Pulling a gooseneck trailer with a Deuce

[BThrasher]

Started the bob job the other day on the deuce. And wanted to know if anyone had wired up 12 volt lights and brakes for their deuce to pull a gooseneck trailer?

 

[ida34]

I was wondering about setting up a brake controller. I have an older brake controler that taps the hydralic line but I wonder if the electical load would overpower my 15 amp 24v to 12v converter. I was going to check the load then if it was going to max out the converter I figure I would just have to tap one battery for high amp 12 only. I know this is no help Thrasher but someone answering my question my partially answer your question.

On another note, for the lights you could just wire them up and put in 24v bulbs in place of the 12 bulbs. I use my trailer with my small truck too so this is not an option. I will have to use my converter or wire direct to one battery.

 

[BThrasher]

ida34
I use this trailer with other trucks also and dont want to change bulbs every time. I am going to use the cut down deuce truck for getting in and out of rough locations

 

[wallew]

I know this might sound odd, but just install a 12v battery on the trailer with one of those 'solargizers' and use that as your power source for the lights. Of course, you still have to step down the 'brake light signal' from the deuce, but that should be fairly easy.

When you AREN'T using the battery because of the deuce, just disconnect it. Or perhaps a 12v switch of some sort in line would make the disconnect easy. just a thought. jim

 

[ida34]

My trailer does have a small batt on board to lock the brakes on breakaway. I have a booster battery I could use. I could use the converter to power relays for the high amps for the brakes and lights. Might even be able to a line to to trickle charge the battery on the trailer when connected. Nice idea. I have to make a converter harness that that would attache between the truck plug and the trailer plug so that I could use it with all vehicles with no lasting modification. I would have to run a line from the battery foward to run the brake controller but could use relays for the lights. The gears are turning.

 

[rmgill]

I'm currently dealing with a 24/12 volt issue. I chose to swap bulbs out for 24 volt type bulbs as easiets. My 24/12 volt converter is going to power cab equipment like my GPS and the 24 volt brake converter. I need to tap into the brake air lines to get a second brake function switch that I can feed 12 volts so I can tell the brake controller that the brakes are "on" when I hit the brakes.

An alternative is that you can replace the bulbs with LEDs that are dual voltage. That way you can run both and just feed the needed voltage. But....that's harder with marker lights and such.

 

[Rattlehead]

Maintaining a 12v system from your 24v vehicle

I am using my deuce as a camper, and need 12v in the back for lights, radio, etc. What I ended up doing was to run 24v to a solar charge controller, which does a full 3-stage charging to my 12 battery bank. The charge controller must be a pulse width modulated style, and NOT a shunt. I used a Xantrex (Trace) C-60 model. It is rated at 60 amps continuous. Depending on your needs, they also make a C35 rated at 35 amps continuous. There are other manufacturers also.

The system is a little more complicated than that, in that I ran the truck's alternator feed to a battery isolater to separate the two systems, which prevents draining the truck's batteries, and prevents heavy surge currents from the truck's batteries. I also put a 100 amp relay in the circuit that goes to the 12v charge controller, so that I can switch it off if needed.

 

[mangus580]

What my plan was, was to toss a 12v battery under the seat, and power it with a trickle charger, from a 24v inverter...

 

[73m819]

for a brake inuse signal, just put a pressure switch installed on a clad hand then put it on the service brake cladhand on the back of the truck

 

[DrFoster]

A simple resistor in line with the brake triggers should drop your voltage to 12V, I suppose.

Another more complex idea would be to wire a 12V bus off of a single battery, and add in a cheap 12V alternator from an older car. Brackets and v-belt should be really simple with some welding and maybe belting it in with the rest of the accy's on the crank...

 

[rmgill]

Well, I have to run 12 volts in the cab to power my GPS for navigation and it'd be nice to have some tunes on the iPod. But since I decided to depart from the trailer mounted Brake Controller setup (Squirt Truck's idea and he's moving away from it too it appears) I have to get lots of amps in the cab. It won't be difficult but rather just fiddly to tap in a T line in the air line system under the cab.

I decided to move the brake controller because of the need for settings depending on the weight of the cargo on the trailer and the desire to have some diagnostics showing how the brakes are working. Squirt-truck designed a really nice box that has the controller in the back, I patterned my interface box off this, but didn't go as far as adding a 12 and 24 volt system for the lights working via relays.

 

[Trango]

Just a reality check - any alternator always needs to be connected to a battery, even a dead battery, or it will fry itself.

Cheers
Bob

 

[DrFoster]

And it won't be able to power the field coil, right?

 

[Trango]

Dunno if the field will get powered or not.... I have a barely functional grasp of alternator tech.

 

[ylecyote]

I get along fine pulling twelve volt from the middle of the two batteries. Its not key switched of course.
If all you wanted was twelve volt you just need a series /parallel switch to put in line as many modern trucks use and then a 12 volt alternator. then switch all your bulbs out. Starter still uses 24 volt and rest of truck uses 12.

 

[DrFoster]

Yeah - I'm pretty sure any alternator uses a line from the battery to power the field coil (edit: Isn't that why THREE lines go in and only two come out?) in order to create the energy needed to power up the magnet or whatever to start the electrical generation... So, yes; I suppose the alternator either wouldn't go at all, or would fry without the battery as a "padding" in the system to vent off extra generation or create the energy in the first place.... correct me if I'm wrong here, I'm not a really good car Doctor, just a people doctor, and maybe turbo systems... LOL

 

[Hookin1]

I have been pondering this question for a while.I am thinking of buying some drop resistors and tying into the trailer hookup making a box and putting a 7 way plug in it so i can pull civie trailers without changing my military connector.

 

[BThrasher]

Hookin1
BINGO! This is what I am wanting to do with the gooseneck trailer. Where can I get the drop resistors? And what amp?

 

[DrFoster]

Find an electrical calulator online - fairly easy math, but I can't remember it offhand... I THINK you're looking at a 10K resistor on each + and - sides to get to 12v.

 

[DrFoster]

I need to correct that - I believe you'll need a 1000 ohm resistor on each side, make sure the wattage capablility is high enough to handle all of the trailer lights, and you should be fine.

Now that I had a chance to think about it:

24V+----------^^^^1K ohm^^^^---12v+ Light bulbs 12v- ------^^^^1K ohm^^^------ 24v-

Somebody correct me if I'm off my rocker.