Probably a dumb towing question but...

[cal]

Ok shortly after I got my Lightning I bought a 7k dump trailer for home use. Owned a single axle utility trailer in the past but it didn't have trailer brakes. So the dump trailer has a battery to raise and lower the bed. Unfortunately there is no power where the trailer is stored. Pretty sure I'm done with it until spring so I took the battery out to keep it trickle charging in the garage.

There are two questions that came to mind. Can I operate the dump without the battery (using the power from the truck trailer connector)? I don't think so because the cables to the pump are pretty big. What about driving without the battery? I know the emergency brake is activated by that battery so it would be inop if the trailer disconnected but I assume the regular trailer brakes would work fine.

Second question. When I rented a 45' electric boom to work on our greenhouse I noticed that just having the trailer connected to the truck partially drained my battery (loss of range miles). Pretty sure it's because I didn't have the boom completely turned off over night. Is this normal? I thought the only thing the truck's trailer connector did is activate lights, turn signals, and the brakes. Does it do more? At that time the truck was still pretty new to me and maybe I didn't turn it all the way off.

Thoughts?

Sponsored

 

[snowy_91]

Operate the dump? Probably not, the pump draws a lot of amps at 12 volts. A inverter with that output would make that battery look pretty cheap.

 

[Maquis]

Hooking up a trailer doesn’t drain your battery. If you look at the state of charge (SoC) you’ll find it unchanged.
The truck sees a trailer connected and predicts that you will lose range (you will) and adjusts the displayed range remaining. It may or may not be a somewhat accurate derate, that’s why we call it the Guess-O-Meter (GOM).

 

[wautard1]

No you can not operate the dump with the lightning. The dump works off 12v system and your ProPower outputs AC power. Not compatible.

For the “loss of range” it’s probably explained by the truck seeing a trailer attached and automatically cutting the range to compensate for the diminished range when towing.

 

[Adventureboy]

Hooking up a trailer doesn’t drain your battery. If you look at the state of charge (SoC) you’ll find it unchanged.
The truck sees a trailer connected and predicts that you will lose range (you will) and adjusts the displayed range remaining. It may or may not be a somewhat accurate derate, that’s why we call it the Guess-O-Meter (GOM).

Agree SOC shouldn't change. To make the GOM more accurate, you need to set up a profile for each trailer you pull and be sure to select the right profile. The truck will adjust the GOM based on the actual power used to pull a trailer on that profile (mixing trailers on the same profile will cause it to be inaccurate). Not sure I would trust it, but at least this is what the trailer profiles were designed for. It seems to work OK for my trailers and seems to be getting more accurate the more I use the trailers. It starts out very conservative it seems and adjusts as it gathers more data through multiple trips.

Thought on the battery for the dump - my friend installed a small solar panel charger on his. This maintains the battery without the need to remove it - that way it is always there to operate the dump when needed.

 

[Maquis]

Agree SOC shouldn't change. To make the GOM more accurate, you need to set up a profile for each trailer you pull and be sure to select the right profile. The truck will adjust the GOM based on the actual power used to pull a trailer on that profile (mixing trailers on the same profile will cause it to be inaccurate). Not sure I would trust it, but at least this is what the trailer profiles were designed for. It seems to work OK for my trailers and seems to be getting more accurate the more I use the trailers. It starts out very conservative it seems and adjusts as it gathers more data through multiple trips.

Thought on the battery for the dump - my friend installed a small solar panel charger on his. This maintains the battery without the need to remove it - that way it is always there to operate the dump when needed.

I use profiles for my trailers, too. I quit paying attention to the GOM. I know the SoC, the MPK, and how far I am from my destination. That’s all I need.

 

[cal]

Thanks all! I did load the profile for my trailer.

 

[hturnerfamily]

two notes:

- to power the 'trailer' equipment, simply purchase a 120v to 12v CONVERTER, or, maybe even easier, simply BATTERY CHARGER/TENDER, with alligator clips to your battery.

- you do NOT have to pick/choose/input a TRAILER just because you have one attached - the screen actually allows you to choose 'none attached' ... this way you don't have to deal with any 'range limitation' on the screen, you'll just realize less mile p/kwh, of course, depending on the weight and wind resistance of the trailer you are towing.

 

[RickLightning]

One disadvantage of not picking a trailer is that you mess up your accumulation of miles per kilowatt.

Caveat - I haven't assessed this totally in the Lightning.

For the ICE F-150s, when you select a trailer the mpg efficiency associated with that trailer accumulates under the trailer, and doesn't throw off your non-towing DTE calculations as I recall.

 

[Maquis]

One disadvantage of not picking a trailer is that you mess up your accumulation of miles per kilowatt.

Caveat - I haven't assessed this totally in the Lightning.

For the ICE F-150s, when you select a trailer the mpg efficiency associated with that trailer accumulates under the trailer, and doesn't throw off your non-towing DTE calculations as I recall.

The Lightning seems to do this just by plugging in the trailer.

I haven’t dug into this either and probably won’t because it‘s just the GOM. ?

 

[RickLightning]

The Lightning seems to do this just by plugging in the trailer.

I haven’t dug into this either and probably won’t because it‘s just the GOM. ?

On the ICE F-150s, back in the day the 4 pin connector didn't trip the "there's a trailer attached", but the 7 pin did. I always had 4 pins.

 

[Maquis]

On the ICE F-150s, back in the day the 4 pin connector didn't trip the "there's a trailer attached", but the 7 pin did. I always had 4 pins.

I suspect Lightning will be similar. I only have 7 pin.

Sponsored