50 amp load to a trailer.

I'm considering adding a Anderson 50amp connector on the back of my Tacoma . Aside from all the complexities of running 4awg mounting the connector etc, what would this mean for the charging system?

Can a 3rd gen with a tow package supply 50amps extra?

 

That’s probably an excessive load, especially at idle. Would you be pulling 50amps the whole time? High amp alternators are available

 

No idea what the 4th gen alternator output is but requirung 50amps for more then a minute or two without running dual batteries and/or high output alternator seems excessive.

 

is it a continuous 50a, or peak?

 

Why would you need to run 600 watts to the trailer while in motion?

Whatever it is, there are better solutions than putting that kind of vampire on your truck.

 

Burning Man?

 

It's a travel trailer. It would be a means to charge a battery bank. It sounds like a bad idea. Thanks for the help.

 

50A is a pretty large load, here's a thread I found on the load while running for a 2021 with a 130A alternator. You could do this, but you would have to be aware of not running the 400W inverter at the same time to keep the Amps down to a reasonable level.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...-amp-draw-and-alternator-loads-tested.821385/

 

Travel trailer means you have a big roof to put stuff
Get some solar panels up there and do a smaller 12v load, say 30amps. That should be ok

 

My battery bank is fairly small - I'm running 120Ah LiFePO on my trailer. It does get a tiny charge from the stock pigtail, but I don't want or need more than that (mainly because the charge profiles between the truck's flooded battery and Lithium are "just different enough").

Here are my suggestions -

I run two folding solar panels, 100W each. A good sunny day will easily put 40Ah back into the battery, often more. That's enough for me. (Budget 6 hours daylight at 75% panel efficiency, try to put three days worth of average consumption into one day recharge. Sometimes it rains.)

On top of that, you can also install roof-mount panels. It depends on how large your battery bank is.

And as a last resort, there's always the gas genset as a backup. I only bring the gas brap machine if I need to run the AC unit.

Edit: folding panels in action.

I can't say enough about em. I've taken several week-long sojourns, I've had to refill water nearly every trip, but I've never run short on electric.

 

The battery bank in trailer?
I have two 12V batteries in front trailer tongue box and run just 2, 100W panels on the roof. Thats plenty to keep it trickle charging throughout the day and even run an inverter for small TV and old school Ps1 for kids.
Its all about Amp Hours (bank capacity)and wattage for your input.

Not sure of your design case though

 

A small 2K inverter that sips gas and a charger it can handle would be more cost efficient for the times you need a charge. I wired in a 12V DC to 120v A/C inverter that is 2000 watts in my Honda and next time I'll likely just bring a 2K inverter though It do do everything it needed to do, run a coffee maker and a Nuwave induction stove single burner.. [NOT at the same time]

Is the 50amps needed to run everything at the same time? That's a decent load. Or is that the max the batteries will take when recharging? [a 2K inverter will only do 16 amps or so max.]

 

You can absolutely add a DC-DC charger to the truck and be fine. I’d stick with a 30amp version for a little buffer room but it’s a common way to increase the charge rate for trailer batteries while towing. A good DC-DC charger from Victron includes an auto detect feature to inhibit charging if the truck is not running.

 

I think the thing everyone in this thread needs to remember is that the 50A is just the max the connector can handle, and no mention of the charging system on the trailer for what it can pull, or what's needed. We have a small toy hauler with a single 300AH LifePO battery and the 400W of solar keep it nicely charged. I could see the reason for it, if you were camping off grid and wanted that charging while driving but making sure the alternator and Tacoma system is set up to handle it, a larger alternator would be best, but may not be necessary.

 

I think everyone in this thread is confusing 50a 120 volt a/c shore or grid power.

The 50a plugs are for running the camper when parked in a campground that has power.

Most rv's can run on 120 volt ac or 12 volt DC.

There is no 50a plugs for 12 volt dc power supply.

 

No 12v 50 amp connections from the factory, but adding a DC-DC charger to the trailer is fairly common. Charging at 30 amps when driving is a lot better than 8 amps through the factory 7pin wiring.

 

There is a 50A connector, Google the one he mentioned in the first post, it's one I've seen used for connecting a winch to the back of a truck but also can be used to charge the camper 12V, completely separate from the standard 30A and 50A 120V system.

 

I ran 4ga wire from truck battery, (through a solenoid for fun) to a large anderson plug at rear, connected to a dump trailer, that has an onboard 12v battery. On short trips the trailer battery would not charge enough off the 7pin alone.
This allows me to dump all i want. The dump trailer draws ~200a while dumping. I leave the taco idling while using the hoist.
Ive been doing this for 3-4 years with no problems.

 

Running cable from your truck battery to the rear with an anderson plug to the trailer with a dcdc charger to the battery bank is a great primary charging source. Victron makes a small dcdc now that is great. (I have this configuration on my t4r with my travel trailer)

solar is more of a topoff/trickle charge power source unless you have 700+ watts.


Example of my travel trailer power system. The markups are some changes i made. There is some redundancy with the breaker and switch. But i had the space and i wanted the kill switch to be clear as day.





new victron dcdc for smart alts - https://www.victronenergy.com/dc-dc-converters/orion-xs-dc-dc-battery-chargers

victron dcdc that i use - https://www.victronenergy.com/dc-dc-converters/orion-tr-smart#pd-nav-image