New 2017 F250SD

mbloof wrote:

NGaMountains wrote:
2017 Super Duty has so-called smart relay whereby 12V pin to trailer, or in our case camper, in the 7-way is only made hot when truck senses a load and shows "Trailer Connected" in the dash. Absent that load, the pin you'd expect to have 12V to the camper is inactive, and you will not see any voltage on a Voltmeter. I've already been down this road wiring up the umbilical for my Bigfoot.

Where I'm still scratching my head is that NOTHING else was active ether: running lights, turn signals, backup, nothing. Then again, that was yesterday, today everything appears to work.

Thanks to the links I know now to tap the breaks to enable the +12V (silly).

I always had voltage at the signals, brake lamps, etc, just not the 12V charging pin until truck sensed a trailer connection. I can't explain what you describe seeing originally. I can tell you with my camper now in place everything is working as expected. Good luck.

NGaMountains wrote:
2017 Super Duty has so-called smart relay whereby 12V pin to trailer, or in our case camper, in the 7-way is only made hot when truck senses a load and shows "Trailer Connected" in the dash. Absent that load, the pin you'd expect to have 12V to the camper is inactive, and you will not see any voltage on a Voltmeter. I've already been down this road wiring up the umbilical for my Bigfoot.

Where I'm still scratching my head is that NOTHING else was active ether: running lights, turn signals, backup, nothing. Then again, that was yesterday, today everything appears to work.

Thanks to the links I know now to tap the breaks to enable the +12V (silly).

2017 Super Duty has so-called smart relay whereby 12V pin to trailer, or in our case camper, in the 7-way is only made hot when truck senses a load and shows "Trailer Connected" in the dash. Absent that load, the pin you'd expect to have 12V to the camper is inactive, and you will not see any voltage on a Voltmeter. I've already been down this road wiring up the umbilical for my Bigfoot.

A menu option?
This thread talks about how Ford manages power to the trailer plug on the new trucks.
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1485615-2017-sd-no-12v-charge.html

Is there a menu option to enable/disable the jack?

The reason I ask is yesterday we could not get ANYTHING out of it. Got the DVM out and all pins were dead with the 4-way flashers and lights on. One pin ought to be always +12V and another GND but to no avail. Until today of course.

Went and bought a cable with LED's in the plug, tried out the factory plug in the bumper 1st and it worked, went on and tested the one in the bed and it worked, plugged in the camper and it worked.

I can't for the life of me tell/understand the difference between yesterday and today other than 24hrs transpiring and I spent more money. I did notice the dash says "trailer detected" and "trailer disconnected" in the message displays.

Which made me think that it might be some sort of menu option or something on a relay?

Mark0.

I think you're going a different way anyways but I was wrong about the location of the factory installed plug. I think it was higher and a bit more forward on the 11-16 but for 17 they moved it to accomodate the switch, lights and tie down plate.

If you go to the 4:45 mark of the below video it shows it nicely, this is pretty much my exact truck.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWD4BvwSCjk

I want to run my fridge on 12V and actually would like to have enough supply to run fridge off the inverter as 12V element is about 280W, whle 120V element is 360W.
Driving whole day in temperatures above 110F will take all fridge cooling I can get.
Than I was forced to buy dual alternators, why not take advantage of it.
Refilling propane on the road is always a hassle not even mentioning safety isses.

yeah true, I use solar to charge mine so I don't really care what I'm getting from the truck... although before I had the solar the standard 7-way seemed to do an ok job of charging the batteries but I realize it's not optimal.

That's connection in the rear of the truck, so using it we are still ending with +- 30 feet of wiring before camper charging voltage reaches the battery.
This is what I was trying to avoid.
I might just leave the camper tailgate wires the way they are and just run new #8 charging wire the short way.

I have my camper on so I can't really get a bed picture of mine but it looks the same as the one in the below link, seems to be the same place it was on the previous gen trucks (back drivers side and high up). I believe it's the same part # as well but I can't be certain. I snapped a couple pics of mine underneath with some part #'s. The connectors look to be the same but I can't say for certain.
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1389746-7-way-trailer-plug-in-bed.html

I believe you can get the kit from taska, but again I can't be certain it is the same for the 2017 but it sure looks like it.

https://www.tascaparts.com/oem-parts/ford-tow-package-wiring-harness-bc3z13a576a

Below are a couple pics from under my 2017 DRW truck. The plugs are in between the hitch plates on the drivers side.