Charging plus why two breakers? - Page 2 - Hi-Lo camper travel trailer forum

RichR · 08-20-2015, 10:24 AM

Whew! Now with all that mystery solved?, maybe we can help Hilltool with his question.

I have never seen a HiLo with a circuit breaker outside, maybe it was for jumping purposes. I would prefer seeing it inside in a more protected location.

Treeclimber · 08-20-2015, 11:20 AM

Rich,
I concur with you, however, the breakers on my 2400 ARE protected, IN the batt box. Can't access the batt unless top is raised about 3 - 4", you can guess where the pump and handle are! Wonder who was working THAT day!
Tree

JackandJanet · 08-20-2015, 12:22 PM

To beat a dead horse, here's a labeled picture of my circuit breaker setup (if you click on the thumbnail, you'll be able to read the text).

There IS an inline fuse in the grey tongue jack wire. It was hidden under a roll of Gorilla Tape I keep in the battery box.

Interestingly (to me), I believe BOTH the Tow Vehicle charging line and the Converter charging line do their thing in reverse direction across the circuit breakers (from right to left, into the +12V Battery line).

The posts on the circuit breakers are covered with insulators, but the left ones are copper and the right hand ones are steel.

Rich, I like your thought that the circuit breaker on the outside provides access for jumping in case of a dead battery. You can simply connect the positive jump cable to the left hand post of the CB and the negative jump cable to any frame ground.

- Jack

Treeclimber · 08-20-2015, 12:39 PM

Jack,
Now that picture IS worth a thousand words. I'm coping it and taking it to the "Treehouse".
Thanks!
Tree

hilltool · 08-20-2015, 01:59 PM

Well

All of that is quite similar but maybe not exact. Of course- mine is a few years older. But, I think its pretty spot on for the most part. Because I have two group 27 batteries crammed in my box most of my wires are bunched pretty tight. I need to pull one of the batteries to give myself room to trace things better.

Jack- excellent job of tracing things down and labeling. I will be able to compare. I believe the wire I mentioned with the 15 amp fuse starts out as a blue line and then I see a yellow wire with a fuse has been spliced in. So, I'm thinking that is my refrig line. AS i mentioned earlier- there is a black wire running from my tongue jack to the positive terminal of my battery- direct, with an inline fuse. I haven't searched for the ground yet. This has all been very helpful-and I thank you ,both, Rich and Jack, for illuminating all of this and having the where with all to read and diagnose the wiring diagrams.

I may well report back once I go back and compare stuff to Jack's photo. By the way Jack, do you do the labeling with photo shop or something else?

Otherwise- I'm good for now until something quits working( though I may replace the outside cb with a marine version- much more expensive). By the way- I am getting 13.6-13.8 volts coming out of my trailer wiring plug on the truck and ,now, 13.0 volts on the batteries when running the engine. I am surprised I'm losing that much in a such a short run but maybe that is to be expected and also a function of the regulator on the alternator- which is a 130 amp alt. At any rate- 13 volts at idle ought to be enough to charge and maybe more at cruising speed depending on how much stuff I have turned on.

Thanks everyone- great set of posts.

Rick

JackandJanet · 08-20-2015, 04:19 PM

Hi Rick - I used Photoshop Elements to label that picture, but I think you can also do it in Windows Paint.

One thing that seems potentially problematic to me is the size of the battery charging wire from the tow vehicle in my trailer. If you look at the photograph, that wire (the black one coming from the left post on CB #1) is a pretty small gauge. It is certainly smaller than the one coming from the Converter Charger. Yes, the run, up to the trailer plug, is fairly short, but it's certainly a "choke point" that could limit the amount of current available from the TV alternator to the refrigerator and trailer batteries.

It would not be easy to replace or supplement since it's inside the trailer cord.

- Jack

RichR · 08-21-2015, 07:21 AM

I have never spent any time checking the wire sizes on tow vehicles but from all accounts I have read the charge line wires are grossly undersized on many. I would say that is probably the weak link on many trailer charge line hookups. Lots of people have run separate #8 wire and circuit breakers to the trailer sockets.

Elaine and Bill · 09-04-2015, 11:22 PM

Can you clarify if one needed to use the CB because of a dead battery would the positive cable be connected to be copper (battery) post. I have always wondered what we would do as the battery box is not accessible when our trailer is lowered. One of our CBs is on the outside-underside of the battery compartment. Thank you!

JackandJanet · 09-04-2015, 11:40 PM

Yes, Elaine and/or Bill, if your outside CB is wired like mine, I would attach the positive jumper cable wire directly to the copper colored post on the CB. That will effectively connect that cable directly to the positive post of your battery. Then, the negative clamp of the jumper cable can be attached to any bare metal on the trailer frame, assuming you can find one. DO NOT connect the negative clamp of the jumper cable to ANY CB post! That would essentially be a "short circuit" across the CB and would immediately blow it.

As to the wire sizes, after looking at the wiring diagram again, I see the +12V charging wire from the trailer plug is only 10 gauge, which IS fairly small and probably matches my tow vehicle's +12V feed. The charging wire from the converter, however, is 8 gauge, which is a much better size. And, the power line from the battery to the lift motor is 4 gauge. (Smaller numbers indicate heavier wire.)

- Jack