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08-26-2019, 08:23 PM
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#1
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Junior Member
Name: Dougey
Trailer: Shopping casita independence
Florida
Posts: 8
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Casita Towing Electrical Requirements
I plan on towing a late model Casita Deluxe with a 2014 Acura MDX AWD with an OEM towing package. My question applies to the Casita factory wiring requirement for the Battery Charge Circuit to be 10 AWG wire with a 30 amp fuse. From what I can see, my MDX harness has only 12 or 14 AWG wire and a 20 amp fuse on that circuit. How big a problem is this and what are my options? I hate to junk the OEM harness.
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08-26-2019, 10:56 PM
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#2
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Commercial Member
Name: Charlie Y
Trailer: Escape 21 - Felicity
Oregon
Posts: 1,584
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dougey
I plan on towing a late model Casita Deluxe with a 2014 Acura MDX AWD with an OEM towing package. My question applies to the Casita factory wiring requirement for the Battery Charge Circuit to be 10 AWG wire with a 30 amp fuse. From what I can see, my MDX harness has only 12 or 14 AWG wire and a 20 amp fuse on that circuit. How big a problem is this and what are my options? I hate to junk the OEM harness.
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Not a problem unless you wish to run the fridge on 12V while driving; in that case you would want to run bigger gauge power and ground wires back to the trailer. Many OEM trailer packages don't even even include a charge wire!
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08-26-2019, 11:06 PM
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#3
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Senior Member
Name: John
Trailer: Escape 21, behind an '02 F250 7.3 diesel tug
Mid Left Coast
Posts: 2,941
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just run your fridge on propane when traveling, you should be fine.
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08-26-2019, 11:23 PM
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#4
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Senior Member
Trailer: Escape 17 ft
Posts: 8,317
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Quote:
Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz
just run your fridge on propane when traveling, you should be fine.
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Yup. And the charge from your tow vehicle will top up the trailer batteries.
__________________
What happens to the hole when the cheese is gone?
- Bertolt Brecht
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08-26-2019, 11:24 PM
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#5
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Senior Member
Name: John
Trailer: Roamer 1
Smith Valley, Nevada
Posts: 2,892
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dougey
From what I can see, my MDX harness has only 12 or 14 AWG wire and a 20 amp fuse on that circuit. How big a problem is this and what are my options?
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Travel with your fridge on propane, as John said. A 20 amp circuit to the trailer will be very nice. Get hooked up, with the fridge on propane, TV engine running, and watch your battery gradually come up to about 14.1 volts.
This proves you have a good ground (12 volt - ) and a good charging circuit.
__________________
I only exaggerate enough to compensate for being taken with a grain of salt.
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08-27-2019, 05:16 AM
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#6
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Junior Member
Name: Dougey
Trailer: Shopping casita independence
Florida
Posts: 8
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Thanks for the quick response guys. Reducing/managing the electrical load in the trailer by taking the refrigerator out of the equation makes more sense than trying to beef up the circuit and perhaps putting a continuous, high electrical load on the rest of the (relatively light) TV charging system that it was not designed to handle.
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08-27-2019, 01:29 PM
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#7
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Senior Member
Name: JD
Trailer: Scamp 16 Modified (BIGLY)
Florida
Posts: 2,445
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It is likely that with the length of that wire the trailer might not charge that well anyway as the voltage drop will still exist, especially if the grounds are not good as well.
Some use special conditioners that increase the voltage to charge the trailer batteries by stepping up the voltage from the TV to the trailer to the correct point.
This could easily not be a problem for you or it might.
Time will tell.
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08-31-2019, 02:47 AM
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#8
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Senior Member
Name: Elliott
Trailer: Bigfoot
Everywhere
Posts: 462
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Too small of a wire is more of an annoyance than a serious issue. Voltage drop will limit the amount of current that flows to charge the trailer battery from the alternator, which means you'll be relying more on being plugged in at the campsite and at home rather than charging while driving, but it also means that you don't really have to worry about overloading it or blowing the fuse or anything unless you add some sort of boost/step-up charger to the trailer.
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08-31-2019, 03:09 AM
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#9
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Senior Member
Name: John
Trailer: Escape 21, behind an '02 F250 7.3 diesel tug
Mid Left Coast
Posts: 2,941
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Defenestrator
Too small of a wire is more of an annoyance than a serious issue. Voltage drop will limit the amount of current that flows to charge the trailer battery from the alternator, which means you'll be relying more on being plugged in at the campsite and at home rather than charging while driving, but it also means that you don't really have to worry about overloading it or blowing the fuse or anything unless you add some sort of boost/step-up charger to the trailer.
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depends. too much current through too small of a wire makes heat, and if its too much, it turns into fire.
FIRE!
https://livestream.com/burningman/bmwebcast
(very transitory, if you see this after tomorrow night, its probably too late.
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08-31-2019, 03:19 AM
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#10
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Senior Member
Name: Elliott
Trailer: Bigfoot
Everywhere
Posts: 462
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Quote:
Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz
depends. too much current through too small of a wire makes heat, and if its too much, it turns into fire.
FIRE!
https://livestream.com/burningman/bmwebcast
(very transitory, if you see this after tomorrow night, its probably too late.
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In general, sure, but in this case the voltage drop from that long of a 14AWG wire plus multiple connectors plus the wire within the trailer itself is going to limit actual current flow to under 20A.
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08-31-2019, 08:29 AM
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#11
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Senior Member
Trailer: Escape 17 ft Plan B
Posts: 2,388
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One solution is to add a DC to DC converter in the trailer to raise the voltage at the battery end.
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