Truck Battery Isolation

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jeffreyduncan

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Sep 15, 2015
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Hi there. 

I have a brand new 2016 Arctic Fox 811S on my 2015 Silverado 3500HD.  The truck has two batteries and two alternators (Duramax Diesel) and the camper has a pair of group 27 batteries with a marine on/off switch.  My question is: When the camper is plugged into the 7-pin harness, is there any isolation between the two camper batteries and the battery bank in the truck, or will I need to install a charge relay or isolator?  If I need a charge relay, I'll probably use the the Blue Seas ACR, which I installed in my boat to separate battery banks, and it works perfectly. 

I'm curious how I would wire it though.  I assume the 7-pin harness has a charge wire present, which possibly connects to my converter, or direct to the battery bank?  I'm pretty handy with 12V, but this is my first truck camper.  Any insight would be appreciated.


Thanks in advance!
 
The truck should have one in it from the factory with the trailer/camper package.
 
Don't assume. There are many acceptable ways to set up a 7 pin connector and you can read about that on the internet. You really need to go back to your manuals/dealers and verify what you have before you start. If you are handy, as you say, you can do this yourself and really an experienced handy person would likely be sure to have looked through the manuals and talked to the dealers/mechanics/technicians early on being comfortable with looking at diagrams and schematics and variety of combinations.
 
RodgerS said:
Don't assume. There are many acceptable ways to set up a 7 pin connector and you can read about that on the internet. You really need to go back to your manuals/dealers and verify what you have before you start. If you are handy, as you say, you can do this yourself and really an experienced handy person would likely be sure to have looked through the manuals and talked to the dealers/mechanics/technicians early on being comfortable with looking at diagrams and schematics and variety of combinations.
Click to expand...

I'm familiar with all that, and have read the manual.  The only assumption i made was that the camper is charged by the truck when it's running.  Nowhere in the manual does it state there is an isloator, so I reached out to the fine folks of this forum in hopes somebody had first hand experience with this setup. 

Since nobody really is, I'll figure it out and post back for others.
 
you can test light the charge or positive 12v pin inside the 7 pin plug and see what happens when you turn the truck off and take keys out.
So are you trying to avoid unplugging the 7 pin from the RV when you are parked camping. its usually the first thing i do when i set the tongue jack to level.
anyways the charge/12v power wire usually runs direct from the battery with fuse or circuit breaker. there you can install a key on only relay.
 
Most trucks have a pretty light gauge charging wire (maybe 14 ga) going to the connector. If you plan on travelling and running the refrigerator on 12v while you are moving  you will need a much heavier wire. My Lance camper manual recommends 8 ga for a charging wire. I ran a wire direct from the truck battery through a 40 amp circuit breaker and a solenoid. When you power on the solenoid it allows electricity to run from the truck battery to the camper battery. Turn off power to the solenoid and it disconnects from the truck battery.
 
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