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Old 09-21-2019, 10:25 AM   #1
1 Rivet Member
 
1988 32' Excella
Vestal , New York
Join Date: Nov 2014
Posts: 12
Rewiring tow vehicle to better match the trailer

I have a 1988 Excella 1000 and have been towing it for years using an adapter which gave me brake, turn signal lights, running lights and electric brakes. I finally decided to rewire the tow vehicle properly and that raised a few questions. First, circuit 8 says refrigerator switch and I don't know what that means. Does it take its own 12 volt supply and run the refrigerator while towing? Also circuit 9 says Tire - Tele. What does it do? and again does it get its own 12 volt supply? Finally, we don't boondock, but I noticed in my reading that the emergency brake is energized by the trailer batteries. Do I need two batteries, or would a ordinary car battery do the job. I have bought several deep cycle batteries over the years and watched them go bad.
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Old 09-21-2019, 11:55 AM   #2
Rivet Master
 
1988 25' Excella
1987 32' Excella
Knoxville , Tennessee
Join Date: Oct 2010
Posts: 5,103
Blog Entries: 1
I have 2 of the 1988 Excellas and I redid the wiring on them to match the TV. I think the wire to the fridge cut the fridge off and on the TV engine started and stopped. So the fridge would stop when you were at the gas pump, for instance. Not sure what the tire tele wire did. I disconnected both of them. Do you really want to mess up the wiring on your TV to match an obsolete system with 2 wires that are not needed anyway? I put a modern 7 pin connector on the trailer.

For the trailer braking, I think a deep cycle battery would do better and last longer. Or you could put in a fresh battery each time you want to pull the trailer. Basically the battery just has to stop the trailer once if it breaks loose from the TV.

If your trailer has the original power converter still that is the trouble with the trailer battery. that converter will fry any battery. I replaced mine with a 4 stage converter. A really good upgrade for not much money or effort. No, you do not need 2 batteries. One will do. I like having a battery in the trailer to smooth out the DC from the converter.
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Old 09-21-2019, 11:57 AM   #3
Half a Rivet Short
 
2017 30' Classic
2022 Interstate 24X
Carlisle , Pennsylvania
Join Date: May 2017
Posts: 15,684
Hi

Regardless of what else you do, you need some sort of 12V battery on the trailer to run the breakaway setup. Normal current drain and run time get you into something over about 40AH for that battery.

Proper care and feeding is important for any battery, regardless of what type it is. That's just the way it works. With reasonable attention, a lead acid battery will be > 80% capacity after 5 years of use. On a 1988 trailer, even at a 5 year life, yes that's a lot of batteries over the years. Hopefully you also bought tires and brakes a few times over that period as we'll

=======

On a modern trailer, the "charge wire" on the 7 pin connector goes directly to the battery through a fuse or breaker. All the "stuff" in the trailer then is switched to battery (or not) depending on how you want to roll. You can read a lot of threads here on the forum about how much or how little good that seems to do ....

Bob
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