Dead toad battery

harrisgowing · Post by **harrisgowing** » Fri Dec 27, 2013 10:17 pm

We have had our 2004 26 RSB since buying it new and have never towed until now. This August we had a Blue Ox system and Brake Buddy installed for towing our 2003 Acura MDX.The MDX can be towed flat and we have followed the instructions in the MDX manual. We towed for the first time from home 5 days ago to our daughter's in southern MI, about 275 miles in very cold temps, and everything worked fine, except for the compressor on the Brake Buddy. They sent us a replacement Brake Buddy and that worked fine the first time. We drove the MDX separately for 3 days and it was fine. We reconnected to the RV and traveled about 150 miles today and the MDX battery was dead. We had the MDX parking lights on for visibility. We had the battery charged at a truck place, they said it should be fine and we traveled about 100 more miles and the MDX battery is now dead. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. We are trying to get to Florida! Thanks!

Mel Wilbur · Post by **Mel Wilbur** » Fri Dec 27, 2013 11:05 pm

I don't have an answer for a quick fix on the road but you may want to check out the following for the future http://www.lslproducts.net/ToadChargePage.html I have used the product for many years without a problem.

whemme · Post by **whemme** » Fri Dec 27, 2013 11:36 pm

Chuck,

The combination battery drain of leaving your running lights on and the current draw to run your Brake Buddy may be the cause of your dead battery in the MDX. Question - why are you leaving your running lights on in the MDX?

You should be connecting the MDX brake lights, night lights and turn signal lights to your Born Free's electrical system via a 4-wire cable installed for that purpose.

bcope01 · Post by **bcope01** » Sat Dec 28, 2013 12:16 pm

Mel's link above includes the end period and doesn't work. Try this: http://www.lslproducts.net/ToadChargePage.html

Bill

al1florida · Post by **al1florida** » Sat Dec 28, 2013 12:50 pm

harrisgowing wrote:We have had our 2004 26 RSB since buying it new and have never towed until now. This August we had a Blue Ox system and Brake Buddy installed for towing our 2003 Acura MDX.The MDX can be towed flat and we have followed the instructions in the MDX manual. We towed for the first time from home 5 days ago to our daughter's in southern MI, about 275 miles in very cold temps, and everything worked fine, except for the compressor on the Brake Buddy. They sent us a replacement Brake Buddy and that worked fine the first time. We drove the MDX separately for 3 days and it was fine. We reconnected to the RV and traveled about 150 miles today and the MDX battery was dead. We had the MDX parking lights on for visibility. We had the battery charged at a truck place, they said it should be fine and we traveled about 100 more miles and the MDX battery is now dead. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. We are trying to get to Florida! Thanks!

First: Ditto on what Bill said about connecting lights to your BF electrical system.

But, that doesn't solve your immediate problem.

Turning your running lights off may get you to your destination. But first be sure to run your engine or drive your car for a couple of hours to get the battery well charged.

Some things to consider:
-- very cold weather reduces the capacity of the battery
-- how old is the battery? If it is 2 or 3 years old it is possible it doesn't have the same capacity it did when it was new. Yes it might be a 60 month battery, but that doesn't mean it will last that long.
-- A older battery, or even a newer battery that is weak will work fine, maybe even for 2-3 years, if you just use it to start the car, drive it for a while and park it overnight. But if you put a drain on it like running lights on for a couple of hours along with the Brake Buddy, it won't start the car.
-- When the truck place charged your battery, it probably was charged well enough for you to start the engine and drive your car for several hours to complete the charging, but not well enough well enough to have the running lights on for the 3-4 hours it took to drive 150 miles.

To truly test for a weak battery is usually an overnight process. First charge for 6-10 hours to be sure it is fully charged. Then do a load test where the battery is connected to a heavy load with heavy cables and see how far discharged the battery is after some time period.

al1florida · Post by **al1florida** » Sat Dec 28, 2013 12:55 pm

Since you probably need to turn the car's ignition on to free up the steering, that puts an additional load on the battery. Some cars put more load on the battery than others. I used to tow our 2002 Blazer for up to 3 days w/o starting the engine and didn't have problems but have read other cars do not work that well.

harrisgowing · Post by **harrisgowing** » Sat Dec 28, 2013 2:36 pm

Thank you all for the excellent information! We are up and running again after a jump this morning, with no running lights on! We suspect that there is either a problem with the way the electical cable for the Blue Ox was installed or an electrical problem with the MDX. We will have both checked when we get to Florida. In the meantime, we are running the car engine every 2 hours or so when we stop and will avoid towing after dark. Thanks again.

Chuck and Judy

bigdipper · Post by **bigdipper** » Sat Dec 28, 2013 4:33 pm

As indicated above, there are a host of possible causes, and you might even be unlucky enough to have more than one thing contributing. There is a big difference in brands and models of vehicles in the amount of current draw with ignition switch one notch to the right. A clamp ammeter around battery cable will give you a precise reading. Sometimes it helps to pull a fuse or put in a switch to do so. By all means have the Brake Buddy pump up with engine running. Maybe install highest AH battery which will fit. One solution might be to bring a charging line back from the RV. Certainly the Bargeman connector could handle same. Finally take a look at the Roadmaster site which provides some vehicle specific info in a big chart. As a PS to the above, I just looked at Roadmaster site which has note "fuses must be pulled".
Good Luck,
Ralph

whemme · Post by **whemme** » Sat Dec 28, 2013 5:42 pm

harrisgowing wrote:Thank you all for the excellent information! We are up and running again after a jump this morning, with no running lights on! We suspect that there is either a problem with the way the electical cable for the Blue Ox was installed or an electrical problem with the MDX. We will have both checked when we get to Florida. In the meantime, we are running the car engine every 2 hours or so when we stop and will avoid towing after dark. Thanks again.

Chuck and Judy

Chuck, I guess I am confused by your statement above in blue print. The Blue Ox tow bar system you had installed is separate and unrelated to the electrical cable that connects between the Born Free and the rear lights in your MDX. You should not have to avoid towing after dark since the electrical cable installation if done properly should be running all of the rear lights of your MDX. If you have to turn on the MDX's running lights in order to tow after dark, your installed electrical cable is not doing its job!

al1florida · Post by **al1florida** » Sat Dec 28, 2013 5:52 pm

Good idea about the ignition kill switch. On our Blazer I did find that the odometer ran up the miles when towing. I started pulling fuses, one at a time and towing for a little bit to see if that stopped the odometer. I was on the 5th fuse when the odometer stopped incrementing! There are several fuses labeled with something like ignition or something to do with the engine computer box. I did wire a switch in place of the fuse (with an inline fuse) so I didn't have to pull the fuse every time we towed. The switch was mounted on the side of the fuse box and I could turn leave the switch off and you couldn't start the engine.

oliverpsmile · Post by **oliverpsmile** » Sun Dec 29, 2013 1:37 am

bigdipper wrote: ...A clamp ammeter around battery cable will give you a precise reading....
Ralph

Ralph:

A clamp ammeter CAN'T read DC, only Alternating Current (AC).

tomzleapin · Post by **tomzleapin** » Sun Dec 29, 2013 7:21 am

oliverpsmile wrote:
bigdipper wrote: ...A clamp ammeter around battery cable will give you a precise reading....
Ralph
Ralph:

A clamp ammeter CAN'T read DC, only Alternating Current (AC).

Most clamp-on ammeters do not read DC amps, but a few do. I have a Mastech brand and it is probably the meter that I use most. Sears sells a Craftsman model that sells for about $50.
http://www.sears.com/craftsman-digital- ... ockType=G1

oliverpsmile · Post by **oliverpsmile** » Sun Dec 29, 2013 9:41 am

Tom

A clamp around battery cable will read ZERO. Try it for yourself. I know this stuff very well.

Dallas Baillio · Post by **Dallas Baillio** » Sun Dec 29, 2013 10:19 am

I am way in deficit about electrical problems so I ask this question for my own information. Could you just disconnect the battery terminals on the toad?

tomzleapin · Post by **tomzleapin** » Sun Dec 29, 2013 10:55 am

oliverpsmile wrote:Tom

A clamp around battery cable will read ZERO. Try it for yourself. I know this stuff very well.

Oliver, I understand what you are saying, most clamp-on meters couple inductively and in this case can only measure AC current. The meter that I have and the Craftsman that I linked to use a Hall effect sensor and can measure DC current. I use mine on a regular basis to check various battery current draws in my coach. I am a retired electronic tech and have used many types of meters in the past.

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Dead toad battery

Dead toad battery

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