6 replies to this topic

[nelstomlinson]

I have a new-to-me '95 Starcraft Starmate. It has an 8-pin connector on the front wall, apparently to connect to the truck electrical system. Does anyone have a diagram showing the pinout on that connector? I'd like to know what line from the truck to connect to each of the pins. I have found a Starcraft manual which gives a schematic of the 12V system, but it doesn't show what wire goes to what pin. Also, this has a flat-4 connector at the back which operates some LED tail lights. Am I right that this connector isn't from the factory?

[Old Crow]

Don't you just love that new-toy feeling?

 

Hopefully, someone with some Starcraft truck camper experience will happen along, but in the meantime...

 

I don't quite understand why Starcraft would have put that connector there.  I can understand why they'd have them in the front wall of a pop-up trailer as I see  these 40025 pigtails (adapter cables) to connect between the 8-pin rectangular connector and a tow vehicle's 7-pin blade connector.  A six-foot length would be about right for that.

 

But in a truck camper, why would they put the connector at the front of the camper when the vehicle's trailer-connector is at the rear?  Perhaps they had a longer pigtail for that.  Or perhaps they expected dealers to run wiring from the truck's engine compartment as is done on many truck campers. And  I guess it just seems odd to expose it.   And eight pins?  For what?  (I say that because I see my brother's Sunlite Eagle only has four pins).

 

Other thoughts.....

 

Are there wire colors on the schematic? 

 

Here's a Molded Connectors Color Guide showing wire colors for each pin and claiming they are the SAE standard (but of course we don't know how Starcraft uses those colors in the camper)

 

This trailer-wiring page at Curt Manufacturing doesn't include 8-pin connectors but tells us how the colors are typically used and that gives us a clue how to narrow down the possibilities.

 

Also- I'm completely mystified by your description of the flat-four connector.  I know what a flat-four connector IS but can't imagine its relationship to the 8-pin one.  Can you put up a photo and perhaps tell us more?

 

The other thought is you may want to think through whether using that wiring is what's best for your needs.  If, like my brother, all you're doing is running the interior lights, the clearance lights, and the typical DC/propane fridge while driving (then switching to propane in camp), no problem.  But if you're going to be running a furnace and DC-only fridge off-grid, you need a robust house-battery setup and a means to charge it back up daily.  And that wiring may not be up to that task. (Just food for thought)....

 

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Edited by Old Crow, 29 July 2018 - 01:58 AM.

[nelstomlinson]

I'm pretty sure at this point that the flat-4 on the back is connected to nothing but a set of LED tail lights, which are redundant to another set of lights which are incandescent, and probably factory. I believe that the flat-4 and the LED tail lights were installed by the previous owner.

Yes, the schematic does have color codes, but when I pulled the connector off the front wall, I found that the connector is molded, and the wires are in a single line but the pins are in two rows. I can't tell which colored wire goes to which pin.

My old truck has a connector hanging loose between the cab and bed. It has turn/brake lights, ground, and an always-hot wire. No tail lights, no reverse. I have figured out how to hook the truck to the camper's factory, incandescent tail lights. I haven't yet figured out how to bring 12VDC power into the camper.

My old diesels have two stout batteries, and they NEED them both to spin that big old diesel. I'd be reluctant to let the furnace or fridge run over night on the truck batteries. I think you are right that I will need a house battery. The Starcraft has a ``power converter'' which supplies 12VDC when we're hooked to shore power. Per the manual and the schematic, it was never intended to have a house battery. I'll need to find a spot to stash a deep cycle battery, and I should put in a little battery tender or at least a good voltage gauge.

I had hoped that the power converter would backfeed the 8-pin connector so I could tell which pins to hook to the battery, but no such luck. It must have some sort of isolater?

[Old Crow]

Is the schematic somewhere we can see it (or can you post it)?

 

What trailer-connector are you trying to plug into on your truck?

 

And is your truck one of those with a 'smart' trailer plug (I've been reading about guys having problems trying to get power to their camper from some recent-year Fords with those)

 

Wire colors at the pins of the 8-pin connector should be the same as the last line in the Molded Connectors Color Guide I linked to above.  Another way to identify them would be to buy the mate to your 8-pin connector (which you need anyway) with the wires exposed.  Or look at the photo of this one. 

 

According to that photo and the  Curt diagrams, it looks to me like the pins most important to you are ground (white) and the two above it... red and black.  One of those should be the +12 feed for your fridge, interior lights, and 12v outlets (and note that those appear to be the 12-gauge wires in the connector while the others are 16-gauge).

 

Clearance lights should be on a different pin as you'd want them to come on only when you have your truck's tail-lights on.  So Starcraft probably chose brown or green (according to the Curt diagrams) but, again, you can verify which it is by turning on your truck's tail-lights and testing at the trailer plug.

 

I think I'd buy the connectors for camper and truck, plug them in right out of the package; strip white, red, and black wire ends; test truck side to see which pin has +12, then run a jumper to the corresponding color on the 8-pin and see if your interior lights come on in the camper.  Same with finding the clearance-lights pin: find color at truck, run jumper, look for lights to come on.

 

(Did any of that make sense?)

 

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[nelstomlinson]

The schematic is on the 16th page of this manual: http://www.antiguarv...raftTKC_OM.pdf It's not a bad schematic, but short on details like that pinout.

I think I will just have to try putting 12VDC from the truck battery on each pin and see what happens. After studying the schematic a bit, it looks as if there is nothing in there that will be damaged. I hate that sort of blind fumbling, but that's probably what it's going to take. I think that the files you linked to are going to be helpful. They will at least give me a starting point for the blind fumbling. I hope I can get back onto this tonight. I have way too many competing projects.

Edited to fix the link.

My truck is an '89. I'm pretty sure there isn't anything ``smart'' on it. The awkward thing about the truck is that the connector between the bed and cab seems to be something that the previous owner jury rigged. I'm going to have to trace wires on it to see what I really have, and I'm going to have to find things like tail light and reverse wires to add to the four that the previous owner installed. I should also check out the connections he made for those four; they are probably a mess.

Finally, I think I'm going to put in a relay to switch the 12VDC power. The current plan is that the power to the camper will switch on only when the key is on, to prevent discharging the truck batteries while parked.

Edited by nelstomlinson, 05 August 2018 - 03:27 PM.

[Old Crow]

I just found this thread on Expedition Portal where a guy had the same problem with his '93.  His camper only has 4 pins in the 8-pin connector, apparently because his model doesn't have stop/tail/backup lights built into the camper.   If nothing else, it's helpful (to those of us who don't have one) for envisioning Starcraft's setup. (You may need to be logged on to ExPo to see the photos.)

 

I couldn't get the manual link to work but found this similar one and I see it describes the electrical system and shows truck-plug wire gauges and colors (pgs 15-19).   (But I don't quite understand the two blacks on the truck plug. Green is probably from tail or clearance lights).

 

I've also not seen the dome-light kill switch idea described on page 15.  Interesting.

 

Edited 7/30 to add--

 

Still looking around.  Post #6 in this iRV2 thread says 

 

Lower Row:
1(left): Common
2: 12v from truck to camper battery
3: Backup lights
4(right): dedicated 12v to fridge
Upper Row:
1(left): left turn signal
2: right turn signal
3: clearance lights
4(right): unused

 

(for a 'Starcraft 852' slide-in camper)

 

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Edited by Old Crow, 30 July 2018 - 10:34 PM.

[nelstomlinson]

I tried putting 12VDC on each pin of the connector, and nothing lights up! I'll have to try again, I suppose.

I'm about ready to re-wire this thing from scratch, except I don't have time for yet another project.