Power up your toad battery while on the go
Jerry Campbell from St. Louis, Missouri told me about a kit he installed on the vehicle he tows behind his Coachmen Sportscoach. 
“Toad Charge” will keep the battery of your towed vehicle charged while it’s being towed behind your motorhome. This is a great idea because many auxiliary braking systems deplete the battery while towing.
It works by connecting the motorhome chassis electric system to the towed vehicles battery using the motorhome alternator to supply up to 5 amps of charge to the towed vehicles battery.
The kit comes with easy to follow step by step directions.
You get a charge regulator that is installed in the towed vehicles engine compartment and a thermal circuit breaker installed near the motorhome starting battery. It comes with 40 feet of power cable for the motorhome and 10 feet of cable for towed vehicle. 
A 7 foot piece can be permanently mounted to the tow bar with connectors at each end for easy hook-up. Jerry used extra prongs on his signal cable to hook it up. The cable has it’s own built in ground wire to minimize voltage drop.
A nice safety feature is a built in blocking diode that prevents reverse current flow in the event the motorhome batteries go dead. This will prevent the towed vehicle battery from discharging to the motorhome allowing you to start your toad which is a good idea if you’re out in the boonies where these kind of things usually happen.
You will find more information on this product at their website here: Toad Charge.
Getting charged up about RVing - Jim Twamley, Professor of RVing
2006 Guide to Dinghy Towing
If you plan to pull a vehicle behind your motorhome, the 2006 Guide to Dinghy Towing from Motorhome Magazine should be an essential resource about how to do it. Learn more.
“Toad Charge” will keep the battery of your towed vehicle charged while it’s being towed behind your motorhome. This is a great idea because many auxiliary braking systems deplete the battery while towing.It works by connecting the motorhome chassis electric system to the towed vehicles battery using the motorhome alternator to supply up to 5 amps of charge to the towed vehicles battery.
The kit comes with easy to follow step by step directions.
You get a charge regulator that is installed in the towed vehicles engine compartment and a thermal circuit breaker installed near the motorhome starting battery. It comes with 40 feet of power cable for the motorhome and 10 feet of cable for towed vehicle. 
A 7 foot piece can be permanently mounted to the tow bar with connectors at each end for easy hook-up. Jerry used extra prongs on his signal cable to hook it up. The cable has it’s own built in ground wire to minimize voltage drop.
A nice safety feature is a built in blocking diode that prevents reverse current flow in the event the motorhome batteries go dead. This will prevent the towed vehicle battery from discharging to the motorhome allowing you to start your toad which is a good idea if you’re out in the boonies where these kind of things usually happen.You will find more information on this product at their website here: Toad Charge.
Getting charged up about RVing - Jim Twamley, Professor of RVing
2006 Guide to Dinghy TowingIf you plan to pull a vehicle behind your motorhome, the 2006 Guide to Dinghy Towing from Motorhome Magazine should be an essential resource about how to do it. Learn more.
Labels: Tow Vehicles, Towed Vehicles
posted by Jim Twamley at
8/05/2008 04:00:00 AM
3 Comments:
This Toadcharger for the dinghy is a good one. Except i wouldn't use a blocking diode. As there is a voltage drop of about 1/2 volt through the diode. I would prefer a switch. hooked to the ignition switch.
By
Anonymous, at August 23, 2008 4:19:00 AM PDT
I use a small solar panel (about $25 to $30) velcroed to the dash of my "toad." Since both the solar panel and my braking system plug into the 12 volt outlet, I use a "Y" adapter (about $6) for the outlet.
My main purpose for the solar panel was to maintain charge while my "toad" sits unused for weeks at a time.
By
Anonymous, at August 23, 2008 12:27:00 PM PDT
Don't worry about voltage drop thru the diode, you only need a small recharge and that diode will "cooperate" on doing that and protect the whole system.
By
Anonymous, at September 4, 2008 3:03:00 PM PDT
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home