Can Trailer Winch Battery Be Used to Power Trailer Break Away System

Question:

Hello. My name is Brad Miller. I am finishing up a rehab of my 20’ car trailer. I added a 6000 lb winch with a 800 cca battery. Can I run the breakaway switch off that battery?

asked by: Brad M

Expert Reply:

The breakaway system can indeed be ran off the battery for used for your trailer winch, and it typically works fine and folks do it all the time but It's not something I'd personally recommend.

Because of the importance of the breakaway system, it really should have its own dedicated battery with a built in charger such as what's provided by # 50-85-313. Because of the small size of this battery, the charger which is tied into the 12-volt circuit from the trailer connector will have no problem keeping it charged. The battery for your winch however will only receive a maintenance charge from that circuit though, because of the distance away from the vehicle alternator and the small gauge wire used in the circuit. Once that battery gets discharged or nearly so, that 12-volt circuit won't be able to do anything with it and you'd need to use shore power and a battery charger like # CTEK56353 to fully charge the battery.

The small breakaway battery has a built-in tester you can check before each trip, it's very easy to use and it will stay charged until it's needed (hopefully not!)

expert reply by: Mike L