Battery Cut Off

[TravisBatesUtah]

Hello,

I’m not an electrician, plumbing is all I can do. I want to put a battery cut off switch on my Kodiak Ultra-Lite 296BHSL.

I’m hoping someone could kindly share which side would be my “input” for power. Left or Right side? I’m thinking it’s the left. My reasoning is there are two black (neg) cables in that box that I am presuming are for the side and top solar prep ports.

Any insights and friendly suggestions would be much appreciated. Thank you!

[persistent]

The two red wires to the left side box ares the positive wires. The black wire on the battery in the right box is the negative wire. Remove both red wires and connect to shut off switch.

You must be careful to always turn the shut off switch "on" before towing. The battery is needed to operate the trailer emergency brake.

I have no idea what the two black wires that dive into the left box are. There should be nothing under the batteries to connect to. Pull the battery and see what they are connected to.

There is a safer way to wire in the shut off switch. There should be a self re-setting circuit breaker in the red wire circuit. (See red rubber boot in the pictures.) The emergency brake wire may be connected there or in a near by junction box.

Install the shut off switch down stream of the emergency brake so brake, self re-setting breaker and tow vehicle 12 volt line are on the battery side of the shut off switch. The other red wire now on the positive terminal should go to the house side of the switch.

[persistent]

If the two wayward black wires are for the solar ports, they should go to frame ground or to the black wire terminal in the right box. The solar port red wires should have their own fuses somewhere.

[TravisBatesUtah]

Yeah, those two black wires connect to nothing, I can see both of the terminal loops in the bottom of the box. Quality control.

The little fuse junction on the left (forward) appears to be the one controlling the emergency brake, that little black box is visible. I can see if I can install a break AFTER that red fuse junction.

As far as the two red wires feeding the left battery, I assume one is from shore power and one is from solar?

Thank you for being helpful, my dealer isn't. And power scares the hell out of me.

[TallyFeli]

Hi.....Most travel trailers don't have a cutoff switch on the batteries which are situated on the tongue. They do make battery cutoff switches that main expense a couple of dollars and you can introduce yourself.

The easiest way is to separate the negative battery link and that will hold the battery back from releasing for quite a while.

There are presumably parasitic depletes on that battery (radio a propane locator among others). The best way to stop that it to thoroughly disengage the battery.

[chily3]

I am old school, always put the cutoff in the negative cable.

[videoarizona]

You are running two 6volt batteries in series.
The wiring is correct.
Your emergency brake is wired to a breaker, your wire from your 7pin plug that powers the
The trailer lights and charges the battery is wired to a breaker as well. The 3rd breaker is usually used to protect the electric jack on the tongue... But it's hard to see on the pictures.

There are two thoughts on where to put a battery disconnect switch. Some say positive, some negative. Going negative isolates the positive side anywhere on the trailer. With the negative disconnected, your could accidently short a wrench across anywhere on the trailer and not have a problem. If the battery and the trailer are not connected by a ground, there is no short circuit. This is what is referred to as old school thinking. Very valid.
Putting the disconnect switch on the positive side, right after the positive battery terminal does not give you this old school protection but does disconnect the battery from the trailer just fine.
So it really is your choice. I put my switch on the positive side only because it was convenient. Right on the battery cover.

Regarding the emergency brake.... Mine gets it's power from the 7pin breakout box. On my trailer, the 7pin power from truck goes to the distribution box just behind the trailer tongue. It connects to the same positive circuit that comes from the WFCO power center that charges the battery. Then a positive wire runs from that same connector to the 30amp circuit breaker on the tongue then to the battery positive. This is the main battery protection. The power also goes from that same circuit breaker and is daisy chained to the emergency brake and then electric tongue jack. Since I always travel with my battery connected, I'm safe for emergencies and trickle charging the battery while traveling. My 2 6 Volt batteries love the trickle charge. I do disconnect the battery from the trailer when in storage and most times when at a park using their 120 volt power. This minimizes over charging possibilities.

Long post... And maybe hard to follow. But basically what I'm saying is trace the wires. Grab a pencil and paper and make a diagram of what you see. That way you can better understand. Plus, you can take a picture of that paper and post it here for clarification.

Many trailers are wired so different, it makes me wonder how the industry can keep track of what they do! Oh... That's right..They can't! I have a Coleman CTU 249RB. Think anyone has a wire diagram for it? Coachman? No. Coleman? No.
Sigh...

[franktafl]

Speaking of cut off switches, the cutoff switch on my 5th wheel is a joke of some sort. It cuts off some of the 12 volt systems like the command center and a few of the other things but NOT everything and definitely not the fridge. For that, you must locate the push button switch for the inverter (even if EVERY circuit breaker is off, including the mains) and yes, there is a circuit breaker for the inverter but nothing shuts it off except for the button. Running the fridge overnight drains the batteries to the point where they are almost dead. I would put my battery cutoff in the negative side-if it were me! But who knows, I’m old

[videoarizona]

Originally Posted by franktafl

Speaking of cut off switches, the cutoff switch on my 5th wheel is a joke of some sort. It cuts off some of the 12 volt systems like the command center and a few of the other things but NOT everything and definitely not the fridge. For that, you must locate the push button switch for the inverter (even if EVERY circuit breaker is off, including the mains) and yes, there is a circuit breaker for the inverter but nothing shuts it off except for the button. Running the fridge overnight drains the batteries to the point where they are almost dead. I would put my battery cutoff in the negative side-if it were me! But who knows, I’m old

Quite a few RVs are set up that way. And they all produce the same effect...discharge surprises! You probably have a battery compartment on your 5th? Be easy for you to wire in another"Main" battery disconnect switch.Just saying...

I'm moving away from my GC2 batteries to a 200 amp lithium and relocating it inside under the dinette. I will probably put my disconnect on the negative side as the positive side will have a 200amp fuse followed by a 100 amp circuit breaker (load disconnect) then the buss bar. This way the negative side will have the disconnect, then a shunt then the buss bar. Keep the install near.

One thing for sure, you can simply drop in a lithium battery and make no changes, but you aren't getting the full benefits of the lithium system. It's been quite an education and fun buying all the stuff needed to have a fully functional lithium system. And that's just for the battery support. Solar is step 2!

Oh Travis, I drilled a small hole in the top cover of one of the battery covers. Installed my disconnect switch there. Left enough cable so I could lift the cover off to service batteries.
Works well. Been there 4 years with no issues. I turn off switch, remove key and put in truck.