i need to charge my battery

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chaplainrobert

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 25, 2011
Posts
96
Location
Cottage Grove, Oregon
I am dry camping in my driveway until I leave for Georgia on Monday. I don't electricity in my garage. Can I plug in my trailer to my truck and let it idle for a while to charge it? Does it have to be on the ball to work properly? How long should I expect it to take? Thanks.
 
Turn the truck around and use a heavy set of jumper cables. Hook it up and let it set for a while so the two batteries equalize some. This will lower the voltage in the trucks battery allowing the alternator to stay at a higher charging voltage longer. We had to do this one trip and ran the truck for at least a hour a day, longer may be needed if the trailers battery is really low.
 
It would take many hours that way, as to does it have to be hooked up, not if it's a 7 pin, but some of the smaller connectors might, also that "not if" assumes there is not a broken ground wire (common on 7 pins).  the "Turn the truck around" is a better plan.

Page 2.

If you have power anywhere nearby, say 90 feet away, You can get some real nice 12ga extension cords at Sears or K-Mart  (You can get some at Lowes and Home Depot et-al too but I like the lock-on-outlet on the sears model)  If your converter is a plug in model (mine is) they work great, if it's not, then turn off everything save the converter (no water heater or air coditioner. , Lock fridge on gas, And so on) and  and it will work well.

Done that in a few places.
 
Portable generator?

Extension cords as suggested. I hooked up over 200 feet of 16 AWG cords to plug in my RV to charge the batteries. As long as there is no other loads the 16 AWG will work.
 

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