tow vehicle battery question

[xizang2008]

We were dry camping last weekend and accidentally ran our batteries down in the ffx. We had two vehicles with us, a Tahoe and a Jeep Wrangler. Both vehicles have the 7pin round connector and are supposed to be fully wired.

In the morning, I started the Tahoe, connected the cable to it and checked the power in camper, still dead.

I then connected up to the jeep and was able to pull power from the battery of the jeep while running.

So is my Tahoe not wired up correctly? Its not allowing the trailer to draw immediately usable power from its battery, while the jeep does.

As a side note, the Tahoe does charge the trailer batteries over time, it just doesn't give me immediate access to the battery.

Any thoughts or suggestions appreciated

[Radar]

We have a Honda Gen. 2000 and I use an adaptor cable for charging the battery. Works great. Gen. will run everything on the trailer except the ac
We bought the generator thru Camping World for $950 + free shipping and could not find a better deal than that.

[LJAZ]

You should be able to get power from the TV, as one of the 7 leads should be come from the TV battery. Since it charges the trailer batteries over time it's probably connected correctly. Check to see if that pin on one or both of the connectors is dirty or corroded, or otherwise not making good contact when you plug it in.

[fourfourto]

The wire should be heavy gauge from TV plug to TV battery(I think I used 10 gauge)
Maybe whoever installed the plug tapped into a power wire found in the back thats not heavy enough.
That would let it charge over time but not run things when battery's dead.
I mostly have electric hook up but when I know I dont I bring a extra battery (It doesnt fit on tray so I have it in a battery box and put it under the tray and connect with 2 heavy gauge wires from post to post on both batterys.)
I also have a 15 watt 1 amp solar panal (apx 1 foot by 3 feet)that works well.
I mount it when parked on top of the front window stone protector with interlock velcro(perfect fit and can be angled toward the sun)

I find It provides enough power for normal usage,If you watch 4 or 5 2 hour Dvd's it cant keep up after a couple days.
I would like to add 3 more panels and put all 4 on the roof to provide 60 watts and 4 amps,that would be enough to run it indefenatly.

[MyFrontier]

Originally Posted by xizang2008

We were dry camping last weekend and accidentally ran our batteries down in the ffx. We had two vehicles with us, a Tahoe and a Jeep Wrangler. Both vehicles have the 7pin round connector and are supposed to be fully wired.

In the morning, I started the Tahoe, connected the cable to it and checked the power in camper, still dead.

I then connected up to the jeep and was able to pull power from the battery of the jeep while running.

So is my Tahoe not wired up correctly? Its not allowing the trailer to draw immediately usable power from its battery, while the jeep does.

As a side note, the Tahoe does charge the trailer batteries over time, it just doesn't give me immediate access to the battery.

Any thoughts or suggestions appreciated

This looks like a dead thread but in case some one else runs into the same problem the solution is rather simple.
If your vehicle is equiped with the 7-pin connector, when you hook it up to the trailer and the TV is running you should get an instant "full" reading on the control panel. However if you are not hitched up to the TV the trailer battery will not charge because it lacks the necessary ground.
Put the hitch on the ball and "Voila"