8 gauge wire feed for truck camper?

[tidalwave]

My new Chevy 2500HD truck has a wire 'harness' tapped off the front-rear tow wiring for the truck bed. The OEM harness power feed has a 40 amp fuse rating. Will I have to run a separate 8 gauge power feed wire from the truck battery to the truck bed? I have a Bargmann 7 conductor right angle socket that I am planning on splicing to the OEM wire harness. Can I use the Bargmann socket wiring...or will I have to run the 8 gauge wire up into the truck bed separately?
I am also planning on installing a power solenoid relay to shut off the battery feed when the ignition is off.

[wintersun]

If you buy the harness from the camper manufacturer it will have a receptacle that takes an 8ga wire for the power from the battery in the truck. You do want the 8ga wire for this and not the truck wiring which is designed for brake light amps and not charging a house battery in a camper.

I believe it doing it right the first time.

[BugsRLB]

"Be warned that Lance Campers require 8 gauge power feed and a Lance 6-conductor socket...you would have to run 8 gauge wiring if you use a Lance camper"

I had already done my wiring before I found out it is supposedly sitting there waiting for me. I got the actual Lance pigtail from an RVnet member. I ran the 8ga wire inside a garden hose (to eliminate chafing) an ran it along the frame directly to the battery with a relay. Ran the other wires in a garden hose and ran to the back of the truck and soldered them into the trailer wiring harness. It was along day but it all worked out well. It could have been a shorter day if I knew the wires were already there! :S Oh well!

[tidalwave]

BugsRLB...your Chevy Silverado has to have come from the factory with the "Camper Wiring-TP2" option. A T-connection is located within the front left
box, cable tied to one of the box bracing arms. The wiring is the standard 7-conductor feed with ends protected with heat shrink. The harness is quite long...you will have to use a hole saw to drill through the left box side to bring the harness to a (Bargman) connector. If your Chevy didn't come with the option, I believe that there is a 'quick connect' at the same location and you can buy a T-fitting that you can connect without having to do any splicing. The factory puts the quick connect at that location for the TP2 wiring option.
Be warned that Lance Campers require 8 gauge power feed and a Lance 6-conductor socket...you would have to run 8 gauge wiring if you use a Lance camper

[BugsRLB]

Am I reading this right? Are people saying that there is already a TC wiring harness somewhere under the bed? I ran wires all the way to the battery! :S

[eagle777]

kayco53 wrote:
Easy answer.The truck battery is hooked straight to the camper.There is no relay in the system.You have camper batteries(maybe) but they are not isolated so when you use power you are taking it from all the batteries.Remember if you isolate it you need a solenoid with a diode on the switch side.Check GM upfitter guide.RV repair friend end up taking it to dealer when he did it the old way when they first came out $800 bill.

thks, didn't know the camper had that capability as never have had that problem. but I do know they are not connected directly to the battery as I traced the connection and the camper power is connected to what I guess is a isolator, just didn't know what it was called.

[tidalwave]

Update...GM has a website called the GM Upfitters guide. It has many PDF files for just about everything concerning GM pickups...from chassis specs down to the hundredth of an inch, center of gravity, etc. etc.
My Silverado 2500HD has the Camper Wiring option which ends in 7 wires that are taped up inside the box front left. The DC power wire and the brake power wire are 10 gauge, the others are 12-14 gauge.

The odd thing is...the Upfitters guide states that my 2500HD truck has a "OEM relay-controlled auxillary power feed", which only feeds power when the ignition is on.
But time after time, other Chevy owners have told me that the OEM power feed is always on.
I am going to have to check with my Chevy dealer about this.
I wonder if the 2500-3500 PUs have a different wiring setup compared to the much more common 1500 half-ton?

My previous truck was a 2010 Silverado 1500 with OEM trailer towing wiring. I towed a travel trailer, which had a fairly large 3-way refrigerator. I didn't like to travel with the frig using propane.
I never had any problem with the OEM/Trailer wiring overheating or blowing a fuse, even tho' it had the standard 10 gauge feed wire.
I guess I am going to check on the amperage of the new camper's refrig
and see if the 10 gauge wire will be able to handle it.
I would rather not have to install a power solenoid and run a new
8 gauge wire back to the camper if I don't have to.

[Oldtymeflyr]

You do not need to run another power line if you have the camper wiring you have described. A wiring diagram for the wiring bundle should be in your owners manual. The wire will probably not be an 8 gauge wire, its smaller.

Our camper has the battery relay/isolator installed in the camper and will isolate the camper from the truck starting battery when the engine is not charging.

If your camper does not have a battery relay/isolator its probably best if you do install one either in the engine compartment or in your camper ahead of the camper batteries/electrical system.

Good luck.

[kayco53]

Easy answer.The truck battery is hooked straight to the camper.There is no relay in the system.You have camper batteries(maybe) but they are not isolated so when you use power you are taking it from all the batteries.Remember if you isolate it you need a solenoid with a diode on the switch side.Check GM upfitter guide.RV repair friend end up taking it to dealer when he did it the old way when they first came out $800 bill.

[eagle777]

I have read something about this in another thread and could not figure out how the camper could drain the truck battery. anyone have a easy explanation...thks

[mdpay]

Yes, you need to run 8 ga wire from the battery to the front of your pick up bed. I just went through the exact same situation. The Lance owners manual clearly states to use 8 ga wire due to the 3-way refrigerator.

http://manuals.adventurerv.net/Lance-6-way-wiring-schematic.pdf

Make sure to use an in-line 40 amp fuse within 1 ft of your truck battery. Other than laying on the ground it was not difficult.

[kayco53]

On my 07 NBS GMC pu the harness for the bed had all the wires already there. You had to hook up the wire that is taped off near the power5 center(fuse block) Remember on the new trucks you can,t just grap power any where in messes things up expensive.The power from the power center is always live on my truck so you could drain the truck battery by accident if you don't disconnect the camper or use a switch.Careful where you get the power for a relay if you use one.You can look at the GM upfitters guide on the GM site where to get power.There is a spot on my truck on the drivers side by your left foot.

[cigar_100]

the last 3 chevys i've owned 2003 and newer have had a dead-ended harness tied to the frame for a tc or 5th wheel hookup. this harness is not live, but you should be able to put your 7-way directly onto it as i have in the past.

[SugarHillCTD]

Does that 7 pin connector accept an 8 gauge wire size?