Newbie: Charging TM Battery

So I've owned my TM for about 3 years now, but I have only had the battery for 1 (didn't realize I needed it for brakes -- shows you where I'm at here). Though we normally camp fully connected, I can run off battery, and my braking mechanism works from it (glad to have it). The problem is that the battery charge keeps getting lower and I don't have a way to charge it.

My question is, can't my Odyssey Van recharge the TM battery using it's alternator? I'm told I don't have the connection to make this happen, and it would be about $150 to install it. I can buy a battery charger for $70.

My question is what is my best option? Charger or charge from my van?
Is there an option to have a device to "top-off" my battery while I am parked and connected?

BTW - Please point me to a discussion of this if it has already happened.

Can you say ?

Thanks in advance!
Dan

Don't know if this helps, but I use a tiny "smart" trickle charger and leave the charger plugged in all winter. I bought mine at the local Harley dealer although is is a Deltran unit available at most independent battery dealers. I leave the supplied harness on the battery at all times and as it hangs outside the battery box of my 2919, it is easily connected without opening either the TM or battery box. I'm pretty sure I paid less than $50 for it and it would undoubtedly be cheaper without the Harley logo. They make two models, the little one I have where the charger is in the plug, and a slightly larger one that looks like a mini battery charger. I've had mine for years but if I ever had to replace it, I'd probably lean toward the larger model which I assume has the "oomph" to charge a depleted battery a little quicker. - camp2canoe

There are two reasons to charge from the car:
1. It allows you to use 12 volt refrigerator cycle to keep your food cold on the road.
2. It allows you to charge as you go from one campground to the next if they don't have 110 volt at your campsites. This gives more flexability in choosing where to camp becuase you will alsways have a fully charged battery upon arrival.

I don't know why it would cost 150 but check with some other RV place before you use them.

Thank you for that. I did find one of these and used it over the winter. That helps to maintain a charge, but I don't think it can be used to just charge. For that it works great.

Thanks.
Dan

Thanks RogerR!

Originally Posted by RogerR

There are two reasons to charge from the car:
1. It allows you to use 12 volt refrigerator cycle to keep your food cold on the road.

With my connector for lights et al, shouldn't one of the wires be to run the refrigerator while driving? BTW - That was my original thought as to why the batter would stay charged.

Originally Posted by RogerR

2. It allows you to charge as you go from one campground to the next if they don't have 110 volt at your campsites. This gives more flexability in choosing where to camp becuase you will alsways have a fully charged battery upon arrival.

Charging while driving is what I had hoped to accomplish.

Originally Posted by RogerR

I don't know why it would cost 150 but check with some other RV place before you use them.

I figured that was high as well. I'll ask around.

Thanks!
Dan

[Wavery]

Your battery should be constantly charging while you are plugged in at the campground or at home.

If you normally camp with hook-ups, you should have no reason for a battery charger (other than what is built in to your TM).

If you are loosing capacity on your battery, it may be low on water. It is important to remove the caps from the top of the battery and check all 6 cells. If a cell is low on water, fill it (not to the top) with "Distilled" water (available at most grocery stores).

For charging on the road, all you need to do is put a 30A in-line fuse at your TV battery. Run a 8g or 10g black wire from the battery, under the TV (be sure to wire tie it every couple of feet and keep it away from the exhaust system and any moving parts) to the trailer wiring harness.

Here is a link to show you the proper place to connect the wire, depending on what plug you have:
http://www.accessconnect.com/trailer_wiring_diagram.htm

If I were running a shop, I would charge about $150 to do that job. The price sounds fair.

Originally Posted by harveyrv

Your battery should be constantly charging while you are plugged in at the campground or at home.

If you normally camp with hook-ups, you should have no reason for a battery charger (other than what is built in to your TM).

Well that is what I was thinking.

Originally Posted by harveyrv

If you are loosing capacity on your battery, it may be low on water. It is important to remove the caps from the top of the battery and check all 6 cells. If a cell is low on water, fill it (not to the top) with "Distilled" water (available at most grocery stores).

Good. It's a pretty new battery, but I'll check that.

Originally Posted by harveyrv

For charging on the road, all you need to do is put a 30A in-line fuse at your TV battery. Run a 8g or 10g black wire from the battery, under the TV (be sure to wire tie it every couple of feet and keep it away from the exhaust system and any moving parts) to the trailer wiring harness.

Here is a link to show you the proper place to connect the wire, depending on what plug you have:
http://www.accessconnect.com/trailer_wiring_diagram.htm

Thanks for that. This is what I need (and thought I had).

Originally Posted by harveyrv

If I were running a shop, I would charge about $150 to do that job. The price sounds fair.

Thanks. Good to know the price wasn't too out of whack.

Thanks.
Dan

Originally Posted by zemmels

Though we normally camp fully connected, I can run off battery, and my braking mechanism works from it (glad to have it).

zemmels, I believe only the emergency braking system works off of your TM battery. The regular braking (via your brake controller) works from the your tow vehicle electrical system.

[mcgyver210]

Dan are you mechanically Handy at all? If so it really isn't a big deal to run a charge wire there are even diagrams & lots of tutorials on wiring available on the web. I also seem to remember some good info on TMO's.

My Rover came wired for a trailer but didn't have a charge wire & even if it did it would most likely have been a small gage wire. I ended up running a heavier gage charge wire directly from the battery with either a heavy fuse block or a breaker can't remember witch one I did. I also have a solenoid to install to cut the power to the charge wire when the ignition is off.

[Bill]

Well, let's start with the basics here, boys - and if someone already said it and I missed it, I apologize.

Problem: towing with an Odyssey, the battery won't charge while driving. First question: Is the Odyssey even trying to charge the battery? It may not be. Several owners with different tow vehicles have found that there is a simple problem in the tow vehicle. Either the trailer charge line isn't even connected to the tow vehicle's electrical system, or the charge line fuse in the tow vehicle is missing. This situation has been addressed in several threads over the years, but start with this one.
http://www.trailmanorowners.com/foru...ead.php?t=7681
Unplug the trailer and check the 7-pin connector on the back of the tow vehicle, to make sure the charge line is energized. As noted in that thread, the connector is diagrammed at http://tmphotos.org/modules/xoopsgal...?g2_itemId=187.

And zemmels also posted

My question is, can't my Odyssey Van recharge the TM battery using it's alternator? I'm told I don't have the connection to make this happen, and it would be about $150 to install it.

I'm not sure what you mean when you say you don't have the connection. Do you have a permanently-mounted seven-pin connector on the back of the Odyssey? If so, and with due respect to Billy's experience, I can't imagine that you don't have a charge line, so I would hold off installing another one. And if you don't have a seven-pin connector, and are working with some kind of 4-pin-to-7-pin adapter - well, you have a catastrophe waiting to happen, because your trailer brakes won't operate while driving. Your brake controller should give an error message in this case.

As has been noted, there may be an issue with the refrigerator, running on 12VDC while towing, may suck more power than the Odyssey can supply. But that usually results in a totally dead battery after several hours of towing, and a totally dead battery doesn't sound like what you are experiencing. Do you tow with the refrigerator set for 12VDC?

Fill us in a bit more.

Bill