Battery re-charging wire

[Gerry]

I am about to move my battery from inside my 1980 Boler to the tongue. My old system just had a 4 pin connection from TV to trailer.
I got a 7 / 4 pin adapter and instaled it on the truck and it had the 4 pin plug in on back of the adapter so that was easy but I now have to run the Black wire back to the charging system.
I have asked this question a few times back when I was just thinking about doing this and remember getting some very complicated answers so if anyone could comfirm if this is correct and will work....
All I need to do is hook up a new, 10 guage Blk, wire off my TV battery POS. post to a 30 amp breaker and then run the wire back to the POS. post of the Trailer Battery?
I know that people will recomend having a relay and all that but I just put in an in-line disconnect if I ever plan to park and leave trailer plugged in to TV.
Also just a thought...IF,and I do not know at this time, IF my converter has any echarging system inside, is there any rewireing that needs to be done on this end of the system?

[Pete Dumbleton]

Ten gauge is the usual factory standard, but I recommend using a #8 or even #6 from the TV battery/breaker to the TV connector -- That's the longest part of the run and you want to get the voltage drop as low as possible to have the most charging voltage at the egg battery.

I was at an RV show recently and I noticed that Jayco seems to be using #8 for their connections on the TT battery (dunno what was inside the cable to the TV).

Don't forget to make sure that the ground (white wire) connection at the TV connector is going to a solid, clean connection.

You can always add a relay at a later date if you think it's needed.

[Frederick L. Simson]

I was at an RV show recently and I noticed that Jayco seems to be using [b]#8 for their connections on the TT battery ([b]dunno what was inside the cable to the TV).

The one like this I bought for my Fiber Stream had:
#10 white for ground
#12 black for battery charge
#12 blue for brake controller output
#14 for all of the other colors:
green = "tail" or running lights
red = left turn / brake light
brown = right turn / brake light
yellow = back-up light

[Loren G. Hedahl]

[quote]
I am about to move my battery from inside my 1980 Boler to the tongue.

Interestingly, I just finished moving my battery off the tongue to the inside.

[Gerry]

I guess my redundent topic title must have confused everyone but the main Question was do I attach the end of the new 10guage wire to the positive post of the battery in my truck?
I hooked it there yesterday with no ill effects and it is working and sending an increased voltage reading, when truck is running, to the #1 pin on my new 7 pin connector.
I had the full size battery in its air tight box inside and the only place it would fit in my 1980-13ft Boler was under the bench seat in rear.
Because of the design of the box it had to be right in the middle of the hatch area so other then spare electrical chords and water hoses that storage bin was useless.
Now with battery on tongue I will be able to pack more things down under.
Gerry

[Pete Dumbleton]

Yes, it does go to the positive post on the battery -- You should also add a 30A fuse/holder right there also, like the one that was probably on the positive wire in the old location.

[Gerry W]

So I had U-Haul in Victoria wire up my vehicle yesterday for a 7 pin connector and brake controller, they took #10 wire from both sides of the battery, through what I think is a resistor, under the dash and to the brake controller. Only the blue wire plus my old -4wire trailer connector are fed into the new 7 pin connector.

I did not get them to go over the job, assumed they were in the business. Now that I think of it, I paid for a 20 amp circuit breaker but did not spot it in my cursory examination of the work - and after reclamping a loose wire at the resistor.

Will my battery in the Egg-scape be charging? Another question for Reace at Escape Trailer tomorrow.

Suspect U-Haul is going to have a come-back. Oh Joy!![font=Arial]

[Joe MacDonald]

the blue wire is the brake wire, you now will have signals, markers, brake lights, and electric brakes. if there are no other wires, it will not charge the battery, the "resistor" may be the circuit breaker, a picture would help.

[Brian B-P]

...Only the blue wire plus my old -4wire trailer connector are fed into the new 7 pin connector.

...Will my battery in the Egg-scape be charging?

This sounds like a 4-to-7-pin converter is used, like on my Sienna. The wires for the lights come from the 4-pin, and the wires for power and brake control (yes, blue) are added. If only the wires from the 4-pin plus the blue wire are connected to the 7-pin, I have two concerns:

1. the battery charging wire (normally black) needs to be connected to supply the trailer and charge its battery; and,
2. one of the four wires of the four-pin is a ground wire, but it will not be large enough to handle the current of the brakes or battery charging; the white (ground) wire from the four-pin should be ignored and a separate ground wire connected.

I bought my 4-to-7-pin adapter from U-Haul, and it is designed correctly: the plug which goes to the 4-pin socket has only three wires (no white), and much thicker white, blue, and black wires are connected separately.

I sounds like the Victoria U-Haul shop correctly supplied ground to the brake controller directly from the battery; the remaining questions seem to be about power and ground to the 7-pin. Aside from battery charging, the brake controller needs the trailer connection to have a substantial ground connection, too.

[Gerry]

I bought my 4-to-7-pin adapter from U-Haul, and it is designed correctly: the plug which goes to the 4-pin socket has only three wires (no white), and much thicker white, blue, and black wires are connected separately.


Yup Bian, this is the same adapter I got and at first I was confused why the 4 pin connecter only had 3 wires but noticed that there was a #10 white comming out seperate so I grounded this to the TV frame where I have the original 4 pin grounded. I do not used the yelow or the blue as aux and breaks are not on trailer at this time
Gerry

[Gerry W]

Your comments are consistant with what I found, the installer ran the blue brake wiring only. To the extent he stripped off 5' of cover on the dual wiring loom at the rear of the truck, cut the black wire and drilled a hole sufficient to pass the blue 12 guage wire and then wired that into the 7 prong blue lead, leaving the white, yellow and black wires untouched on the pigtail. The 4-way adapter has 14 guage wires including a white ground and formed part of the 7-way pigtail as previously noted.

Reace, at Escape trailer suggested tapping into the casing of the wiring loom under the hood of the truck and wiring the unused black wire - suitably fused with a 30 amp circuit breaker to the positive post of my vehicle battery and wiring it back to the black line on the 7 pin connector.

Based on your comments - I will wire the power ciruit and the white wire in the pigtail to ground on the vehicle and leave the yellow wire alone. Will be stopping off at U-Haul tomorrow to pick up the parts for the rest of their incomplete job and to confirm I should leave the yellow wire.

Thanks for your assistance Joe, Brian & Gerry

PS: Love my new Egg-Scape 17 footer