7-Way Trailer Hitch & Charging

[StevieC]

So the new Caravan has a 7-way power connector for the Trailer hitch and it got me thinking...

I usually have a battery charger hooked up to my vehicles to keep the battery warm in the winter and the battery fully charged at all times it's resting.
Could I charge through Pins 1 (Ground) and 4 (Hot all the time) using a low amperage charger say 10 amps or so? Anyone done this?

The reason I ask is because the port has a nice spring loaded cover and it would make disconnecting in the morning quite easy without having a cord hanging out the front grill as I usually have.

 

[eljefino]

Sounds like a great idea! The perpetual in-and-outs will also keep scraping corrosion off the connectors. And you can back in, with less cord clutter, and drive forwards out when your vision may otherwise be compromised by frost etc.

2 amps should be more than enough to keep the battery warm.

 

[StevieC]

The reason I was going to go with 10 amps is because I like to run my Dash Cam front/back through the night to record any movement that may happen. We have door handle checkers and I would like record of this close up. That takes about an amp to run and then say 2 amps to keep the battery warm and topped off sort of thing. Also because I have a 10 amp smart charger.

I looked up the fuse rating and it's set for 20 amps for the battery pin so using it in reverse with a 10 amp charger should be no problem.

It will be awesome if it works and I will want a 7-way on all my vehicles then.

 

[JTK]

Cool idea! I don't see how it wouldn't work, unless there's a diode or computer controlled gadetry in the system to prevent juice from flowing the other way.

 

[Food Scientist]

Don't see why you couldn't do it although I would check two things:

- your car is the same as the picture (there is no universal designation for locations)
- fuse rating of the connection

 

[Kira]

"Door handle checkers"? You need a separate 15,000V "Zap-Rite Protection System". ....and a sausage maker (for the evidence).

 

[64bawagon]

The only issue might be if your vehicle shuts that circuit off when the key is off. Most dont but some do to prevent any attached trailer from draining the vehicle battery.

 

[StevieC]

Originally Posted by SVTCobra
Don't see why you couldn't do it although I would check two things:

- your car is the same as the picture (there is no universal designation for locations)
- fuse rating of the connection

Yeah for sure. It's definitely a 20amp protected circuit. If I remove the fuse the power is cut from the 7-way.

Originally Posted by 64bawagon
The only issue might be if your vehicle shuts that circuit off when the key is off. Most dont but some do to prevent any attached trailer from draining the vehicle battery.

It's on I have checked it this morning after the van had been sitting all night.

Originally Posted by Kira
"Door handle checkers"? You need a separate 15,000V "Zap-Rite Protection System". ....and a sausage maker (for the evidence).

Yeah I have lots of video of this punk checking the door handles. It's usually mid-week at around 5am but he has sunglasses and a hat on so I was hoping to get a better picture of him close up with the dash cams recording at night in 1080.

Here he is pulling on the door handle of my Journey and then a few minutes later at my neighbours. Unfortunately my neighbour left their vehicle unlocked so he got away with some change left in the vehicle.