question about adding a battery to a horse trailer

[grsthegreat]

My wife purchased a new horse trailer, and the first thing i learned is it didn't have a battery onboard to run the lights when not attached to the towing rig.

First time out, we left light on and killed the battery. To prevent this from occurring while were out in the wilderness......ive decided to add a separate battery box on the trailer and tie it to the trailer interior and exterior work lights.

Doing this is very easy; however where the questions arise is what effect this additional battery may have on the tow rig. I can add a cut off switch, but was interested in charging it while driving.

What can happen to the truck if the trailer is plugged in and the truck is turned off? Currently for the lights to work, the key has to be in the ON position OR the truck running. So if the key is off, will the system be back-fed and the truck think its in the on position (ie: fuel pump running, etc????)

Thought id pick some brains that are way smarter than mine.

 

[tommu56]

Does it have brakes?

If so it should have a brake away battery.

some tow vehicles the battery to the 7 way is only hot when the key is on.

if not i would put a battery isolator on it so it cant drain the truck.

NOCO IGD90HP Battery Isolator 90 Amp

 

[houston burt]

the fire dept i work for has a fire safety trailer with a battery and a generator the battery has a cut off switch it charges off generator i have towed it with the switch on it controls all 12 volt lights in including the running light that the tow rig works we have had no problems with it the trailer is a large camper that was modified to our needs we had it for 5 years give or take

 

[RPW]

Battery isolator is probably the best bet. What I did on my horse trailer is to use 2 AGM batteries and a HF 45 watt solar panel setup. Works great and even in hazy or cloud covered days I still see 13+ Volts on the controller. BTW AGM's like 13 to 13.7 volts charging.

Good luck.

 

[grsthegreat]

thank you all, ill start looking into the isolator options.

 

[grsthegreat]

ok guys, i just found out from the powerstroke forum that my f350 already has a trailer battery charger relay included in the fuse panel

it called relay K355 and its good to 30 amps. apparently when the key is on, power flows thru the wire to the trailer. when key is off, shuts off and power from trailer does not travel into truck.
Nice of Ford to do that for me.