battery isolator voids warranty?

[WMcGuire]

After returning from a couple weeks in the south-west sun, operating on half charged trailer batteries I decided to install a isolator or a solenoid relay on my truck to keep the batteries charged, anyway, to make a short story longer, I went to Camping World to see what I could do to fix the problem, so not finding a isolator there that was for my particular application I queried the in-house battery expert, according to him the Dodge already had a electronic relay with a charging line already installed as part of the tow package and installing anything in the electrical circuits would void my warranty, therefore they didnt carry anything for my particular truck, anyone know if that is true??

 

[Dieselnerd]

My truck (with the factory trailer package) keeps both my fifth wheel and my slide in camper batteries charged while traveling. I know they have a charge line but I never looked up the wiring diagram to see if they had a relay that disconnected the charge line when the engine is not running. I also never saw anything in the owners manual about it. When I'm parked without electrical hookups I normally pull the trailer or camper plug to keep from discharging my truck batteries. Be nice if I didn't have to. I know my 2nd gen with the trailer package was always connected, I assumed the 3rd gen is the same. Anyone know for sure?

 

[Bob4x4]

The 06 has electronic protection instead of fuses for many circuits... ... They are in the tipm,I am sure camping world has already fried some and is trying to stay out of trouble.



Bob

 

[CPG]

There are some times when newer is not better. On my old "93" CTD the Alpenlite trailer people installed an isolater when the trailer was purchased. No problem experienced in 12 years. I also pull the trailer cord when camped. I am not aware of this truck being equipped with an automatic battery disconnect. Perhaps an electrical guru out there can enlighten us on this.



Chuck

 

[WMcGuire]

I did a little checking and it appears there is a 'hot circuit' at the trailer connection, it stays energized all of the time - running or not, and is likely trailer battery charge line, there is a 20 amp 'trailer battery' fuse in the fuse box (removing the fuse disconnects the circuit) and it appears that the wiring to the trailer plug may be about 14 gauge (is that adaquate for a charging line??), I'm curious as to if there is anything to prevent the truck's electrical load from pulling power from the trailer batteries??

 

[jelag]

I've noticed a couple of things... . On a hot day, the voltage at the batteries is down and as the day gets cooler or on a cool day the battery voltage goes up.....



I'm guessing that the charging voltage available is changed based on the temperature so that battery boiling is prevented... .



I own several of these trucks and have no problems keeping trailer batteries charged... go back to the plug on the back of the truck and measure the voltage... you should see close to 15 + volts at the plug... Now plug in your trailer and let it charge for a bit and measure the voltage at the trailer batteries... if its under 14. 7 volts the batteries will never come up to charge... .



If you have one bad cell in one of your trailer batteries you'll never get the charging system on the truck to charge these batteries... . but a battery charger will charge them up... the reason is that the battery charger will overcome the bad cell and high resisitance and charge the batteries...



Hope this has been of some help...

 

[ModifiedDiesel]

If it is just a 20amp circuit I can explain how to hook up a relay that will kill power to the charging circuit when the key is off, if you want to do it yourself. Personally I can't imagine a Dealer having a problem with adding this type of relay unless they are trying to find a reason to screw with you.

 

[DBond]

After returning from a couple weeks in the south-west sun, operating on half charged trailer batteries I decided to install a isolator or a solenoid relay on my truck to keep the batteries charged, anyway, to make a short story longer, I went to Camping World to see what I could do to fix the problem, so not finding a isolator there that was for my particular application I queried the in-house battery expert, according to him the Dodge already had a electronic relay with a charging line already installed as part of the tow package and installing anything in the electrical circuits would void my warranty, therefore they didnt carry anything for my particular truck, anyone know if that is true??

The 3rd gen OEM 7pin has an always on B+, on a 14 AWG wire

there a couple approachs to switching the power line;

A diode isolator, this goes between your alternator and truck battery, and I believe won't work on some voltage regulator methods, I don't know if Dodge is one of those.

The other way is to some kind of switch to a fused power line going to the connector. It can be a relay or a fancy voltage sensing device like this.

http://www.hellroaring.com/bic75150.php

 

[TowPro]

Before you cut your trailer tow wiring harness to add something, Reese makes an adaptor that has the same connectors on it that our factory harness has. You unplug the factory connector on the back of the factory 7 pin, plug this harness onto the 7 pin then plug the factory harness into this reese harness.



It is a "T" that outputs only a 4 wire tow harness, but it still allows all 7 wires to pass through it.



In 06 Dodge dropped the fuses from the LT and RT circiuts (same wires used as brake lights in the trailer wire harness) We have heard of reports of people connecting to a trailer with a short in it, and ending up with no turn signals on the truck. Results is a fried PDC which is around $300 I think. Of course because you did this by connecting to a trailer with a short in it, Warrantee will not cover it.



Using this reese adaptor, I spliced in my 7 pin connector that is mounted in the bed for my 5th wheel. I also added 2 water proof fuse holders to this reese adaptor into the LT and RT wires. The fuses are in line using either the factory 7 pin or the 7 pin in my bed. For protection when towing a 4 wire trailer I will just use the 7-4 pin adaptor I kept out of my 2002.

 

[klenger]

Here's some info from my website on the Reese adapter that TowPro mentioned.



http://www.klenger.net/dodge/7-pin-connector-installation/index.html



It looks like some of the links are broken on the pictures page, but if click where the picture should be, it should bring up a high res image. I'll try to fix the links in the next day or so.



I use the "Armstrong" battery isolator on my truck. When I park it, I pull the plug.

 

[steved]

I've noticed a couple of things... . On a hot day, the voltage at the batteries is down and as the day gets cooler or on a cool day the battery voltage goes up.....



I'm guessing that the charging voltage available is changed based on the temperature so that battery boiling is prevented... .

Actually I believe it is a priciple of resistance... colder weather = higher resistance... the alternator needs more umph to drive a charge into the battery.



steved

 

[CPG]

Klenger, that was a good systematic diagram of which should be helpfull to all.

Thank you,



Chuck

 

[DBond]

Actually I believe it is a priciple of resistance... colder weather = higher resistance... the alternator needs more umph to drive a charge into the battery.



steved

Actually resistance goes down with lower temps, but probably not enough in this case that you would notice.

The voltage regulation is temp compensated (there are temp sensors under the batteries) because the battery chemistry requires higher charge voltages at lower temps. The cell voltage also is temp dependent.

 

[steved]

Actually resistance goes down with lower temps, but probably not enough in this case that you would notice.

The voltage regulation is temp compensated (there are temp sensors under the batteries) because the battery chemistry requires higher charge voltages at lower temps. The cell voltage also is temp dependent.

What planet do you live on??



As temps go down, atoms become less active (read electrons), thereby creating more resistance... the higher the temperature, the more active the atoms are and therefore the less resistance...



And your telling me dodge has been adding temperature sensors under the batteries since 1974??? My PW does this same thing... so did my 79RC.



I guess I got to explain every statemenet I make here.



steved

 

[rbattelle]

What planet do you live on??



As temps go down, atoms become less active (read electrons), thereby creating more resistance... the higher the temperature, the more active the atoms are and therefore the less resistance...

Ummmm, Steve? That's not quite true. As temperature drops, resistance also drops. For example, superconductivity is normally achieved only near absolute 0. The resistance of a metal decreases as it's cooled.



-Ryan

 

[K5IP]

Ryan,

You are right on!

Also the required charging temp coeffecient of a lead acid battery is -10Mv/degC.

In other words, the charging voltage is decreased one tenth of a volt for every 10 deg increase in temperature. And yes, temperature compensation is applied by the pcm.

Rog

 

[TowPro]

Looking at Klengers drawing, I spliced all my bed 7 pin into the reese adaptor except ground.



I cut wires at pin 2 and 10 of the reese adaptor at the truck harness side, put inline fuses in, then spliced the bed 7 pin to the bumper plug side of the reese harness. this protected both the factory and bed 7 pins from a short. I ran 10amp fuses in each line. I don't recall which pin numbers the wires I really did fuse were but I figured it out at the time, I trust Klengers diagram.

 

[Trophy1]

Question Won't the second generation trailer adaptor that makes trucks 7 pin into 4 pin flat work like reeses adaptor without all the fuss? I may be wrong for doing this but I have used my 98's adaptor plug to run 4 pin trailers without any problems.

 

[DBond]

What planet do you live on??



As temps go down, atoms become less active (read electrons), thereby creating more resistance... the higher the temperature, the more active the atoms are and therefore the less resistance...



And your telling me dodge has been adding temperature sensors under the batteries since 1974??? My PW does this same thing... so did my 79RC.



I guess I got to explain every statemenet I make here.



steved

I guess I have to explain every statement I make here to steve.



My commnents are in the context of what is being discussed. This is a 3rd gen forum, thus I am talking about temp sensors in 3rd gen CTD. We were talking about wiring in CTD's, so the resistance comments were refering to metalic copper wire in the range of underhood temps.



Yes, the higher the temperature, the more active the electrons, but within a metal lattice these random electron movements interferes with the flow through the conductor, thus higher resistance.

 

[TowPro]

Question Won't the second generation trailer adaptor that makes trucks 7 pin into 4 pin flat work like reeses adaptor without all the fuss? I may be wrong for doing this but I have used my 98's adaptor plug to run 4 pin trailers without any problems.

Trophy1, Yes the old adaptor works. The reason we use the Reese adaptor is because some of us added a 7 pin connector into the bed (5th wheel/goose neck trailers). By using the reese adaptor you don't cut the factory wire harness.



now in 2006 since they dropped the 2 fuses for turn signal wires, I just splice the fuses into the reese adaptor, again to prevent cutting the factory wire harness.



On my 06, the factory 4 pin connector is wired in before the reese adaptor so its not protected by my fuses. I will be using that 2nd gen adaptor, plugged into the factory 7 pin any time I tow a 4 wire so the fuses protect my PDU