TrailManor – Battery On/Off Switch Project

This article was recreated in this blog on 29-Jan-2014 from an article I wrote on old website of mine in June 2004

When I store my TrailManor trailer off-site each week, I worry about battery drain from the radio antenna and anything else. And disconnecting the battery each week is not something I look forward to doing. Those battery case straps are killer to get undone and redone! When looking at a new 5th wheel trailer one day, I noticed a battery on/off switch by Blue Sea. A quick web search, $26 and 3 days shipping time and I had the switch in my hand. I picked up the 30 amp blade type fuse and holder, the ring terminals and the large butt splice at an auto parts store and the nylon screws at a hardware store. Total investment: ~$33. Took me about an hour to do (less time than to create this web page!).

Below are project pictures (where images were still available to me from an Internet Archive of the old website).

Here’s the parts I used The 4 holes I drilled in the plastic battery case lid
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The switch mounted with 4 nylon screws/flats/nuts.
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The bottom of the switch with wires attached
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Wires going through 2 holes I drilled through case lid

Completed inside of case lid (red wire nut is what will connect to trailer hot wire)

Before picture of battery showing original wiring by TrailManor factory

After picture of battery showing on/off switch and fuse wiring

Top view after picture of on/off switch on case lid

Side view after picture of on/off switch on case lid
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This was a pretty simple, fun, inexpensive and useful project that most anyone can do. Here’s a link to the switch manufacturer. You can find a dealer near you from Blue Sea’s website. I used West Marine in Lombard, IL. I ordered it online and it arrived 3 days later. I used the model 9006 “knob style” switch (replaced by the Mfr to a #6006). Blue Sea also makes a “key style” switch if you’d like to make your installation a bit more tamper-proof. Personally, I didn’t want to worry about losing the switch. It’s not so small that you’d want to keep it on your keychain.