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Old 01-06-2012, 09:55 PM   #1
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House Battery on Trailer?

How would you power a house battery on a trailer, keep it from getting overcharged but keep it topped from the vehicle or recharge after sitting?

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Old 01-06-2012, 10:11 PM   #2
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Re: House Battery on Trailer?

I use Warn style heavy duty connectors from my SMB trailer to my house battery. You can buy a pair of them for $1500 from Earthroamer. I have an 8D (lifeline AGM, total overkill) in my trailer that the PO was using just to power a water pump.

Mine is the opposite of what you are asking if I am understanding. But, I imagine it would work the other way as long as you connected the positive to your battery separator and grounded it to the chassis. Or maybe a 2nd Surepower battery separator between your house battery and your trailer battery?
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Old 01-06-2012, 10:17 PM   #3
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Re: House Battery on Trailer?

I plug in the trailer and drive. The vans have a trailer battery charge circuit which is keyed with the ignition. The V10s are fused for 40 amps on the trailer circuit, which is more than my converter would send to the trailer batts. If the trailer batts were really low, I'd run the van for an hour before switching over to generator/converter (or sometimes just keep running the van since its quiet).
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Old 01-07-2012, 12:50 PM   #4
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Re: House Battery on Trailer?

I am building a small trailer. I wanted back up power or stand alone power if I was just using the trailer for camping. I am using two car batteries that can be used in the SMB if something went wrong. I am setting up a system using a smaller inverter/charger. Charge the batteries from house power, a small generator or portable solar panel. What size battery are you going to use? Good luck
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Old 01-10-2012, 01:05 PM   #5
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Re: House Battery on Trailer?

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Old 01-10-2012, 02:37 PM   #6
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Re: House Battery on Trailer?

My race car trailer, (An aluminum Featherlite), has electric brakes which require an electric source to actuate the brakes in the event that the trailer becomes separated from the towing vehicle. So, it has a battery on the trailer which is charged by a dedicated prong on the 7-prong plug. I just plug it in and go, and the trailer battery charges automatically. Not sure why it doesn't overcharge, but it has worked perfectly for 5 or 6 years, even if I don't use it for a few months.
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Old 01-30-2012, 08:11 AM   #7
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Re: House Battery on Trailer?

As others stated, the trailer battery wiring is designed for what you want, but requires the engine to be running. Since this is a relayed circuit, there would be no ham in also connecting your normal house charging circuit to it, as you would not be powering anything other than the trailer when the ignition is off. So connecting your house battery to that circuit might give you the best of both worlds, charging when driving and linking batteries and using both / charging from shore/solar power when not. Obviously you would need to be careful not to back feed some of your RV stuff when driving. Depending on your wiring this may or may-not be an issue.
A simple relay *may* solve that depending on your need. IE put a relay or switch between the van house battery and trailer circuit that is only closed when the ignition is off. You would probably want to use a N/C relay so your not wasting power charging it when the van is not running.
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