Can Pro Power charge camping trailer while towing?

[kavm]

I am sorry if this is a dumb question, but we plan to tow a camping trailer with our F150 PB with 7.2kW generator. Can it charge the camper batteries while we are driving? Or, does it need to be stationary?

I would appreciate any clarifications, pluses and minuses. Thank you!

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[daemonic3]

Do you mean as opposed to the charge line on the 7 pin connector? I think my charge line goes to about 13.4V and raises my trailer battery into the "good" range (I think near 12.7V) within minutes of running the truck engine. So a trip charges the battery regardless.

When you plug into shore power, I think the battery charges at nearly 14V, which is obviously faster, and runs your 12V circuitry at like >13V if not 14V.

So IMO, it would be overkill to plug the trailer into the 7.2kW simply to charge it versus the 7-pin connector. I would only plug in while driving if you need to cool fridges or run A/C.

 

[kavm]

Thank you for clarifying. I did not know that the 7 pin connector also charges the batteries - albeit at a reduced rate....

 

[HandyMan]

Double check that before relying on it. I cant remember the specifics, but I know some people have had to make minor modifications to get their camper batteries to charge on the 7 pin.

either way, using the 7 pin is definitely better than shore power while driving. You'd have to find a way to secure the shore power cable along the frame of the trailer and up to the plug in the bed, and keep it from vibrating out while driving. Sounds like more trouble than its worth

 

[kavm]

Thank you! I will google that and see where I get.

 

[satexas]

I can run my pro power while driving my powerboost.

 

[kavm]

Thank you very much! That is very good to know. I am not sure if our camper's power chord will be located so that it can charged securely, but it'd be great to have that option.

 

[Mrtosh]

From what I've read in the manual you can use the generator while moving but it's governed to 4300 watts.

 

[TKOden]

I was looking into this as well and found out that there are issues with the trailer being plugged into the 7 pin connector which charges the 12v RV battery and also being plugged into shore power (or the truck) which powers the converter to charge the battery. It will blow fuses because power going into the batteries is coming from both the truck and the converter in the trailer. My main purpose was to be able to use 120v AC to keep the fridge cold on long drives. One idea that was offered up was to run a dedicated 15A cord from the truck to the fridge but I would have to switch between trailer 120v and truck 120v to prevent back feeding the converter. I haven't really put that much though into it yet as the f150 is my work truck and I will only be towing the trailer with the truck when I take the trailer during long installs. The rest of the time my expedition will be towing it.

 

[daemonic3]

I was looking into this as well and found out that there are issues with the trailer being plugged into the 7 pin connector which charges the 12v RV battery and also being plugged into shore power (or the truck) which powers the converter to charge the battery. It will blow fuses because power going into the batteries is coming from both the truck and the converter in the trailer. My main purpose was to be able to use 120v AC to keep the fridge cold on long drives. One idea that was offered up was to run a dedicated 15A cord from the truck to the fridge but I would have to switch between trailer 120v and truck 120v to prevent back feeding the converter. I haven't really put that much though into it yet as the f150 is my work truck and I will only be towing the trailer with the truck when I take the trailer during long installs. The rest of the time my expedition will be towing it.

That is an excellent point! The trailer SHOULD have a full relay built in such that if plugged into shore power, it charges the trailer battery off the 120V-AC => 13.4V-DC converter, and physically isolate the trailer 7-pin battery line from the truck. I do this all the time in my street, I leave the trailer hitched and plugged to the truck 7-pin, and I plug 120V AC in to my house to pre-cool the fridges overnight.

Perhaps older trailers do not have the proper isolation between the trailer's converter and 7-pin charge line, which would likely blow a fuse?

 

[Its Not Me]

I just picked up the wife's new horse trailer. It has a RV battery to power the lights and other nifty things.

The trailer dude stuck his tester into the 7 pin on my truck, it didn't indicate any power was flowing from the 12v line to charge the battery. (All the other connections were indicating correctly, brake, tail, etc.)

Has anyone found any on screen indications this needs to be turned on? I have spent over an hour going through all the menus to set up the truck the way I want it and haven't seen any like this.

Is the computer checking to make sure there is really a trailer hooked up before allowing power on that pin?

 

[daemonic3]

I just picked up the wife's new horse trailer. It has a RV battery to power the lights and other nifty things.

The trailer dude stuck his tester into the 7 pin on my truck, it didn't indicate any power was flowing from the 12v line to charge the battery. (All the other connections were indicating correctly, brake, tail, etc.)

Has anyone found any on screen indications this needs to be turned on? I have spent over an hour going through all the menus to set up the truck the way I want it and haven't seen any like this.

Is the computer checking to make sure there is really a trailer hooked up before allowing power on that pin?

One thing I ALWAYS do when I connect my trailer is test the pinch brakes to make sure that the gain scale shows green. I have had multiple occasions where for SOME reason that particular pin on my connection give me problems! Usually I go out and reseat the connector and test brakes again and its all good. So you *might* have a similar issue

Another thing to check is if that particular pin reads battery voltage (usually around 12.4-12.7V if truck is off or 13V if truck is on).

I also carry electric contact cleaner in my trailer and spray my contacts and use wooden stick q-tips to clean my contacts every few months. It is probably overkill for most people but I absolutely do not ever want my trailer brakes to fail and end up burning out my truck brakes on a downgrade!

 

[kavm]

@daemonic3 - We are buying our first truck and camper. So, I copied your response with the helpful picture in my knowledge base for good practices. I do have a follow up, which might be dumb but we do not have either the truck or the trailer as yet -

Whey you say that you test the pinch brakes - Is that by having a second person check something at the tires, or by somehow looking at the connection? I would appreciate if you could elaborate.

Thank you very much and please excuse the ignorance!

 

[daemonic3]

@daemonic3 - We are buying our first truck and camper. So, I copied your response with the helpful picture in my knowledge base for good practices. I do have a follow up, which might be dumb but we do not have either the truck or the trailer as yet -

Whey you say that you test the pinch brakes - Is that by having a second person check something at the tires, or by somehow looking at the connection? I would appreciate if you could elaborate.

Thank you very much and please excuse the ignorance!

Oh! I can elaborate. In any Ford when you squeeze the manual brake trigger, you will hear the infamous (many say it is annoying) Ford chime, and if you have it on the "trailer" screen, you will see the gain meter shoot up. If, for whatever reason my contacts are not making contact, when I squeeze the trigger, it will say "no trailer connected". I've just mentally added that check to my checklist ever since I found that it is re-occurring, but probably some issue in my connection unique to me. I also check it whenever I get the chance while stopped just out of paranoia.

You will get to know the trigger when setting the gain for your trailer. There is an easy +/- button to modify gain, and you can also set in the menus "heavy" or "light" depending on how quickly you want to ramp the gain.

Very fun to see a noob learning and getting ready before even owning the trailer. I'm lucky to have a father in law that passed along lots of tips and his welding skills for some mods.

 

[kavm]

Thank you so much, @daemonic3 ! Really appreciate it. This gets me off to a good start.

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