly run the AC back to your trailer and us it to charge your battery.

1) Even if the outlet is "only" 400 watts that's gonna be enough to make nearly 30 amps of 12 volt charging power. More than enough.
2) You can't charge directly from the 120 volt circuit and you'll have to install a charger to convert the 120 volts to 12 volts (more or less) to charge your battery in your trailer.
3) I've never heard of anyone doing this so it's gonna be a bit unusual, someone might get confused and do something you'll wish they hadn't, and you'll have to turn the inverter off when you stop so you don't run down your vehicle's starting battery.
4) Your vehicle's charging system is already 12 volts. The simplest and most common solution is to connect your vehicle's battery/charging system to your trailer's battery to charge it while driving. You should disconnect your trailer when stopped so you don't accidentally discharge your starting battery should there be something running in the trailer. You can do this manually (unplug) or use a relay to disconnect your vehicle from the trailer when the ignition is off.

Hope this clears things up a bit.

Cheers,

Gus

[CarlLaFong]

Yeah, it does seem like a tortuous route. 12 volts to an inverter to make 110, then to a transformer to turn it back to 12 volt DC

[len19070]

I don't agree with some of the things said in earlier posts and some things that have gone unsaid.

You can certainly run the AC back to your trailer and us it to charge your battery.

1) Even if the outlet is "only" 400 watts that's gonna be enough to make nearly 30 amps of 12 volt charging power. More than enough.
2) You can't charge directly from the 120 volt circuit and you'll have to install a charger to convert the 120 volts to 12 volts (more or less) to charge your battery in your trailer.
3) I've never heard of anyone doing this so it's gonna be a bit unusual, someone might get confused and do something you'll wish they hadn't, and you'll have to turn the inverter off when you stop so you don't run down your vehicle's starting battery.
4) Your vehicle's charging system is already 12 volts. The simplest and most common solution is to connect your vehicle's battery/charging system to your trailer's battery to charge it while driving. You should disconnect your trailer when stopped so you don't accidentally discharge your starting battery should there be something running in the trailer. You can do this manually (unplug) or use a relay to disconnect your vehicle from the trailer when the ignition is off.

Hope this clears things up a bit.

Cheers,

Gus

I'm with Gus on this as well.

Yes the other system will work but its like "lowering the river instead of raising the bridge".

Happy Trails

Len

[wincrasher]

If you are using a 7 prong plug for your trailer lights (brake, running, etc), then you may already be using your vehicle's 12v system to charge your RV battery.

There are many threads on this topic and how to do the wiring.

[pchast]

Ah. Depends on the battery. I was told a wheel chair battery at 35AH was enough.
However, Those batteries will not survive the charge rates of an auto alternator.

I may end up doing something like you proposed or be stuck with a Heavier system.

I've been looking for a regulator to use the TV charging system anyway with a small
light battery?