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Camper battery charging woes - 4 pin round plug?

electrical outfitter caribou battery charging truck camper wiring

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#1 TroyPerk!

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Posted 12 September 2022 - 06:25 PM

OK so. 

 

I have a 2004 Outfitter Caribou 6.5 sitting on a 2020 F150.  I am having some trouble wiring the truck to the camper to charge the battery while driving.  

 

The camper is fairly old and was purchased recently from the original owner who was charging the same way on a 04 Tundra.  So I am assuming it is possible.  

 

I am hoping to charge the battery directly through the 7 pin round trailer plug at the back of the bed but the trick is that the camper plug on the exterior is an old 4 pin round plug.  There are 7pin round to 4 pin round conversions available but these are all wired to control trailers - lights, blinkers etc.  None are wired to charge a battery and it seems that the blade on the 7 pin that is used to supply the 12V aux power is empty on this setups.  

 

My plan so far is to splice into a fully wired 7 Pin round plug/wire and use the 12V aux blade and the ground to charge the battery.  There are no brake lights or running lights on the camper to this is not needed.  I am far from an electrical expert but have done a modest amount of simple household and auto wiring in the past.  

 

Does anyone have any idea what the wiring pattern for the 4 pin round plug would be to accomplish this safely and effectively?  The only thing I know about the wiring of the existing male plug on the camper is the ground location.  I can access to trace any of the others.  

 

Please Help!


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#2 SkyP

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Posted 12 September 2022 - 09:51 PM

Do you have a test light or voltmeter? 

Most likely the hookup to the battery positive in the camper will also backfeed the 4 pin plug.   If you find +12V with a test light or meter on that plug (not plugged into truck) that will be the battery wire.  

Once you determine +12 and GND I'd wire that to the appropriate pins  on a 7 way RV plug and plug it into the 7 way socket on the F150.

Just so you know most trucks, including the 2020 F150, cut the voltage back after a short time running and do a very poor job of charging trailer/camper batteries.    There is a sensor on the F150 battery you can unplug and boost the voltage to around 14V which helps a lot on charging.  As a plus it disables that darn start/stop crap, which I hate.  

 

I also have a 2020 F150 and I eventually went to a DC to DC charger to properly charge the camper battery.  

 

There are a few on the market- I use this one > https://www.renogy.c...oRoCkqUQAvD_BwE


Edited by SkyP, 12 September 2022 - 10:07 PM.

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#3 Vic Harder

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Posted 13 September 2022 - 03:27 AM

+1 to what Sky said.  Plus the skinny typical RV/camper wiring is only 14G.  You will want to beef that up eventually, even with the DCDC  charger.


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