Opinions/Suggestions April 17, 2010, 06:36:32 pm Yahoo Message Number: 111934Group Seeing as the Honda toads have a history of battery depletion while being towed, I intend to have a charge line installed via the umbilical connector. What is the best source for this 12v line? Direct from chassis battery, from chassis side of isolator, from coach battery/s, etc.What say the experts out there? ? ? ?Steve S. Lazy Bones & Jiggs
Re: Opinions/Suggestions Reply #1 – April 17, 2010, 07:23:43 pm Yahoo Message Number: 111936QuoteWhat is the best source for this 12v line? Direct from chassis battery, from chassis side of isolator, from coach battery/s, etc. I'd go with direct to the chassis battery. MAKE SURE there is a fuse at each end, close to each battery.Art
Re: Opinions/Suggestions Reply #2 – April 17, 2010, 10:49:50 pm Yahoo Message Number: 111938"Seeing as the Honda toads have a history of battery depletion while being towed..."Just curious, Steve--where did you hear this? It was news to me. For what it's worth, the most common cause of toad battery depletion is the use of "brake in a box" style auxiliary braking systems (such as Brake Buddy) that plug into the toad's 12V outlet. These systems draw heavy power when braking, and can seriously deplete a toad's battery in the course of a long day's drive. Permanently installed systems such as US Gear's Unified Tow Brake and (I believe) the SMI's Stay-IN-Play Duo have dedicated charging lines to avoid this problem. Dunno exactly how the connect them, though.Andy Baird http://www.andybaird.com/travels/
Re: Opinions/Suggestions Reply #3 – April 17, 2010, 11:30:31 pm Yahoo Message Number: 111939On Apr 17, 2010, at 9:46 PM, Andy wrote:QuotePermanently installed systems such as US Gear's Unified Tow Brake and (I believe) the SMI's Stay-IN-Play Duo have dedicated charging lines to avoid this problem You are correct sir, SMI's runs off the LD via a standard 4-wire connection.[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Re: Opinions/Suggestions Reply #4 – April 18, 2010, 05:17:04 am Yahoo Message Number: 111941Blue Ox's new Patriot Braking System is kind of unique in that it has it's own self contained rechargeable battery which is among the easiest to hook up since it is also wireless. They recently came out with this new unit!Ed 94' LD 26.5' MidBath Port Richey, FL
Re: Opinions/Suggestions Reply #5 – April 18, 2010, 09:45:51 am Yahoo Message Number: 111943Quote Group Seeing as the Honda toads have a history of battery depletion while being towed, I intend to have a charge line installed via the umbilical connector. What is the best source for this 12v line? Direct from chassis battery, from chassis side of isolator, from coach battery/s, etc.What say the experts out there? ? ? ?Steve S. Lazy Bones & Jiggs If you have a Brake Buddy, the BB folks will send you a kit no charge. I am having one installed in our 2010 CR-V this week. After towing 2 days w/o one recently, the battery was discharged when I arrived home - even with starting the Honda in the morning before leaving. Part # 39305. BB might sell it to you even if you don't have a BB.Chris
Re: Opinions/Suggestions Reply #6 – April 18, 2010, 09:51:10 am Yahoo Message Number: 111944If you have a stick shift, like we do in our Honda Element, you can even leave it running as you tow.best, paulPS> AS I discovered one time much to my chagrin ;( ___ 'Thriving not Surviving' See our websites at www. LazyDazers.com www. Bike70th.net www. SMARTERyellowpages.com & www. ReformUSCongress.org
Re: Opinions/Suggestions Reply #7 – April 18, 2010, 09:55:29 am Yahoo Message Number: 111945Quote Group Seeing as the Honda toads have a history of battery depletion while being towed, I intend to have a charge line installed via the umbilical connector. What is the best source for this 12v line? Direct from chassis battery, from chassis side of isolator, from coach battery/s, etc.What say the experts out there? ? ? ?Steve S. Lazy Bones & Jiggs Here's a link to the BB kit. Looks like you could buy it directly from BB.Chris
Re: Opinions/Suggestions Reply #8 – April 18, 2010, 10:58:06 am Yahoo Message Number: 111947QuoteIf you have a stick shift, like we do in our Honda Element, you can even leave it running as you tow. We towed a Honda Element stick shift, didn't leave it running when towing, and never had a problem with battery depletion. We used the ReadyBrute tow bar along with their ReadyBrake braking system.Linda Hylton http://earl-linda.blogspot.com/
Re: Opinions/Suggestions Reply #9 – April 18, 2010, 12:16:57 pm Yahoo Message Number: 111948Quote "Seeing as the Honda toads have a history of battery depletion while being towed..."Just curious, Steve--where did you hear this? It was news to me. I believe Steve and I were comparing notes about this problem at a last summer outing at Fort Bragg. My problem eventually turned out to be bad battery in my new 2009 Honda CRV and not the SMI braking system. Honda quickly replaced. No problems since.Joe Hamm
Re: Opinions/Suggestions Reply #10 – April 18, 2010, 12:21:10 pm Yahoo Message Number: 111949Quote "Seeing as the Honda toads have a history of battery depletion while being towed...""Just curious, Steve--where did you hear this? It was news to me."Andy Baird Well, Andy, you only need Google; "Honda", "Toad", "Battery", etc. and you'll find plenty of info on how Honda's are noted for battery depletions problems and the appropriate fuse to pull, and other 'fixes' that folks have undertaken. My own personal experience has been similar. I owned and towed a 2002 Honda Civic for over 5 years. In the early days I'd have to jump start the toad in order to get going in the morning. Then I had my local RV tech add a 12v charge line between the LD and the Honda. End of problems, from that day forward I never had another incident. I've just traded the '02 Civic for an '08 CR-V. The indications are that this new vehicle is going to need help as well. I was just trying to garner ideas for the best way to go about it. Incidentally I've used the SMI aux. brake system (Stay-IN-Play) on both vehicles.Steve S. Lazy Bones & Jiggs
Re: Opinions/Suggestions Reply #11 – April 18, 2010, 12:25:24 pm Yahoo Message Number: 111950We've had SMI & Stay-IN-Play on our Honda Element since 2004. Only had a problem when the battery was three years old. (Hmmmm.... That time may be coming again)best, paul ___ 'Thriving not Surviving' See our websites at www. LazyDazers.com www. Bike70th.net www. SMARTERyellowpages.com & www. ReformUSCongress.org
Re: Opinions/Suggestions Reply #12 – April 18, 2010, 12:28:53 pm Yahoo Message Number: 111951QuoteHere's a link to the BB kit. Looks like you could buy it directly from BB.Chris Thanks for the link Chris. And here's another which just might be a better choice.Steve S. Lazy Bones & Jiggs
Re: Opinions/Suggestions Reply #13 – April 18, 2010, 12:54:58 pm Yahoo Message Number: 111955"you only need Google; 'Honda,' 'Toad,' 'Battery,' etc. and you'll find plenty of info..." I tried it, and there were indeed some stories of dead batteries in towed Hondas. But I was curious about other brands, so I tried 'saturn toad battery' and 'jeep toad battery,' and guess what? I found plenty of stories of dead batteries with those cars as well, despite the fact that neither brand has a reputation for dead batteries. Apparently a lot of people are towing with setups that don't include 12V charging, such as your own setup before you added the charging line. It's not just Hondas that run into this situation. Lesson learned: All car brands have problems occasionally, and everything ends up on the internet sooner or later... so a few Google hits don't necessarily prove that a given brand has an unusually high number of failures.Andy Baird http://www.andybaird.com/travels/
Re: Opinions/Suggestions Reply #14 – April 18, 2010, 01:17:59 pm Yahoo Message Number: 111958Quote "It's not just Hondas that run into this situation. Lesson learned: All car brands have problems occasionally, and everything ends up on the internet sooner or later... so a few Google hits don't necessarily prove that a given brand has an unusually high number of failures."Andy Baird Yup, guess that's correct! I was also aware of the 'others'. But since my experience has been ONLY with the Honda brand that's where I'm coming from. When I was doing my homework to purchase the new '08 CR-V I got a CarFacts report which said; "Battery replaced Dec. 2009". I was curious to know why a two year old car with only 18,000 miles on the odometer needed a battery change. Then, over the first few days after I got it home, I noticed that the cranking was not overly robust. A check with my trusted local mechanic confirmed that this new battery was indeed "bad". He put a quick charge on it and said to keep an eye open. Since it's still under factory warranty I decided to have a Honda dealer look at it. Of course, since it had just been charged, they found no problem. Now, about a week later, the cranking is once again pretty anemic, not enough to keep it from starting but weak none the less.Steve S. Lazy Bones & Jiggs
Re: Opinions/Suggestions Reply #15 – April 18, 2010, 01:18:31 pm Yahoo Message Number: 111959QuoteThanks for the link Chris. And here's another which just might be a better choice.http://www.lslproducts.com/ToadChargePage.html>Steve S. Lazy Bones & Jiggs Indeed it looks good but a bit pricey compared to the BB kit. I used the BB kit on my '95 Accord for 8 yrs and never had a battery failure. Just trying to save you some bucks. (-:Chris
Re: Opinions/Suggestions Reply #16 – April 18, 2010, 02:06:37 pm Yahoo Message Number: 111963lejest2003 wrote: Now, about a week later, the cranking is once again pretty anemic, not enough to keep it from starting but weak none the less. --- Steve, just a suggestion, but you might want to ask your mechanic to do step by step diagnostic tests to discover why a new/fully charged battery isn't able to hold a charge. I found this article helpful in becoming aware of some of the possibilities of why a battery might be "crashing" without an obvious cause: http://www.aa1car.com/library/battery_runs_down.htm Joan
Re: Opinions/Suggestions Reply #17 – April 18, 2010, 03:28:08 pm Yahoo Message Number: 111968I've used two different Honda CRVs as toads and never, ever had their battery run down as a result of towing. Both had USGear hard-installed tow brake systems (I'd never use anything else now that I know from experience how great that system is). Maybe just lucky, but clearly there is nothing inherently problematic about Honda's batteries.And we'll be using the 2006 CRV *again* with our new LD.David in Long Beach (for the moment)
Re: Opinions/Suggestions Reply #18 – April 18, 2010, 03:38:27 pm Yahoo Message Number: 111970"I found this article helpful in becoming aware of some of the possibilities of why a battery might be "crashing" without an obvious cause:"Quote http://www.aa1car.com/library/battery_runs_down.htm Joan Wow! Thanks Joan, even if I personally do not need the info it was certainly an informative and entertaining read. Much of what your link covers has already been done by my local mechanic. Now it's just convincing Honda to cover the same ground.I'm probably going out and purchase one of those KAM devices.Steve S. Lazy Bones & Jiggs
Re: Opinions/Suggestions Reply #19 – April 18, 2010, 06:04:39 pm Yahoo Message Number: 111975Quote from: lejest2003 Seeing as the Honda toads have a history of battery depletion while being towed, I intend to have a charge line installed via the umbilical connector. ======================= Steve: We've towed a '99 Honda CR-V for around 7 years and have yet to experience any depletion of the battery. We don't know where you heard it had a "history of battery depletion," but it isn't true.Anne JohnsonLovely La Verne, CA
Re: Opinions/Suggestions Reply #20 – April 18, 2010, 10:22:46 pm Yahoo Message Number: 111984"We don't know where you heard it had a "history of battery depletion," but it isn't true."Quote Anne Johnson Well Anne, I disagree with your contention. See my message 111949 wherein I explained the situation. "My own personal experience has been similar. I owned and towed a 2002 Honda Civic for over 5 years. In the early days I'd have to jump start the toad in order to get going in the morning. Then I had my local RV tech add a 12v charge line between the LD and the Honda. End of problems, from that day forward I never had another incident." So I guess it boils down to your prespective vs mine! I'm happy that your experience was better than mine, but mine was factual none the less.Steve S. Lazy Bones & Jiggs
Re: Opinions/Suggestions Reply #21 – April 19, 2010, 10:51:05 am Yahoo Message Number: 111993Quote Lesson learned: All car brands have problems occasionally, and everything ends up on the internet sooner or later... so a few Google hits don't necessarily prove that a given brand has an unusually high number of failures.Andy Baird http://www.andybaird.com/travels/ It was a known issue with our 08 Chevy HHR. I installed a fused rocker switch to the appropriate fuse and turn it off when towing.Jim C
Re: Opinions/Suggestions Reply #22 – April 19, 2010, 12:04:43 pm Yahoo Message Number: 111995Jim C: I have a 08 HHR, as well. Would you mind giving me a little more info on the "fused rocker switch" installation. Are fused rocker switches for fuses widely available?Doug
Re: Opinions/Suggestions Reply #23 – April 19, 2010, 01:06:29 pm Yahoo Message Number: 111997QuoteJim C: I have a 08 HHR, as well. Would you mind giving me a little more info on the "fused rocker switch" installation. Are fused rocker switches for fuses widely available? Doug I have yet to do this but here are some solutions for the HHR: http://fulltime-rv.blogspot.com/2009/06/new-tow-car-installing-bracket-and.htmlhttp://www.rv-partsplus.com/home/accessories/ http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/23028151.cfm ymmv Jerry in Simi Valley 2000 30 IB / 06 HHR
Re: Opinions/Suggestions Reply #24 – April 20, 2010, 11:14:53 am Yahoo Message Number: 112015Jerry's post which followed yours has the links. I bought the piece from the place noted on the second of his links. I should have pieced it together myself. The only problem with the part I ordered is the pieces that plug into the spot
Topic: Opinions/Suggestions (Read 6 times)
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Topic: Opinions/Suggestions (Read 6 times)
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