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Car Forum / Driving, Maintenance, Tuning / RVs / June 2005Wiring on 2003 Coleman Mesa
Yes, another trailer wiring question. My Silverado has the factory trailer package which I "assumed" would allow me to charge my camper battery and run the 12V refrigerator while I was towing. Never thought twice about it, but after a couple long trips now I ended up with a nearly dead camper battery by the time we reached our destination. This was a bit of an issue last week when the 4 day trip was suppose to be dry camping. Never noticed the battery condition in the past as we typically have power at the campgrounds we stay at. The charging line (or constant hot line) from the truck is indeed putting out power while the truck is running. Already checked that. I'm guessing now that my 2003 Mesa isn't actually wired to charge the battery and run the refrigerator off the tow vehicle (while driving). Checked the camper manual but it didn't exactly give me the info I was looking for. Before I start probing around with a volt meter, can someone tell me if the Mesa is set up to charge off the tow vehicle? Thanks, Wally Korzenieski '01 Silverado X-cab '03 Coleman Mesa I suspect the problem is not the Mesa, but the capacity of the wire from the truck power source (i.e., alternator) to the trailer plug. Gauge and length will limit the capacity to below that required to supply the refrigerator. As a result, the refrigerator draws the additional required amps from the trailer battery. It doesn't take long to drain the trailer battery, at the rate the refrigerator consumes it. Search Google groups for this group and relevant keywords to find lots of discussion on the topic.  SignatureChris Cowles Gainesville, FL '00 Coleman Mesa/'99 Chevy Astro > Yes, another trailer wiring question. My Silverado has the factory trailer > package which I "assumed" would allow me to charge my camper battery and [quoted text clipped - 21 lines] > '01 Silverado X-cab > '03 Coleman Mesa > I'm guessing now that my 2003 Mesa isn't actually wired to charge the > battery and run the refrigerator off the tow vehicle (while driving). > Checked the camper manual but it didn't exactly give me the info I was > looking for. I'm strongly inclined to agree with Chris; it probably is wired correctly, but not with a heavy enough wire for the loads involved. If you want your tow vehicle to charge the battery while towing, best turn off the fridge or (don't tell anyone, including me, that I said this) tow with the fridge on propane. Austin (and gas up before lighting the fridge) >Yes, another trailer wiring question. My Silverado has the factory trailer >package which I "assumed" would allow me to charge my camper battery and run [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] > >Thanks, Easy way to check what is going on is to plug your trailer into your tow vehicle. Check the voltage on the trailer battery and write it down. Now start the engine. Check the voltage on the trailer battery again it should be above the first reading you took. To charge the battery even slowly it needs to be 13.2 Volts or higher. The higher the better. The lower it is the less charge it's getting. Now turn on the fridge using 12V power and check your battery again. If it dropped below 12.7 volts it isn't getting charged. The fridge is pulling more current then your tow vehicle is supplying to the battery. This is more then likely what is happening. Problem can be to light a gauge wiring from the front of the tow vehicle to the tow vehicle plug and/or to light a wire from the trailer plug to the trailer battery. You should also make sure the ground wire in the tow vehicle plug is connected to the ground wire in the plug on the trailer and from the plug on the trailer it goes to a good ground or to the negative of the trailer battery. To the negative side of the battery is best as it will supply a more direct path for charging the battery from the tow vehicle. Take care and Happy Campin... RichA "We Get Too Soon Olde and Too Late Smart" what if..... battery is not hooked up. will the fridge still run during towing on 12v? > Yes, another trailer wiring question. My Silverado has the factory trailer > package which I "assumed" would allow me to charge my camper battery and [quoted text clipped - 21 lines] > '01 Silverado X-cab > '03 Coleman Mesa then you're not charging the battery... and at the same time.. not draining it! Could it be that the converter is made to charge from 120V only, and that the 12V from the truck as 0 effect on charging a battery??? Mel John Malofy a écrit: > what if..... battery is not hooked up. will the fridge still run during > towing on 12v? [quoted text clipped - 24 lines] >>'01 Silverado X-cab >>'03 Coleman Mesa Inadequately, I think. And what happens if your trailer becomes detached and the deadman brake switch activates? No battery to activate the brakes to stop the 3500 pound missile. > what if..... battery is not hooked up. will the fridge still run during > towing on 12v? >what if..... battery is not hooked up. will the fridge still run during >towing on 12v? Hi, Probably not. The 12V fridge gets it's power from the battery when not connected to shore power, through the circuit breaker/fuse panel. With the battery disconnected there is no way for power to get to the fridge from the tow vehicle. That is assuming the charge wire from the truck goes to the battery. If it goes directly to the converter circuit breaker/fuse panel then the fridge would run but you would be putting a pretty good load on the alternator. Take care and Happy Campin... RichA "We Get Too Soon Olde and Too Late Smart" >>what if..... battery is not hooked up. will the fridge still run during >>towing on 12v? It will run, but for other reasons (deadman switch mentioned in another reply) you shouldn't do it. >Hi, > Probably not. The 12V fridge gets it's power from the battery when [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] >circuit breaker/fuse panel then the fridge would run but you would be >putting a pretty good load on the alternator. In my Magnetek converter the tow vehicle +12 just goes in parallel with the battery. So the fridge would run just fine if the PUP battery is disconnected. The current draw of the fridge might drop the available voltage at the fridge to 10-11V, but that just means the heater in the fridge would run longer before the thermostat was satisfied and turned it off. That also means if you leave the TV plugged in at the campsite, and you have AC power, the converter will try to recharge the TV battery if it needs it! Not normally a problem, and if you ever run down the TV battery for any other reason, and don't have your jumper cablesm the PUP can give you an emergency recharge (admittedly slowly, like an hour to get enough charge to restart the TV). The normal evaporative fridge draws only 10-12 amps of +12, so it's not a big alternator drain on the typical 80-125 A alternators out there. SignatureBill "the Roadie" Carton |
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