Does the Battery Maintainer Only Operate When the Vacuum is Active Since They are Wired Together

Updated 09/26/2022 | Published 09/25/2022

Question:

Looking at wiring diagram the wire going to the vacuum pump and the wire going to battery maintainer are tied together. That would show the only time the battery maintainer in being charged is when the pump is on due to brakes being on. If true is there a way to have battery maintainer on all the time unit is connected to motorhome ?

asked by: Dave

Expert Reply:

You are correct that when wiring the Brake Buddy Stealth Supplemental Braking System # HM39530, the red wire from the vacuum pump and the black wire from the battery maintainer will connect to the same wire on the all-in-one connector. But this does not impact the performance of the battery maintainer/charger.

The vacuum pump wire and battery maintainer wire are both drawing power from that one wire on the all-in-one connector, but they are not intertwined in the sense that that battery maintainer only receives power when the vacuum runs. The battery maintainer is wired directly to that wire from the all-in-one connector, not to the vacuum wire that is then connected to the all-in-one connector. This allows them to both receive power separately and not have the battery maintainer rely on the vacuum pump.

expert reply by: Scott S