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2016 F-250 Truck to camper wiring


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#1 Smooth B

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Posted 17 June 2020 - 03:14 AM

I’m hoping someone with a FWC on this era F250 could lay out or post some pictures of how they’ve done their truck to camper wiring.

We just got a used F250 and I took the wiring off of our old 1 gen Tundra. Under the hood, the negative wire had been connected/screwed in to the frame while the wire from the positive terminal first goes to a Pollak circuit breaker before a second wire leads from the other pole on the circuit breaker back to the female Atwood trolling motor 3wire receptacle.

A green wire leads from the third wire on the receptacle back to a Scotchlok tapped in to the left rear license plate light.

There appear to be several other grounded wires screwed into the firewall just behind the battery on the passenger side of the F250. Can I just add my negative/ground to one of these?

The circuit breaker had been wired with the silver pole attached to the truck battery side while the copper pole led to the camper. Per eTrailers website, they suggest the opposite. Does anyone have some guidance on the best way to run this?

For the running lights that are tapped into the rear license plate light, does anyone tap into the 7-pin harness maybe somewhere closer to the plug? The back side of the Ford’s license plate bulb seems pretty exposed and I’m hoping to make a splice in a little more protected location.

Here’s a pic of the battery area under the hood with what I think are the neutral grounds circled.

Thanks in advance for any pictures or commentary on how anyone has done this before. I’m hoping to keep using what I took off the old truck since it was installed only a year ago.

Cheers.
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#2 Beach

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Posted 17 June 2020 - 01:20 PM

all frame/chassis grounds should be common to each other(tied together), you can check with a meter if in doubt. You want to be sure that the ground is present all the time not just with ignition on or in run position as some are now switched. Green wire is probably 12v + for running lights. I bought(from Etrailer) the 5th wheel harness for my 2012 F250, made camper hook up easy. Install was not difficult. Depending on your house battery charge requirements this might work for you, your truck should be prewired to plug in the new harness.


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#3 Smooth B

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Posted 18 June 2020 - 12:30 AM

Gotcha and thanks Beach. Did you get a 7 pin harness from Etrailer?  They seem to have a nice solution to run the 7-pin from the hitch Receptacle back up to the front-drivers side corner of the bed. 
 

I have the Atwood 3-wire male plug coming out of the camper. If you went seven pin, did you just splice a new male plug here ( just using 3 of the 7 “Pins”?
 


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#4 Beach

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Posted 18 June 2020 - 02:28 AM

Yes, bought the 5th wheel harness from Etrailer. Got the one with the matching plug. My camper originally had a 3 pin plug also. I cut it off and connected the 3 wires to the appropriate pins on the 7 pin. Everything plugged right up. You will need a hole saw to punch the mounting hole inside the truck bed. Although it wasn't necessary on my truck, I have been told on some trucks you need to install a fuse and or relay to energize the charge circuit.


Edited by Beach, 18 June 2020 - 02:29 AM.

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