We recently ordered a overland trailer and I need to supply power the trailer while in tow, it uses a Anderson plug to connect. The wiring instructions call for both positive and negative from battery but the Navigator owners manual says do not connect accessories to the negative terminal because it “can cause inaccurate measurements of the battery condition and potential incorrect system operation”. Any suggestions?
Wiring electrical accessory from battery question
- Thread starter Artie
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Flexpedition
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Ground the negative to a new or existing ground at the rear of the vehicle. Ideally on the steel frame rail.
I'll make an assumption that a lot of the overland types have dual battery set-ups with the 2nd being for accessories and trailers like this, and the negative at that added battery isn't an issue. Usually Andersons have some super heavy wiring so you'll have to find an big eyelet for your ground.
Now you only have 28 feet of positive to run!
I'll make an assumption that a lot of the overland types have dual battery set-ups with the 2nd being for accessories and trailers like this, and the negative at that added battery isn't an issue. Usually Andersons have some super heavy wiring so you'll have to find an big eyelet for your ground.
Now you only have 28 feet of positive to run!
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Artie
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Yes, the trailer has two lithium batteries that run the stuff on the trailer and it has solar and/or generator when vehicle or shore power isn’t available. The instructions call for 6 awg and I got 25 feet for the run. By my measurements this should leave me with 3-5 feet left over. So just a regular ground near the rear should be fine? If I can’t fine an existing ground back there do I need to grind off the paint to make the contact for the ground?
aggiegrad05
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What is an overland trailer? (I’m being nosy)
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Artie
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It’s pretty much a rugged rv that you can tow anywhere off road you can get your truck to. This is what we ordered, hopefully take delivery in November.
https://conqueror4x4usa.com/products/uev-490-extreme/
I believe what they mean is not to connect to the adjusting screw or to the terminal directly. When looking at the negative battery hookup you will see the terminal with tightening nut, then a tab off to the side which contains the battery monitor system sensor(has a 2 wire plug in connector) and then a tab that runs forward to a terminal stud with a heavy duty engine and a couple of body ground wires. I would hook to the large forward stud with the body and engine grounds. This allows the battery monitoring system to detect the load being applied. Now if you used ForScan to disable auto start/stop then the battery monitor system is disabled anyway since that is how ForScan disables the auto start/stop. If not and you do have issues you can try unpluging the two wire pigtail and see if that resolves the issue. That will also disable the battery monitoring system along with auto start/stop.
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Artie
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Ok, this makes sense to me. I didn’t use FORScan to disable the ASS but I manually disable it 100% of the time. I wasn’t aware that the manual was referring to the ASS when it mentioned the battery monitoring system. I see the additional mounting areas you are referring to and was planning on utilizing them and not using the battery post or screw to tighten the cable connector.
The ASS is a separate system, but needs the battery monitoring system to operate. If the battery monitoring system shows the battery is below a optimum charge or the system is turned off/disabled the ASS will not operate and stop the engine at a stoplight. Forscan disables the ASS by turning off/disabling the battery monitoring system. The battery monitoring system can also be turned off/disabled by unplugging the two wire connector at the negative battery terminal. I am not sure how hooking to the battery side of the terminal would affect the system, but it could possibly either allow the engine to shut off at a light with a low battery state or not allow the ASS to operate at all and set a low battery warning when it is an fact not low.
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Artie
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I understand now.
So in the follow pics I was going to ground to either #1 or #2 (probably #1) and supply power from the circled post in the positive terminal pic.
You believe this would not violate the owners manual warning?
It’s not like it’s going to be connect all the time, only while I tow it and that’s probably a dozen or so times a year. When not in tow I have a 42 amp breaker I can turn off when it’s not being towed.
Do not connect to 1, connect to 2 on the negative side, that is the chassis ground. That allows the BMS to monitor the battery. The black piece with the circled 658 on it is the BVM sensor and you do not want to connect between it and the battery. the circled post on the positive side is fine, just use a fuse or breaker to protect the circuit.
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Artie
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Well I am really glad I asked, thanks so much! I’m mechanically inclined and severely electrically deficient.
aggiegrad05
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That’s COOL!
When I win the lottery I’ll be buying an Earthroamer (do yourself a favor and look it up if you don’t know what one is). This would be a cool alternative until I buy that winning ticket.
You planning to invade America???
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Artie
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Yes, one dirt road and solitary campsite at a time.
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Artie
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Dang, those are hardcore bug out vehicles! Yeah, we’d have to win the lottery and probably sell the house to justify one of those seeing as how I doubt it would fit in my 8 foot garage! Seriously bad ass though, no doubt!
That’s not an off the grid trailer. This is an off the grid trailer.
C. Dundee
https://bruderx.com/brochure/exp-6/
C. Dundee
https://bruderx.com/brochure/exp-6/
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Artie
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Funny you posted this one as it was the first one my wife and I stumbled upon. There were several cons on our list:
1. Too big for narrow trails and tight trails/camp sites.
2. Too rv like.
3. The size below this has terrible sleeping arrangements for us with young kids so it’s out as well.
4. Cost. Built and imported it was twice what the conqueror is.
Having seen the conqueror in person it eats this ones lunch for our intended purpose. The Bruder would be nice in fully open terrain but there is zero of that on the east coast. We will go West often with the conqueror and it’s smaller size, I feel, makes it a better choice over the full size bruder. Still, though... the bruder is bad ass if it meets your needs. For us it just doesn’t. Besides, we still wanna sorta rough it so that’s another plus with the conqueror.
Good to know. We are in the process of narrowing down our travel trailer options at the moment. Still can’t figure out what we want/need.
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Artie
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We never thought we would buy one because the thought of staying at a rv park does not sound like fun because have always hiked and camped and done more remote adventures with the goal of avoiding people at all costs. Camping has become difficult with two kids 2 and 3 yrs old, just the packing the car is a couple days plus airing out gear and all that goes along with it. Then we discovered the overland trailers and became interested. We had been doing the overland thing for as long as we had been hiking and camping but didn’t know it had a name. We discovered the rv had a red headed rebellious step brother and we were interested.
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