I finally got all the bugs worked out for my battery install into my sled (to make a long story short, I found out that I had inadvertantly connected a DC ground and AC ground together, causing everything to stay at around 2-3v). I had to put a rectifier in to convert the AC to DC. What I would like to do now is find a way to keep the battery charged while it is on the trailer/in the bed of my truck. I know that the battery will charge as long as there is voltage being supplied to it so what I want to do is add a connector to my trailer that I can connect my sled so the battery will charge while I'm trailering it to the trails.
So far, here is what I am brainstorming:
Household plug (probably using an old extension cord) that I keep a short length coiled neatly in the front of the sled. Then mount a female plug to the trailer itself and converting the 4 way plug to a 7 way using the normal common ground/battery charge (+) for the power (see https://www.marksrv.com/wiring.htm for diagram).This will make it very easy to connect/disconnect the charger w/out any additional steps for taking the trailer off. I will have to see how the factory 7 way plug is wired, but if its a constant + signal, I will have to install a 40amp relay so that the sled battery "charger" is only seeing power when the ignition is on. I'm probably making it sound a hell of a lot more complicated than it really is, but thats how my brain goes.. lol.
I do have a couple quick questions about the setup though:
1) Is there anything I am missing that may not work very well?
2) Once the snowmobile battery is at 12 volts, it will stop sucking power correct?? If so I may leave the signal as a constant + rather than installing the relay b/c I do not for-see that small of a battery EVER killing my optima. (unless i leave the sled lights on).
3) Will the factory 14/16gauge wiring be sufficient? How many amps will the battery try to pull if it is running low?
Thanks again guys. If I can actually ever get around to this, I will be sure to post up pictures and a how-to on the whole process.
Kenny
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Kenny
Owner / Technician
KKD Garage LLC
Albany, NY 12205
I don't see any issues with this other than the fact you might boil the battery dry on your sled while trailering down the road and then you will be buying new batterys all the time
if your truck is running and putting out 13 to 14 volts and the wire going to your sleds battery is from the truck + and - to the sleds + and - while it sits on the trailer driving down the road it will be charging the sled battery but if the battery is full and not in use then it could start to boil same as it would sitting on a work bench with a charger hooked up to it
I would see no reason for you to have to worry about charging your sleds battery it should hold a charge and any sled i know of has there own charging system built into them