Towed Battery Charger + Troubleshooting

A. PLEASE NOTE: The Towed Battery Charger Plus is not compatible with the Chevy Equinox from 2019-present. We recommend a charger made by Victron Energy (not associated with RVi in any way) that can supply up to 20A and has the ability to keep up with the Equinox's enormous drain. That product can be found HERE. 

There can be a few reasons why the battery is dying. You could have a bad cell in the towed battery, too much current draw from not pulling fuses, 12V might not be running from the motorhome batteries to the 7-pin at the rear bumper, there could be a blown fuse, or the Towed Battery Charger +(TBC+) could be defective. Try the following troubleshooting steps:

Check the light on the RV side of the TBC+

1. With the motorhome running and TBC+ connected, check the light on the "RV" side of the charger.

   • GREEN - 13 volts (flashing = charging | solid = not charging)

   • YELLOW - 12-13 volts (flashing = charging | solid = not charging)

   • RED - Below 12 volts (flashing = charging | solid = not charging)

2. If you see a green light on the RV side of the TBC+, the power source is sufficient. 

3. If you see a yellow light it may still charge, however,  you're likely pulling power from an insufficient source. Check the power source on your multi-pin connector with a volt meter and verify that (with the motorhome running) it shows 13+ volts. If you do not find a hot 13+ volts, then the umbilical may be bad.

Test the umbilical

1. Plug in the umbilical into the motorhome's 7-pin.

2. Using a multimeter, touch the negative lead to the ground pin and go around the pins.

3. If you see hot 13+ volts, then we know the umbilical is good and can proceed to test the TBC.

Check for proper ground at the towed vehicle

Make sure the TBC+'s ground wire (smooth wire) is securely fastened into the ground pin on your 6/7 pin connecter at the towed vehicle. 

Test the TBC

1. Check the fuse on the positive (textured) wire of the TBC+. If the fuse is good, proceed to test the TBC.

2. With the umbilical unplugged from the towed vehicle and TBC+ attached to the towed battery, check the light on the towed vehicle side of the TBC+

   • FLASHING BLUE - Above 12 volts 

   • FLASHING YELLOW - 11-12 volts 

   • FLASHING RED - Below 11 volts 

   • SOLID RED - Error

3. Plug in the umbilical to the motorhome and the towed vehicle and start the motorhome.

4. Check the light on the towed vehicle side of the TBC+ again

A. There are a few possible causes of this.

If you're seeing no lights whatsoever on your TBC+ and you've already checked out the video above, try these two resets to see if you can get your blue light to start blinking again:

"Soft Reset"

1. Disconnect your umbilical harness running from the motorhome to your towed.

2. Pull the charger's inline fuse and hold it out for at least 60 seconds. This timeframe is critical. 

3. Re-insert the fuse and check for a blue flashing light. If you see nothing, move to the next reset:

"Hard Reset" 

1. Disconnect the TBC+ from your battery - both the positive and the negative wire.

2. Hold those two ring terminals together so that they're making constant contact for at least 60 seconds.

3. After that timeframe, reattach the charger to your battery. If your blue light is still not blinking, please reach out to RVi Customer Service.