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gettysburg · 09-21-2010, 06:19 PM

I had my truck and tradewind hooked up and ready to go camping. Went to truck to start and everything was dead. (accidently left a light on)Anyway I plugged my airstream up and it somehow cooked my battery in my truck. Battery was very hot to the touch. Battery in trailer is gel type and was not hot but fully charged. Any ideas why the battery in my truck got cooked?

JStanley · 09-21-2010, 06:40 PM

I’ve had a similar problem. If I connect my TT to my TV in the evening for an early morning departure the TV battery is dead and it needs a jump to start.

This happened even went it’s parked in front of my house and I’m not using it overnight. The only things that I have powered up are the frig and the Smoke/CO2 detectors. But something else is draining the TV battery.

Now I never connect the two until I’m ready to move.

gettysburg · 09-21-2010, 06:47 PM

I'm sure I've had my trailer and truck hooked up before like this and never had any problems, but I did turn on the fridge so it would get cold. The fridge never did get cold. Any thoughts? Again the battery in the truck over heated and the fridge never did get cold. Thanks

Mexray · 09-21-2010, 07:46 PM

Some notes come to mind...

1. All modern TV's that I've seen that have a trailer towing harness' equipped from the factory, use a relay (and fuse) in the POS trailer charging lead that ONLY allows a connection when the TV's ignition switch is ON...when the TV's engine is OFF, it's impossible to discharge the TV battery through this lead!

2. It's possible that if you have an aftermarket or repair shop installed towing harness - this RELAY/Ignition could have not been installed, IE they hooked the trailer charging lead directly to the battery POS...NOT a good idea!

3. When your 7-way trailer cord is hooked to the TV, the trailer brake controller is now hooked into the circuit, and any irregularities in that device could cause discharging of the TV's battery...Also, if there is any feed through to the brake circuit in the trailer itself, via a brake controller defect or adjustment, you may indeed discharge the TV battery...

4. You mentioned the refrigerator operation....if you have a 3-way refer and you're trying to run it powered by 12 volt DC, you'll run down your batteries in short order! the 12 VDC operation is only for operation when running down the road with the TV's alternator providing the necessary current to run the high current heating element in the refer...

5. If you only have a 2-way refer (propane/110VAC), and it won't get 'cold' when plugged into AC shore power or running on Propane - you've probably got problems with the refer's cooling unit, and will need replacement or an exchange cooling unit installed...

6. You mentioned hooking the trailer to the RV 'cooked' the TV battery??? Again, you've got some big TV tow harness wiring problems! I can't imagine any way the TV battery would become 'hot' by hooking up the 7-way trailer cord...
a. IF you have a non-relay connection in the TV charging lead (as explained above), AND you're hooked up to AC shore power, the converter/charger will indeed be charging both the trailer and TV batteries - over a long period of time this 'could' overcharge all the batteries...
b. I'd suspect the brake controller before the charging lead, which could discharge the TV battery, but not necessarily cause the battery to be 'HOT', unless there was a really LARGE amperage drain...having the brakes full-on would mean a really high amp load on the TV battery!

I leave my trailer cord hooked up for days, sometimes, and never have had the TV battery become discharged...check out all these circuits, one at a time till you find the problem...

Ray