5th wheel electrical question

Thread view:

Enable EMail Alerts

Start New Thread

Thread rating:

Ivan Vegvary - 18 Mar 2008 20:36 GMT

5th wheel 1994 Terry, 27 foot.

I'm new to this. Have the owner's manual but it is very light on electrical
information. Got back from a trip, left the 5th wheel fully hooked up to my
truck and find my truck battery dead after 4 days of sitting in the
driveway.

Should these rigs not have a diode to prevent tow vehicle current from being
used for things other than taillights, turn signals and electric brakes?

Any after market gadgets available to help in this regard?

Do you guys unhook right after getting home with your rig? I guess it would
be easy to just unplug the truck from the 5th even though I don't feel like
unhitching.

BTW, I've had this truck (2001 Silverado) for 5 years now, all with the
original (to me) battery. I'm considering buying a new truck battery and
carrying the old one in the bad for emergencies. Of course it would need to
be continuously charged.

Any strategies or suggestions to help with the above would be greatly
appreciated.

Ivan Vegvary

Reply to this Message

Frank Tabor - 18 Mar 2008 22:20 GMT

>5th wheel 1994 Terry, 27 foot.
>
[quoted text clipped - 21 lines]
>
>Ivan Vegvary

Any protection relay would be on the tow vehicle. If you have the OEM
Tow Package on your vehicle, it should have a relay to prevent this.
If your wiring package was added aftermarket, then you probably don't
have it. You should see a RV dealer you have confidence in to add
this for you. It only needs to be on the Hot Wire feeding the
trailer.

Signature

Frank Tabor

Reply to this Message

Jim Redelfs - 19 Mar 2008 05:01 GMT

> I'm considering buying a new truck battery and carrying
> the old one in the bad for emergencies. Of course it
> would need to be continuously charged.
>
> Any strategies or suggestions to help with the above would be greatly
> appreciated.

While such an arrangement is appealing at first thought, proper
implementation would be a real challenge: Proper tie-down of the
battery and adequate charging connections. Even so, it would probably
wind up as mostly a "kludge".

If you're really set on a second battery, do the classy thing: Have it
installed in the official, proper place: Under the hood. A second
battery option was available for your pickup. This was most often used
(or even required) with the diesel option but, even with the gas engine,
was (still is?) available as an option. I recall it was part of the
snow plow prep option. Good luck.

Signature

:)
JR

Reply to this Message

Rate this thread: