I ran across that post when I was searching the subject. Basically the same thing I am doing. Curious why you used 2 breakers....at the truck and at the trailer?
Since there are batteries, at both ends, I didn’t want either connector to be hot, when disconnected. My thoughts were it would be safest to be able to kill them, without disconnecting from the battery. If the plug got compromised, I wouldn’t have a hot whip flopping around.
I saw the kit you linked but dont have an amazon account....and couldnt find whether or not it was pure copper wire or CCA/DCCA
It‘s DCCA.
Now that you have had some time since you have done yours....is it still preforming as expected? Anything you have changed or would do different if you do it again
The ends were crimped and not soldered, on the kit. They corroded and I had to cut the corroded part out. I then had all of the connections soldered. My setup stayed connected, quite a while and was exposed to a lot of rain. I also cut the ends a bit shorter and built a jumper, so I could stow them, easier.
The DCCA has been fine. When I bought the kit, I couldn’t afford to build it with copper. That would be better, but not enough to justify the cost difference. Doing it, again, I would solder it, right from the start.
The breakers are awesome. I have never had an issue, in that regard. They do their job and are robust enough to hold the current, even during hard pulls.
It takes two more connectors and more time, but I like having the jumper, instead of the long ends, at the connection point.
My truck has a high idle system. I can let the truck idle, at 600 RPM, if it’s a light load. The high idle allows for 900 RPM, minimum. After that, I have a potentiometer that I can dial from 900-2,400 RPM.
We put a meter on it, to see if having the truck connected was doing anything and if using the high idle mattered. It did. Huge advantage. I don’t recall the exact numbers, but when we tested with an empty box (16’ of 7g steel), the trailer battery, alone, went from around 12.5 volts to around 7 volts, as it pulled power. With the second battery (truck battery) connected, but the truck off, the voltage only dropped to around 9 volts. With the truck running, at regular idle, the voltage only dropped to around 12 volts. With high idle maxed out, it was around 13 volts, while lifting. Obviously, a loaded bed would pull more power.
Volts X Amps = Watts. The pump needs a certain amount of watts, to move the load. If the voltage drops, the pump will pull more amps to make the same power. If you can keep the voltage higher, it requires less amps, to do the same work.
For me, this setup has paid for itself many times over. I have the 7-way plug charging (it’s just a trickle charger-will keep a full battery topped off, but won’t charge up a depleted battery) and a solar panel (7.5W with a controller, again, just a trickle charger). My trailer is legal to haul 5 tons. I can get 4-6 dumps, at maximum weight capacity, on a full battery. I do a lot of commercial hauling. With the plug setup, I can go a full day and never have a low battery.
Of course, this is harder on my truck alternator (only a 157A unit) than it would otherwise work. To me, it’s a calculated cost of doing business.
Last week, I did a job where we demo’d a house. The dump was only two miles away. I was able to dump four heavy loads, in the morning, then dump several loads of heavy dirt, in the afternoon. We got the dirt from a mile away. That’s not much time to let a different method charge up the trailer battery. When I got to where I dumped, I kicked the high idle up. Even a load I put too far forward (my first time on an articulating loader) was lifted, without fuss. Without the 2 AWG setup, I would have been home, at lunch, while someone else hauled dirt.
I see people recommending no battery, on the trailer. For me, I want it to stay. I’ve even considered adding another trailer battery. Where I live, we have major temperature extremes and often, in the same week. That’s hard on batteries. It’s less hard on them, if you can keep them topped off.
