Worrisome Dash Warning Signals.... drive or get towed?

[jrfromafar]

2014 F-250 gas
I went to an RV place today (Thursday) to have an external group 24 deep cycle battery installed for running a 12v fridge inside my camper. They installed a battery switch (isolator?) circuit, 30 amp breaker. As I was leaving, I realized my dashboard was lit up like a Christmas tree with warning lights - Service Advancetrac, Hill descent control fault, Wrench icon, airbag light is on. I should have backed up right then & there but it was the end of the day & we were all worn out, plus I did not realize the meaning of the warning lights. So I headed home. In the morning I will be returning - but my question is, is advisable to drive or should I have it towed? In light of all they did, what could be the probable cause?

 

[rayra]

Sounds like they disconnected a wiring harness and didn't re-connect it properly. You should have refused the vehicle right there and then. And start reading your manual so you know what the lights mean. All that light show and you drove it anyway? What sense would that make? Especially given that it is your family road travel vehicle?

 

[jrfromafar]

Well yes, I agree I took a chance. As it was, I drove my vehicle back to the RV repair shop & they found the problem- something that had to do with the vehicle battery (or alternator) will not accept another battery automatically (charge the deep cycle battery when vehicle is running and separating the deep cycle battery when the key is off so as not to drain the primary battery,) so they’re putting on a switch charge the secondary battery manually. This bothers me - I thought when a rig had a trailer hookup it has the feature to charge a trailer secondary battery.

 

[NoDak]

There might be a fuse and relay in your glove box in a plastic bag? It's supposed to be installed by the dealer but is sometimes missed or they forget to install it. It's for the trailer charging with the trailer tow package and wont charge until you pop it in the fuse box. I had a similar issue with my 2014 F150 when it wouldn't charge my trailer battery.

 

[jrfromafar]

I will check for that fuse. But I talked to a Ford service tech today who told me the toggle switch is the better way to do it. He said the break for the toggle can actually go anywhere between the primary battery and the secondary. He also checked out the work done by the RV repair place & said he thought it all looked ok. So I feel better about the whole ordeal - although I have yet to tell my wife how much the whole kit and caboodle is going to cost I will hide it from her as long as I can ...

 

[Martinjmpr]

I don't know about the F250 but a year or so ago I started researching the later F-150 and found some information that indicated that adding a 2nd battery is problematic because the truck has a "smart alternator" and having a 2nd battery hooked up will cause it to throw codes and have other electrical issues.

I know we have some Ford guys here, so maybe they can chime in on how they did their 2nd battery setup.

I don't understand your comment about the RV wiring harness because if you're hooking up a 2nd battery to go in the truck it won't be connected to the towing harness anyway, so that's kind of an irrelevant point. The trailer battery charges through one of the pins on the 7 pin trailer connector (and not all of them do - some of the people in my RV group have specifically mentioned that their Ford trucks don't charge their trailer batteries which causes them to kill the battery when running the RV fridge on 12v.