Can I Run the Blue Ox Patriot Braking System On It's Own 6 Volt or 12 Volt Battery?  

Hi Chris I agree with Kate the charge line kit is the way to go. The installation is easy and straightforward. I have not had any issues with either my jeep or motorhome during towing.

I have used the Patriot braking system in conjunction with a battery charge line from my coach. They make a kit to wire a trickle charge line to your jeep battery and then you can install a second 12 volt direct battery connect plug for your patriot system. Has seemed to work great.

I added a Road Master battery cutoff and a charge kit. Towing a Tahoe behind a 40’ diesel pusher. No issues with the battery keeping charge. The Patriot brake itself I am not thrilled with. Three issues. 1) Regularly switches to a software update screen that I have to acknowledge while driving to get the display of the brakes back. Contacted Blue Ox and they said the firmware is for a furniture version and that my unit cannot be updated without sending it back. Not an ideal situation as it distracts me while driving 40k pounds down the highway. 2) Unit often reports needs a reset which requires me to pull off the highway to do. 3) reports brakes applied often while there is no deceleration. Makes me nervous that it could be burning up my brakes. I would not buy this unit again. Causes me a lot of stress while traveling, should be giving me piece of mind. Easy to setup but can’t say it is a reliable system. Sorry, just how I deal after driving 5,000 miles with it in use.

Chris, I connect my patroit to a separate 12v optima red top battery placed behind the driver seat when fllat towing my Bronco. I have the same concerns about affecting the vehicle battery voltage since ford uses electronic means to put the vehicle in neutral tow mode and have read horror stories about low voltage disengagement of the system. I do have the vehicle battery charging via the motorhome but wanted to have extra peace of mind. I charge the optima after 2 days of use and disconnect it overnight Battery drain seems minimal based on voltage testing Probably belt and suspenders logic but it works for me.

We have successfully traveled over 12,000 miles with our Patriot brake system. We have always powered it either with our Jackery 240 or Jackery 1000. Works great and no need for a charge line and no worry that I will deplete the Jeep battery. Even after driving for 7+ hours, even the small Jackery 240 goes down only about 3-4%. I could go days without recharging it at that rate (even though I always charge it full before the next tow just to be on the safe side). The only two issues we have had with the Patriot brake (again, over 12,000 miles traveled with it so far) is: One time, it would not set up correctly and we had to do a hard reset, which took just a few extra seconds of holding two buttons simultaneously. And more recently, the claw slipped off the Jeep brake pedal while underway. So from inside the RV, it appeared via the wireless display that the system was working fine, but in reality it WASN’T and the RV was doing all the braking for both vehicles, which could have been dangerous. So I have reset the feet on the bottom to give the Patriot a better angle, and will now routinely check the claw/brake pedal at each fuel stop as part of my normal walk around/inspection.