Forum Discussion

Caseylikesmotor's avatar
Apr 10, 2023

Truck Camper interior lights

So I bought a camperette for my Ford f150.
This thing has no badging or anything for me to get trouble shooting from a manufacturer, etc.

So basically I trusted the gentleman who sold it to me, and he stated all lights work, in and out.

The camper inside has NO converter or fuse box or anything that I can find.

I have the camper plugged into a 7 prong adapter into a 4 pin on my truck.

All exterior lights work but the interior dome lights do not.

There is also a 3 prong male end that hangs outside that is supposed to run the lights from my home. My questions are

1. I thought I needed a breaker or inverter to run these lights (he says they should run off my truck battery as is)

And 2.
If I don't need the above inverter or fuses, why won't the interior lights work but all of the exterior lights work?

This is clearly a ubuilt camper.


Thank you in advance for any help.

16 Replies

  • You could use a 12v battery pack/jump starter to run the 12v interior lights temporarily by jumping to the 7-pin battery slot, until you fix it right.
  • Does your truck not have a 7 pin plug, since you are using an adapter into the 4 pin? The 4-pin would run the exterior lights, including stop/turn, but would not have the battery pole likely needed for the interior lights.

    Jerry
  • You can't run 12 volt interior lights from a 4 pin as there is no 12 volt feed. You have to have a proper 7 pin on your truck for that 7 pin cord to plug into.
    If there's no converter then the 120 volt male plug likely just powers some interior outlets.
  • The 4 pin on your truck will not provide power to the 12V interior lights in your camper (a 7 pin on your truck should - with some caveats). So the only way you can get power to the interior lights is plugging in the power cord into a recepticle in your house (providing your camper has a converter somewhere), a good 12V battery connected to the camper, or plugging into a 7 pin - not a 4 pin.

    The caveats are; 1) the fuse for the 12V feed on your truck has to be in place and, 2) a Ford for instance, the engine must be running.
  • The seven pin plug needs to be plugged into a seven pin plug on your truck to get power for the interior light. You are using an adapter that does not have a 12 volt power wire.