TV Charge Line not Connected to AS.

[GCinSC2]

I was checking the 7 way trailer plug for 12V and did not find it on the Pos terminal as in the wiring diagram. I chased the 7 Way cord into the trailer and finally found the 12 Pos black charge line. It came in and was spliced to another black line that went back down and out. I followed it and it lead to the brake actuator cable bundle. Followed it and found an inline fuse holder w/no fuse and not connected to anything. I replaced the actuator a few months back, cable wasn't connected then, I left it as is. Actuator VERY carefully wired, works just fine as far as I can tell.

Q. Any one have a possible reason for the charge line not to be connected? Possibly PO did it for cause, or unknown.

Thanks for your .02$.

Gary

[Ag&Au]

Originally Posted by GCinSC2

I was checking the 7 way trailer plug for 12V and did not find it on the Pos terminal as in the wiring diagram. I chased the 7 Way cord into the trailer and finally found the 12 Pos black charge line. It came in and was spliced to another black line that went back down and out. I followed it and it lead to the brake actuator cable bundle. Followed it and found an inline fuse holder w/no fuse and not connected to anything. I replaced the actuator a few months back, cable wasn't connected then, I left it as is. Actuator VERY carefully wired, works just fine as far as I can tell.

Q. Any one have a possible reason for the charge line not to be connected? Possibly PO did it for cause, or unknown.

Thanks for your .02$.

Gary

My feeling is that someone has changed something in the wiring. Our trailers should be similar. In our trailer, the umbilical is terminated under the couch at a terminal block with each wire having its own terminal. The charge line is then routed to a 30 amp circuit breaker, the other side of which goes to a common battery bus.

Ken

[Jammer]

My trailer matches Ken's.

I would guess that the PO used it for some other circuit. Some people don't believe in charge lines. Maybe docking lights or something, who knows.

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Hi, I believe that the charge line has to be used for the disk brake actuator too.

[Frank's Trailer Works]

have you ever looked at the size of said charge wire? My one ton HD Dodge with tow package has a #16 wire. How much load could that possibly send back to the trailer?

[GCinSC2]

I'll find my actuator rewiring picture and check, but I went over that electrical diagram with a fine tooth comb.

So if my outings so far go from a site with a shoreline to another shoreline site and my batteries are charged then I'm not gaining anything by connecting the charge line. And by leaving it disconnected I do not have any risk to the TV charging system coming from any AS circuit, I know it has a circuit breaker and all, but so far I'm not gaining anything vs. my current typical useage.

I just might tape it up and tag it, unused TV charge line.

Thanks,

Gary

[kmpro]

I found out several years back that most dealers wired the charge line with 16 ga. wire and a 30 amp fuse as well as the Brake controller wiring. I figured like 62 Airstream, How much current would that carry? I rewired my charge line with 10 ga. wire and a 40 Amp automatic circuit breaker to put more charge in my trailer battery. I also wired the Brake controller with a 14 ga. wire and a 30 amp breaker. From that time on, I never had a battery in the trailer that did not get plenty of charge. Never had the trailer brakes go out again due to a blown fuse. Sadly, most dealers never use an RV of any kind so they put on what is fast, cheap, and easy and we get stuck with it as the end user. Seems almost criminal does'nt it? Hmmm.

[GCinSC2]

To All,

I'm not done with this topic yet, I will review my actuator wiring diagram and I did consider the idea that w/o the charge line, I'm relying on my AS batteries to stop the trailer, might run for many days of driving, but sounds like investigating a suitable charge line protected with a circuit breaker is in order, and unlesss I'm way off, I need to review the ground line to make sure it can compliment the heavy 12V + cable.

I have the old ActiBrake pigtail, I'll go over it for cut stubs that would originally confirm connected on not, but IIRC, this charge line was not connected, period.

Thanks,

[Jammer]

I have just wired a dedicated charge line on my Suburban, 8 gauge, both wires go straight from the alternator to the 6 way except for a brief stop at a circuit breaker on the firewall.

I believe that some )all?) of the hydraulic actuators draw power from the battery even when not in breakaway.

[GCinSC2]

Originally Posted by ROBERTSUNRUS

Hi, I believe that the charge line has to be used for the disk brake actuator too.

Robert,

I think you win for closest to the pin on describing what to do with this wire. I found the Carslile wiring diagram and sure enough, it has a 12V+ line from the TV directly connected into the 12V+ black actuator primary feed wire. I was not able to copy the page here tonight, sorry.

This could possibly be my error at hookup of the new actuator. Might also be a case of conflicting info, the AS owners ('07 page G6) manual shows this as a direct connection on a breaker in the distribution panel area.

Thanks Robert.

I'll start the connection process and see what I can do to make it right.