Quote:
Originally Posted by Bill
My experience has been different. I found that if I ran the refrigerator on battery while towing, neither of my Explorers would keep the battery charged on either of my TMs. A little investigation showed that in each of the Explorers, the trailer battery charge line included several snap-together connectors, and some stretches of small-diameter wire between the battery and the Bargman connector. To solve the problem, I installed a parallel run of flexible #10 wire for both +12VDC and ground, directly from the alternator to the rear bumper. It was interrupted only by a circuit breaker and a relay (for isolation), both of which had bolted connectors. From then on, no problem.
Street rods typically have high-compression engines. In order to crank it over, the starter motor requires a very high current. If the battery is far away (in the trunk, for instance), then very large cables, such as #4, are needed. But there is no comparable demand in a TM.
Just my experience.
Bill
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This is exactly right. Where our TM's may demand as much as 20A while towing with the fridge on and trailer battery charging, a starter on a 12:1 compression ratio 454 cu in engine may pull 500A+. If the batteries have a 12' run each way (24' round trip), that engine better start pretty quickly or that #4 wire will soon melt. I would think that "00" battery cable would be in order.
10g wire works quite well if there are not a lot of connectors involved. It's the connectors (and the corrosion there-in) that cause a lot of resistance.