I was looking at the Blue Ox Patriot system, but after reviewing the RViBrake2, I am thinking this might be the one I will go with. I plan on attending Hershey next week so I will have an opportunity to check them out.
The RViBrake claims to have 3 days of use before discharging the battery, but that seems to be overly optimistic to me.
Having said that, I did notice that RViBrake (among a couple of others) have a 12V trickle charger that uses 12V from the moho to charge the toad battery, so I will be installing one of those.
RVibrake Towed Battery Charger
The most convenient source of 12V would be from the moho from a 6 pin trailer connector - however, my coach only has a 4 pin connector. However, from the Ford E450 electrical schematic, there is a 4 pin connector on the chassis that most likely is what Thor used for extending to the trailer hitch.
And there is supposed to be another connector that supplies +12V and electric brake signal (which won't be used), so adding that to the 4 pin connector makes the 6 pin connector. Now I just have to find whether Thor simply coiled up that extra connector or cut it off when they built the coach.
If I can find it wrapped up, it is simply a matter of extending it to the trailer hitch connector. Otherwise, I'll likely run power from the house battery on the coach to the trailer hitch connector.
To me, this seems to have the best of both worlds. I can use the toad's battery for the brake system, yet the coach will keep the toad's battery on trickle charge.
Thor Forums
