Posted 2010-12-11 10:21 AM (#127957) Subject: Can truck be wired to run hydrolic jack?
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 322 Location: Fort Madison, Iowa
Bought a different trailer this year so new to having a hydrolic jack. I had my batteries pulled out and know my hydrolic jack runs off of them.
Just wondered if there's a way to wire the truck so I could plug in the trailer to run the jack instead of putting a battery back in just in case I'd need to use the trailer.
I don't believe the truck is wired to recharge the battery running down the road and wondered if it was wired for that if it would run the jack.
Posted 2010-12-11 10:55 AM (#127958 - in reply to #127957) Subject: RE: Can truck be wired to run hydrolic jack?
Expert
Posts: 2958 Location: North Carolina
There's a way if you're willin'
The trailer connector for the lights and brake can't carry the jack's load. So you'll have to have a separate connector.
Figurin' the jack pulls 50 amps at 12 volts, want less than 2% voltage drop...
Run no more than 15 feet of #2 copper wire from your truck battery to the back of the truck. Install a connector capable of 50 amps: at the truck rear AND another connector on the trailer (wired to the trailer battery). Install a matching connector on the jack wire. Ground the negative wires to the respective frames.
Connect the jack to which ever source you want to use...
If you run more than 15 feet of wire, you'll need to increase the wire size for the length. If the jack pulls more than 50 amps you'll need to increase the wire size too. Use an internet wire calculator to find the new wire size.
Posted 2010-12-11 3:13 PM (#127962 - in reply to #127957) Subject: RE: Can truck be wired to run hydrolic jack?
Expert
Posts: 5870 Location: western PA
Originally written by horsin around on 2010-12-11 11:21 AM
Just wondered if there's a way to wire the truck so I could plug in the trailer to run the jack instead of putting a battery back in just in case I'd need to use the trailer.
I don't believe the truck is wired to recharge the battery running down the road and wondered if it was wired for that if it would run the jack.