TOAD Battery Charging Options Minnie Winnie Class C

[SanDogDewey]

I’m running a Demco Duo Stay n Play braking system and I’m going to run 12V from the MH to keep the TOAD’s battery charged. I see 3 options:

1. Wire the TOAD battery straight to the 12V on the 6 pin connector.
2. Use a resettable circuit breaker to limit the amperage to 15 amps.

https://www.etrailer.com/Accessories...RM-156-25.html

https://www.amazon.com/GLOSO-Circuit...st_sto_dp&th=1

3. Install an expensive RVI Battery Charging System.

https://rvibrake.com/products/towed-...y-charger-plus

I think the RVI is overkill, but would appreciate the pros and cons of each choice. I see where some have also employed diodes, but the TOAD should always be drawing power while towing and I’ll disconnect the 7 to 6 pin cable when we’re stopped.

[Morich]

What parts of the toad will be working off the toad battery? Do you intent to wire the lights, signals, etc to work off the 7 pin? About the only way to let you control them from the front seat!
I think of that as the "normal" wiring and leaves very little on the toad battery, except some electronic transmission, etc. but those get into a pain to wire anyway.

If that is the case, the rest seems to be such a low draw on the toad battery that it is almost non-factor as the difference in the RV battery and the toad battery is so little.
current will be the difference between the two divided by the resistance of the tether and connections so way less that an amp if the other parts of the car are not huge?
Even a 4 Volt difference and 10 ohms of a really good tether get way low current over the ther wires! Something like .4 amp?

[l1v3fr33ord1]

SanDogDewey-

In most all cases, a charge line connecting the two batteries is sufficient. Make sure there is a fuse in each end, close to the battery, for safety. A 15A fuse is common. You could use a manual-reset circuit breaker, but it's no gain over a fuse. Avoid a self-resetting circuit breaker; they can cause a fire by shorting out in a certain way.

For minimum voltage loss, the charge line and ground wire should be 10 AWG from end-to-end. Many are 12 AWG, which is adequate. Be careful of umbilical cables that use 14 or 16 AWG for the charge line and/or ground.

I installed a Stay-in-Play Duo in my Honda Fit and had no problem keeping its puny battery charged with a charge line. For my second coach I had to install a diode in the line (in actuality an LSL Products Toad Charge, no longer sold, did the diode duty).

I own a 2003 Honda Element. I would have set it up for towing, but is was a couple hundred pounds too heavy for my Class C- hence the Fit. Tell me something: I thought the last model year for the Element was 2011- but yours is a 2012?

You should check the coach 7-pin connector. I expect the charge line will be ignition-switched. This is common. If that's the case you don't need to disconnect the umbilical when stopped. As long as the coach's engine is off, no current will flow between the coach and toad batteries. When I stopped for the night, I'd disarm the Duo, but that was so I could unhook in a hurry, if need be, and not worry about driving around with the Duo armed.

[SanDogDewey]

Thanks Mark! The Element is a 2011…typo on me. The umbilical is a Roadmaster and they don’t specify the gauge. I only see a couple of umbilicals on etrailer that run 14 ga for power and ground. I think I read somewhere that the Duo pulls about 7 amps when it’s running. I’ll fuse the line to the battery.