Could Trailer 7-Way 12 Volt Accessory Circuit Charge Boat's Battery

Question:

Would it be feasible to use a charge controller on the boat, with input power from the Aux lead on the trailer plug to maintain a boat battery while driving? I plan to use a small 2 stroke pull start motor so charging the batteries with the boat motor is not an option. I would also have a solar maintainer on board to prevent total discharge of the battery when on the water. Batteries would be primarily used to power a trolling motor and navigation lights. Connection from boat to trailer would be standard SAE 2 pin plug, and solar would be isolated through the charge controller to prevent backfeed into the truck electrical system.

asked by: Daniel F

Expert Reply:

The 12 volt accessory circuit of a trailer 7-way connector is commonly used to put a maintenance charge on trailer batteries. There really is no reason you couldn't run the wire up to the battery of your boat instead. If the battery is smaller in size it might actually put a decent charge on it too.

The big thing will be to come up with a way to disconnect the charge wire from the boat before backing it into the water.

expert reply by: Jameson C