Why did the front plug/connection come into being on TCs?

I'm not sure why truck campers plug in at the front - it is a chicken and egg thing for me: The truck manufacturers first put the wiring up front causing camper manufacturers to put the plug-in outlet up front, or visa versa. Probably the front plug-in was selected so the rear trailer plug-in remained available...

My preference is to have the camper plug into the rear trailer outlet on the truck - it saves having to add wiring into the bed of the truck. Much simpler that way. Then where does the trailer plug in? Well, my Outfitter Apex 8 was designed and built by folks who really understand truck campers. The camper plugs into the truck's rear trailer outlet and then Outfitter provided an auxiliary outlet on the back of the camper to plug in the trailer. Simple but totally effective. Perhaps all campers should be made with this feature...?

Here are a couple of pictures of my Outfitter's connection features. The camper pig tail is on the left and plugs into the truck's rear trailer outlet. The auxiliary trailer outlet is to the right of the door. The red cables on the right are my dedicated high current camper battery charge lines - one positive and one negative. I already had 1/0 cabling run to the rear of the truck for my receiver mounted winch (and also run to the front receiver hitch), so I simply ran #2 gauge cabling into the the camper batteries and used Anderson Power Point connectors to plug them together. Many thanks to Cal Willis for his input and help in adding this feature to my camper. Terry

monkey44 wrote:
And, if you plug into your trailer jack, you can't drive with TC and a trailer.

My truck came with both a 7 pin and 4 pin, and I commonly use both. One trailer I sometimes tow takes a 5 pin, so I wired a 5 pin into the cord going to the camper. Much easier than cutting metal.

I let the dealer install a bed receptacle in my 1st camper hauling truck. They used too small wire and connected into the factory wiring harness with Scotch-loc connectors ensuring inadequate charging. The receptacle was placed where it risked damage by loads of rock or firewood, and the rust found a great place to start. I found a better way with truck #2.

Your trailer is already plugged into the rear connector, so you need to add a second one anyway. Might as well make the run shorter.

monkey44 wrote:
And, if you plug into your trailer jack, you can't drive with TC and a trailer. many campers and boat guys haul a trailer with the TC, so it makes sense to fix another spot for the plug.

I agree, so I have another spot at the rear for flat towing my Samurai. For years, I used a "Y".

Wayne

I don't know about the cost. My front-entering 7 wire cable reaches about 1/2 of the bed, so I need extension.
Than from front of the camper to taillights it takes 14-20' of wires for total over 20' without extension.
25-30' of combined cables for the power between plug and left tail that are 3' apart.
I already removed about 5 lb of excess wires from my camper.
My 120V wires not only are way too long, but they loop under countertop taking the space that could hid a person.

Like most RV related items...cost.

And, if you plug into your trailer jack, you can't drive with TC and a trailer. many campers and boat guys haul a trailer with the TC, so it makes sense to fix another spot for the plug.

Good question. My thinking is that it is closer to most power centers on the TCer's (they seem to be up front so less run of cords to the back of the truck then back to the front in the camper), also at the back of the truck most people wanted to tow something so they did not want to use that plug and there was not another convenient place to put it at the back and still reach it when loaded.

d3500ram wrote:
I am going out on a limb here with this guess...

back in the day I am guessing that there was no such thing as a camper prep package or option from truck manufacturers. The vehicle were made more for work as opposed to hauling any type of RV. Even if there were those scarce RV's, I imagine they had little or no electrics.

When some of the early RV's that did have 12V components I would still fathom that Ford, GM, Dodge, etc still were behind in offering camper packages- ergo, it was the Owners who had to wire them up. Since it was the user/ owner who did this then it was only prudent to take the shortest wire routing which meant taking it only to where it was needed and no more. It did not make sense to run cables to the bumper just to run it half-way back again.

If this were the case, then it is 'prolly tradition that the TC's now still have the plug in the front of the bed and not the back.

Camper dealers wired in the front plug as part of the package. Tapped into the rear socket

realter wrote:
Truck camper package usually made for 5th wheels. Makes more sense there. I hate reaching through the little door and plugging in by feel if I've forgotten before loading.

Yep. That's my thinking too. Since the time when GM started offering the truck camper wiring harness, it's always been at the front of the truck bed.
I'd guess that Ford and Dodge have it there too.