OK, I need to put a switched power connector to charge the battery in my camper. I need to find a place I can tie into to get a signal to a relay to run power to the battery charger in the camper while the key is on and off when it is off so the truck battery does not drain when the truck is not running. Anyone know a good place to splice into? 2005 Dakota.

 

does the battery charger run off of AC or DC power? If it runs on DC power, you can splice into the red wire coming out of your alternator, and put it in a distribution block. The distribution blocks you buy for amps and sound equipment are good for doing power applications as well. Just buy a block that goes from I believe 4 gauge wire to multiple 4 gauge sockets, this will allow you to just add it in the middle and add a couple outlets to add the wires for your battery charger (example below). And running it off the alternator will allow the device to get power from the truck while it's running without draining your battery.

http://cgi.ebay.com/STINGER-MIDI-2-P...QQcmdZViewItem

that's just an example, of wha tim tlaking about. The battery terminals I have have a couple of socket son them, made by audiopipe, and weren't expensive. Here's a pic below (before i cleaned up the wires:


[IMG]local://upfiles/24683/99AE3F5ED4C04105885CB59D0FCE2BB6.jpg[/IMG]

 

btw, if you want a switch in there, you just need to buy like a 40 amp switch and it in the positive line to the device you're running, that will allow you to switch it on and off.

 

It is DC. The way you have it wired is accross the battery. The problem with using a switch is that you have toREMEMBER to TURN IT OFF. I some times don't do either. I can immagine being out in the mountains here in Oregon and finding both batteries dead because I forgot to turn off the switch. God I forbid the wife takes it out with her girl friends. What I would like to do is put in a relay so when I turn on the ingition have the relay turn on and turn off when I turn off the ignition automatically. I was going to just get the signal from the power to radio but that looks like that'scomputer controled! You would think there would be simple place to hook up auxilary systems.

 

na, you just have to find the circuit that turns on when the truck gets turned on. I can't remember how to get to that circuit. I'll look around for it see if I can find out which wire you will need to tap into.

 

Just tap into the existing power outlet. It turns on and off with the key. And it is already on a protected fused circut. I taped into it when i did my sirius install.

 

yeah but that wouldnt provide enough current to charge a trailer battery would it? it's on like 18 gauge wire...

 

Wait... im confused from the title and what were talking about. Is it one of the things that plugs into a cig lighter?! What type of connection is it?

 

So use that as the switching line on a relay

 

OK! I figured it out and it works (should) great. I found a reallyclever gadget at the local old fashion parts store. It's a fuse extention with a piggyback add on fuse with a pig tail comming off of it. It puts a parallel fuse in. I took fuse #59 out of the "integrated power module" and put itin this thing put it back in and ran the pigtail to the a relay comming off the battery with a 30 amp in line fuse. I went with a fuse rather than a circut breaker because if it pulls more than 30 amps I want the circut to die and not switch on and off. I'm goin to do the same thing for the running lights on the camper too.

I'm really surprised that adding circuits to this thing is so conveluted (sp). You would think that as a work/sport/utility vehicle there would be a logical place to add additional circutry for things like this. I'm going to have to do the same thing for the trailer lights. I looked around for the trailer T-connector at the rear of the truck but my truck does not have it. I called the Dodge dealer and they wanted $179for the hardware and $75 to install it. God talk about highway robbery!