Electric brake and taillight power source

[GreenFlash]

Getting ready to tow my Oliver to storage. I would like to take my batteries out at home beforehand. My question is “Do the electric brakes and taillights get their power from my truck or do they get them from the house batteries?”  

[ADKCamper]

Under "normal" circumstances, the trailer brakes and tail lights/directional signals are powered by the tow vehicle.

HOWEVER... in the case of a tow vehicle / trailer disconnect, the trailer battery is required to power the trailer brakes when the emergency disconnect cable/switch is engaged.

Without research, I suspect it is likely illegal in most states to pull a trailer with electric brakes and no on-board battery in case of a disconnect...

[ScubaRx]

7 minutes ago, ADKCamper said:

Under "normal" circumstances, the trailer brakes and tail lights/directional signals are powered by the tow vehicle.

HOWEVER... in the case of a tow vehicle / trailer disconnect, the trailer battery is required to power the trailer brakes when the emergency disconnect cable/switch is engaged.

Without research, I suspect it is likely illegal in most states to pull a trailer with electric brakes and no on-board battery in case of a disconnect...

This would be correct.

 

[John E Davies]

If it should come uncoupled and wreck the trailer with no batteries in it, and injure some other party, you will be crucified in court, and your insurance would not cover you either.

OTH If you have a medium sized lawn mower 12 volt battery in good condition (and fully charged)  at home, you could install that in place of your big RV batteries. Even if it is a different type, it would work fine, just be sure to turn off all chargers if they are set for lithium batteries. You would need to rig some sort of adapter wires, your great big cables are too massive for the small terminals.

As always, check your emegrgency breakaway switch before departing.

https://www.amazon.com/Mighty-Max-Battery-ML5-12-Rechargeable/dp/B00K8UO288

It would be a whole lot simpler to just remove the main batteries at the storage lot and bring them back home.

John Davies

Spokane WA

[GreenFlash]

Thank you, ADK, Scuba and John. Disconnect, insurance…. Got it now. Easy enough to leave them in.