Troubleshooting Dying Vehicle Batteries after Tekonsha Battery Charger Install
Question:
I recently bought your tekonsha tow charger and hooked it up in our cargo trailer to a breakaway battery. first time i tried it out, i checked it with a voltage meter. I could see the breakaway battery voltage climbing some. Thought all was well. I left the wire harness hooked up to the truck overnight truck not on, no 12v supply to charger. The next morning the diesel truck 2 batteries was dead. Weather had been below freezing so i thought maybe a coincidence. tried it again several days later and tried to check the amperage draw with a multimeter while the trucks ignition was off to make sure it wasnt drawing constanly, could not get a reading. Tried to start truck, truck was dead again after wire harness had only been plugged in for 2 minutes. I double checked my connections pos to pos and neg to neg. all looks good. The only thing i suspected was that i had not grounded the charger or breakaway battery properly. I did not T off of the ground going to the battery like the diagram shows. I hooked the ground straight to the charger on one end. ground goes to breakaway battery on other end. Any help or suggestions would be appreciated
asked by: Josh
Helpful Expert Reply:
There could be a number of issues could be causing the problem you are experiencing. Since you said your truck batteries were dead after only 2 minutes of the # 2024-07 being installed and the fact that when your truck is turned off there is no 12 volt supply to the charger I suspect that the problem is on your truck.
You could have your battery and alternator tested at an auto parts store, most places will do that for free. Another option you have would be to remove the # 2024-07 and see if the problem comes back. If the problem does come back then you could safely assume that the problem is the vehicle. If it does not come back then it would appear as if the # 2024-07 is causing the problem.
Electronics can be a bit picky when it comes to how they get installed, it might be worthwhile to go over the installation and make sure that you follow the instructions exactly.
