Wiring Installation of Tekonsha 50-85-313 Trailer Breakaway Battery Kit

Question:

I am replacing a breakaway switch only on my camper trailer with the Tekonsha 50-85-313 kit. I decided it was better to have an independent battery for my breakaway rather than relying on the trailer battery to be charged all the time. The one thing that I did different than in your excellent install video was to use the existing power feed from the old switch rather than connect a new wire to the black wire of the 7 pole connector. The reason being is that I have a fully sealed 7 pole connector with no accessibility to the plug end. I do have accessibility to the wires in the middle where the plug is spiced into the wire from the trailer itself. That looks to be a factory splice based upon the way the wire is heat shrinked and very nicely done. The only thing I noticed is that when I put the battery in the trailer box, the battery in the breakaway kit immediately showed that it was charging. Is this going to be a problem and should I wire are you suggest in the video or an I ok taking bower directly from the trailer battery?

asked by: Gregory J

Helpful Expert Reply:

The Tekonsha Push-To-Test Trailer Breakaway Kit with Built-In Battery Charger - Top Load # 50-85-313 is a much better option for your Breakaway system than having the trailer house battery serve that purpose. The way you wired the 12V input to your trailer battery, you will still be draining your trailer battery as it seeks to charge the breakaway battery. Once that trailer battery falls below a certain point, you will then drain the breakaway battery to try to charge the trailer house battery.

This puts you almost back to where you started without the separate battery. I recommend running the wire as we show in the video and the attached diagram so that your trailer battery is completely separate.

expert reply by: Jason S