Can the Breakaway Battery Charger on a Car Hauler be used to Charge a Large Winch Battery

Question:

i have a carhauler and has the breakaway battery and charger i mounted a 8000# winch can i tap into the red wire 0n the charger to keep my large battery charged also what do you recommend

asked by: Gene

Expert Reply:

Using the breakaway battery charger to charge another battery on the trailer is not recommended. The larger battery you are using to operate the trailer winch would take an extremely long time to charge with a breakaway charger and would likely never charge fully with the limited amount of time the trailer is connected to the vehicle, even if towing long distances. The breakaway battery may not be charged sufficiently in this situation either.

The best bet for charging the winch battery is to use a 120 volt battery charger like the NOCO Genius Battery Charger and Maintainer # 329-GENIUS5, before towing the trailer. Then, connect the power wire from the 7-Way connector, see photo link at right, on the trailer to the positive post of the winch battery. A ground wire will need to be attached to the trailer frame from the winch battery negative post also. The vehicle charging system will then help maintain the charge on the winch battery while the vehicle is running.

There is really no good way to charge a large battery on a trailer from the vehicle charging system, due to the vehicle system limitations and the wire sizes that are used to power trailer connection accessories, but the connector power source will help to keep the batteries topped off while towing.

expert reply by: Robert G