Ice Shack Battery Charging

[love to hunt]

This is for those of you with a late model Ford truck that is equipped with the round 7 pole RV light connector. It may work on other brands but I only have a Ford to base this on. I have been told that Dodge and Chevy have a simular system that has minor differences.

I did this last night and it works very well.

These trucks are equipped with a Trailer Tow Battery Charge option that will charge the batteries in you camper, boat or fish house. Some simple hookups are required to get it started.

I will outline the steps as best I can for easy installation.

Tools needed:

-Wire cutter

-Crimping tool

-Volt meter or test light

-Pliers

-Drill with drill bits

-Truck Owners manual

Items needed:

-One 7 Pole Round Trailer End Plug - Hoppy Part# 48505 – available at Wal Mart or any auto parts store

-One roll of 12ga red wire (enough to get from the battery to the tongue of the trailer)

-One roll of 12ga black wire (enough to get from the battery to the tongue of the trailer)

-One package of 10-12ga butt connectors (heat shrink type are the best)

-One package of 10-12ga ring terminals

-One roll of black tape

-One Volt Meter or test light

-Silicone

On the truck end:

1) Open the hood of you truck and locate Power Distribution Box (PDB) on the drivers side close to the fire wall.

2) Open the PDB and locate relay 302 labeled “Trailer Tow Battery Charge Relay” Check your owner’s manual to ensure this applies to your vehicle.

a. If the relay is not in the socket it may be in a plastic bag that you received with the truck along with some other trailer tow accessories.

b. If you don’t have the relay you will need to go to a Ford dealer and get it.

3) Also look at fuse # 101 and ensure it is in place. It is a 30 amp. Maxi fuse.

4) Once these are all in place close up the PDB and hood.

Now you are ready to work on the trailer:

1) Peel off enough wire to get from the battery to the end of the trailer tongue. Over estimate as you don’t want to be short.

2) Strip the end of the red and black wire and crimp on a ring terminal to each. DO NOT CONNECT TO THE BATTERY!

3) Drill a hole through the front of you house (or use the existing trailer light hole) and run the red/black wires through the wall to the outside of the house.

4) Cut off the old flat 4 plug for you trailer lights as close to the plug as possible.

5) Disassemble the new 7 pole plug and orient the top of the plug to the 12 o-clock position.

6) Run your wire through the body of the new plug.

7) Locate the area on the wires that will be clamped by the body.

8) Build up this area with black tape. Don’t use to much, yet enough to fill the hole and still move freely.

9) Push the wires back into the plug body sticking out at least 6”.

a. Loosen all the screw on the terminal end connections that will be used.

b. Strip all the wire ends

c. Twist the black and white wire together tightly.

d. Connect the red wire from the batteries to the top right terminal (Aux)

e. Connect the brown wire to the top left terminal (TL)

f. Connect the green wire to the terminal below the brown (RT)

g. Connect the white and black wire to the terminal below the green (GD)

h. Connect the yellow wire to the terminal below the red (LT)

i. Ensure all terminals are tight

10) Reassemble the plug

11) Connect the plug to the truck, start the truck and verify that all the lights work.

12) Connect the red wire to the positive terminal of the battery inside the house.

13) Using the volt meter or test light connect one of the leads to the black wire and the other lead to the negative post of the battery terminal. You should read 12-14 volts or the light should light.

14) Turn off the truck

15) The light should go out or volt meter should read zero.

16) Connect the black wire to the negative battery terminal.

17) Shoot a little silicone in the hole you drilled.

18) Tie up you wires

19) DONE

I hope this helps out and if you have troubles let me know and I will help you out.

[kooba]

Great idea L2h. I have the same truck, might have to come over and get your help. Hey, have you been getting any emails from me? kooba

[Dave]

I did this a few years back for my pickup camper battery. Works great.

[deepportage01]

How dose this guy come up with this stuff?

Sweet tip L2H. Can you bring a copy of this to the mod show?

Thanks DP

[LODFFB]

LTH I have a question. I just bought a Optimax deep cycle battery, Blue. I have a 15 W solar charger and a charger controller. The place I bought it from said to run the deep cycle completly dead and then recharge. Is that what your supposto do or does that just extend the battery life?

[lookin4fish]

nice post! i wish i could take advantage of this but my toyota does not have the same connections. still, thanks for taking the time to post that for those who it can benifit from it.

[love to hunt]

Yes, you should discharge them from time to time. Not a deal breaker but it is supposed to help make them last longer. You certainly don't need to do it every time you recharge.

[love to hunt]

DP,

Bring the stuff with you and we can do it on Saturday. It doesn't take long.

I have the tools.

[deepportage01]

10-4

[love to hunt]

I will be hooking up this system on a truck and shanty at the mod get together on the 23rd. If you attend you can ask questions and watch.

[coldmark]

How about that stay-n-charge system, anyone using it? I have a Silverado 1/2 ton. -cm

[deepportage01]

I just got the cord, plug,tape and all the goods for the demo. I can't wait!

[deepportage01]

Bump

[huntingislife]

Is this the same as the stay'n charge system that fishhousesupply sells. They say it charges a battery in a half hour (22 minutes on their HSOforum). Does this have more parts to it or is it just the wiring that L2H outlined?

[Kylersk]

Thanks for the tip L2H! Hooked it up this past weekend.

[deepportage01]

No, this one is prety simple It only took L2H and I 5 min to hook it up, the stay in charge you have to wire from the battery of the truck back to the shack. this one if you own a ford or any other truck with the 7 pin tail light hook up the wiring is already done for you. it only cost me $14.00

[huntingislife]

My truck only has the 4-pin system so I cant just put the new plug end on. Can I just hardwire it and run a pair of wires to the back? Would that be the same as the stay'n charge?

[deepportage01]

yes they are very close to the same idea, I'm no ace when it come to truck wiring so I'm gona pass the buck one this one, I don't want to tell you just to run two wire back from the battery there might be a relay in there some ware or a fuse,I donno but I'm sure someone will chime in

[huntingislife]

Thanks. It sounds like it might be simple. Maybe I should post in the equipment forum on how to do this. How fast does your battery charge with your truck running?

[deepportage01]

I have never charged with it yet, my shack has never been on the ice, But from what people have told me 1-2 hours will do the trick,

[love to hunt]

You can run it direct off the battery but use caution. In the system I described there is a relay that disconects the truck battery from the tow unit when the ignition is turned off. With out that relay, it will draw off the vehicle battery if you shack batteries are low when the truck isn't running and you may have problems starting.

Simple fix unhook the wires every time you shut the truck off.

The tow and charge system has it advantages. It supplies everything you will need in one neat package. It has all the connectors, fuses, CIRCUT PROTECTORS and wire for the job. It is a little pricy at $64.95 but it makes a very nice install and you can't go wrong. It will save you money in gas running to and from town to get the stuff you forgot or didn't know you needed.

Personnally I would order one for the sake of convience and Fish House Supply will treat you right.

I hope this helps.

[Panfish Guy]

Bought the Stay-n-Charge system last year and am very happy with it. It has nice heavy gauge wire with a heavy rubber like coating, a circuit breaker at the battery in case of any shorts and connectors the snap and stay together(can you say no welded wires ). The best thing is one less thing to worry about when I get home(no need for battery charger). Also can be used for the boat in the Summer.

[chris63]

Hello all,correct me if i'm wrong but here goes........i've never heard of a way to recharge a deep cycle back to true full charge unlees you pump atleast 10amps for a minimum of 6to10 hours.Help me out here?new charging technology perhapes???????????waiting for ice.c63