Here is our self-made permanent “charger” for our 06 CRV.
What we installed, for now, was shaped by a conversation with Derek at MOT, and it incorporates ideas from others.
Attach a ring connector to 10 gauge (red) automotive wire, and connect it to the post on the starting battery side of your FT isolator, and run/attach the wire along the side of your engine compartment to the back of your coach – install a 30A self-reset breaker in this line. Run a second piece of 10g wire from the back of the coach, through the tow bar, to the front of the Honda. Run the third piece of 10g wire from the front of the Honda to the positive post of the Honda battery – install a Roadmaster diode in this line just ahead of the battery. Connect/disconnect these three wires with quick-release insulated connectors. If your connectors are not insulated, you will need to cover the connector at the end of the wire from the isolator with some electric tape when it’s disconnected. Mine sparked a couple of times against the tow bar in the stowed position on the back of the coach.
This set up keeps a full charge in my Honda battery whenever the FT is running. No more pulling fuses – or hauling out the jumper cables – or hooking up a battery charger. It has worked flawlessly since installation 18 months ago. Bob Mulder 02 U270
A word of caution regarding pulling any fuses or installing battery disconnects on Honda products. Some you can and some you can’t without risking transmission damage!
Be sure to check with a Honda representative that you know and trust or find (and KEEP) an official Honda technical document before interrupting power and then towing!
After years of towing a pair of Honda Odysseys (2000 and 2003) and an Acura MDX (2001), I have an intimate experience with some Honda quirks regarding solenoids that MUST remain energized in these transmissions in order to avoid transmission damage during a tow.
Honda Odysseys (and most MDX’s as well, I believe) from 2000 to 2004 were approved for 4 wheels down towing, within the Honda specified instruction set. In 2005, Odysseys and MDX’s were removed from the Honda approved towing list. Why? Especially since the transmissions and transmission associated electrical controls were identical to 2004 and earlier.
Two trusted Honda Service Managers and a Honda Transmission Specialist have confided to me that owners were towing certain approved Honda products long enough for their batteries to go dead, solenoids were returning to their “shelf state” (the de-energized state), transmissions were being damaged and the owners were not being forthright with their errors. Thus, Honda got out of the business of approving any towing of any vehicles that require energized solenoids in order to avoid transmission damage. I believe that you will find that the CR-V does not have to have energized solenoids and some Accords do, some don’t.
By removing their approval, Honda also removed all future contests with the less than forthright owners in future model years. Neal Pillsbury 1998 Foretravel 36′
Commercial products such as LSL Products “Toad Charge” work well also.