The number one complaint of a dump trailer is “It won’t dump”!
The number one reason is the battery charge!
The battery on the trailer charges from the vehicle it’s hooked up to, through the same electrical plug/hook up that powers the lights
This connection is small and provides a trickle charge ONLY. If you are driving for a good distance the battery will have time to adequately charge. However, if you make short trips and dump often, the trickle charge from your vehicle can not keep up.
When the battery is low on charge and you try to operate the hoist on your trailer, the small wire that provides the trickle charge cannot handle that much amperage. This wire will burn up if there is not a fuse in the system. The fuse in the vehicle usually blows out. When this fuse is out it will not provide any charge to the battery in the trailer. The first thing to check is that the fuse on the vehicle is not blown out. Check for corrosion or loose battery cables as well. Is your battery in good condition?
In addition to the vehicles charge system working correctly, here are some things you might do or add to the trailer to help the electrical system to maintain your battery:
- Unplug your trailer light connection when operating the hoist. This will prevent the fuse in the vehicle from blowing out
- Use a battery charger to maintain the battery when not in use (some trailers will have a built in charger that may be plugged into 110 volt)
- Install a solar charger (More of a maintainer)
- Install a large battery cable setup. We commonly do this for customers that use their dump trailers often. This will allow the trailer to draw the most amperage from the tow vehicles battery and support a faster charge to the trailer battery.