SWharton Posted September 12, 2015 Report Share Posted September 12, 2015 We are new to MH and toad towing. The toad is a Honda CRV. We have installed everything, including the charge line but our battery after 2 days of towing is dead. DH checked everything out(electrical engineer) and it looks fine. Ended up buying a new battery since this one may have died a natural death. It was OEM and 3 years old but there was no place on the battery that had a date.The only question we have is how much charge should be coming through the charge line from the MH? It is a small wire so not much but we can't find any documentation on this. Anyone know?We are using a Ready Brute Elite as our braking system.I want to get an additional solar charger just to be sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark and Dale Bruss Posted September 12, 2015 Report Share Posted September 12, 2015 Most toads need to have a fuse pulled to unpower many of the accessories that can drain the battery. A charge line is not going to keep the battery up but it should come close to supplying enough power to compensate what the brake unit is using. But it looks like a Ready Brake Elite is a surge brake mounted on the tow bar which should use no electricity. So I would expect that just having the key in the ulocked position is powering too many things. Please click for Emails instead of PM Mark & DaleJoey - 2016 Bounder 33C Tige - 2006 40' Travel SupremeSparky III - 2021 Mustang Mach-e, off the the Road since 2019 Useful HDT Truck, Trailer, and Full-timing Info atwww.dmbruss.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SWharton Posted September 12, 2015 Author Report Share Posted September 12, 2015 We didn't realize we would still need to pull a fuse. Rather than pull a fuse do you think a 5 watt solar charger would work or would we need larger? We are in unknown territory for us. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockylarson Posted September 12, 2015 Report Share Posted September 12, 2015 My 2003 CRV did just fine with the old 5amp toad charge. It was direct wired to my chassie batteries so would also charge overnight if need be. The newer ones I believe are 10amp. Never had to pull a fuse but I did make sure radio, AC, and all were set to off. The newer CRVs probably have more hidden parasite loads. Post your toad details for more responses. Doubt solar is an option for this application. Good luck. Jan and Rocky Larson, Volunteers, USFWS , 9,300 hours each. 29 refuges since 2006. 2 new each year. 2004 Allegro 30DA, Workhorse 8.1, Banks, 2012 Jeep Liberty, Blue Ox Aladdin, 300 watts solar, 5 Optima group 31 AGM's, 2000w PSW inverter Philippians 4:11-13 KJV Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimalberta Posted September 12, 2015 Report Share Posted September 12, 2015 A solar charger connected to your cigarette lighter will help a little . The bigger the better...within reason. if you can upgrade the charge wire to a larger wire for less voltage drop that would help as well. Try to measure the voltage on the charge wire with the MH running and see what you have. You need 13 to 14 volts going into your battery to charge and at least 12.8 to maintain. One thing that a lot of people dont know is that once in a while it is a very good thing to connect your vehicle battery to a good quality battery charger overnight and get it fully charged. Many vehicles that are used for short distances do not have fully charged batteries and that shortens their life. <p>....JIM and LINDA......2001 American Eagle 40 '.towing a GMC Sierra 1500 4X4 with RZR in the rear. 1999 JEEP Cherokee that we tow as well. IT IS A CONTENTED MAN WHO CAN APPRECIATE THE SCENERY ALONG A DETOUR. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SWharton Posted September 13, 2015 Author Report Share Posted September 13, 2015 We are getting ready travel again on Tuesday, this time we will pull the fuse and see what happens. The manual says we only need to pull the fuse if towing for mare than 8 hours, we are usually on the road 6-7 hours between stops. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mariner Posted September 13, 2015 Report Share Posted September 13, 2015 My Saturn Vue is pretty much a CRV. I put in a fuse switch that mounted to the side of the console on the passenger side. A lot easier to flip a switch than pull a fuse each time. Fulltiming since 2010 2000 Dutch Star 2009 Saturn Vue Myrtle Beach, SC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HWSmith Posted September 13, 2015 Report Share Posted September 13, 2015 2013 CR-v, In 2015 got to new park and battery was dead, Got towed to battery place. New battery installed. Next morning battery was dead. Was leaving to come home. Got jump. Disconnected battery. Took it in to Honda. They fixed something to do with the Computer. No more problems. Happened to me could be what is wrong with yours. Wayne 2002 Mountain Aire DP 4064, 2013 CR-V Blue Ox tow bar Baseplate Light Kit RoadMaster BrakeMaster supplemental brakingMotoSat MD500. House in Los Lunas, NM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SWharton Posted September 13, 2015 Author Report Share Posted September 13, 2015 We just stopped at Camping World(not our favorite place) and asked for a Roadmaster Fusemaster. Miracle, they had one and it was actually hanging up. Everything I have read over the last few days indicates a too small battery and the draw being too much when in accessory and towing. Not happy with the price but if it solves the problem that is fine. No problem getting jump starts, just an aggravation. Next time we get a new battery we will see if we can fit a Group 24 vs 51. This problem seems to be fairly common for the Honda CRV. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Corey Posted September 17, 2015 Report Share Posted September 17, 2015 Ditto our 2013 CRV. Battery almost dead after a day of towing. We ran an auxiliary wire from coach, no problems since. I decided the switch or pulling the fuse was more work. Jim Corey 2006 Monaco Monarch 30 pdd '12 Honda CRV toad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SWharton Posted September 17, 2015 Author Report Share Posted September 17, 2015 We found the switch at Camping World(miracle) so we installed it, took 5 minutes. Worked great. Hopefuly problem is solved. 2 days towing and no dead battery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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