breakaway charger

cruisaderhilton · Senior Member

breakaway charger

deverall11 · Guru

How old is your van? Some vans are wired so that when you are hooked up to 240v and you have the battery charger on, breakaway battery will charge as well. However most vans are wired up so that the breakaway battery only charges when you are hitched. Obviously yet again another example of lack of foresight on behalf of the van manufacturers.
Larry

cruisaderhilton · Senior Member

Thanks deverall . Im learning by the minute here ,from what I can make out my system gets charged from tow vehicle as I am moving along .I have not used the van for a couple of months ,but there still must some charge left in the controller for it to tell me that it needs to be recharged,How long do the batteries last in these things as I will not be on the road with the van for another month yet

Cupie · Guru

My old Jayco is wired the same as yours , ie. only charges from the vehicle.

My first battery was replaced after 10 years but should have been replaced much earlier ... perhaps after 5 or 6 years.

They are relatively cheap so around 5 yrs might be the go.

As I only use my van every 3 months or so, I check it before every trip & charge it if the red light comes on. I use a stand alone smart charger I have thought of using a solar powered smart charger permanently hooked up when not on the road.

-- Edited by Cupie on Monday 2nd of November 2015 02:49:10 PM

patrol03 · Senior Member

Hello CH, If you have a charger with you,take the battery out and give it a few hours on the charger. You may need to check the plug on your truck.It should be a black wire to terminal 2.Start the engine and test for power with your multimeter or test lamp. If your battery will not come up with a charge take a trip to Jaycar and replace it.Should be around $22 or so. Hope this helps.

migra · Senior Member

The manufacturer states the breakaway battery should be replaced every 2 years regardless of its test condition.

They advise to use a battery charger of 4 amps maximum to the red and black terminals on the front of the breaksafe box. If the charger is working the orange light should illuminate.

A smart charger with a float stage will not work when connected to the breaksafe charge terminals as these chargers require direct connection to the battery terminals of the battery, so you have to remove the battery from the box.

The charging system in the breaksafe unit is a trickle charge circuit only and it may take several hours for the battery to be fully recharged.

-- Edited by migra on Monday 2nd of November 2015 03:43:07 PM

Cupie · Guru

migra wrote:
The manufacturer states the breakaway battery should be replaced every 2 years regardless of its test condition.
They advise to use a battery charger of 4 amps maximum to the red and black terminals on the front of the breaksafe box. If the charger is working the orange light should illuminate.
A smart charger with a float stage will not work when connected to the breaksafe charge terminals as these chargers require direct connection to the battery terminals of the battery, so you have to remove the battery from the box.
The charging system in the breaksafe unit is a trickle charge circuit only and it may take several hours for the battery to be fully recharged.

-- Edited by migra on Monday 2nd of November 2015 03:43:07 PM

I always take my battery out to charge it.

Phil C · Guru

I have a jayco as well, the breakaway battery was not charged from the 240 volt power supply so I got a small ctek charger and hooked directly to the terminals, seeing I need to replace every two years I'd better open my wallet.

I'm guessing it's too important to be stingy Cheers

The Doo crew · Senior Member

Got a few trailers with "breakaway" batterys, I just hooked the charge circuit to the park lights wire (with a diode) so everytime you hook up just turn on the park lights when driving and it charges, no special plugs needed & several of our cars lights turn on with the ignition so happens by default.

ST391GQ · Senior Member

Breaksafe actually market a 240 to 12 volt charger(a bit like a drill charger)..and it can be permanently installed and left connected continuously I leave mine in the powerpoint under the bed on all the time, and as soon as power is connected to van ..it starts charging.

Cheers Keith