Truck Camper interior lights

[Caseylikesmotor]

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.

[Caseylikesmotor]

If you look underneath the truck, near the tailgate, you’ll likely find a connector for installing a 7 pin pigtail. Check your dealer or etrailer.com for buying the factory 7pin pigtail - plug it into the connector and ready to go. You may also have to install a fuse in the fuse box in order to get 12V power to the 7pin when/if you install one.

So I took a look, and I believe there is a plug I can tap into. I'm going to confirm with my local united trailor after the long weekend.

[Caseylikesmotor]

stevenal wrote:
The weight rating of an F150 is insufficient for most truck campers.

Yes I am aware, that I's why I moved on it so quickly. She is light, and made for 1/2 ton. Sits beautifully.

[nickthehunter]

Caseylikesmotorbikes wrote:
The truck is a 2012 Ford f150. It only came with a 4 pin.

With all this great info, I think I'm going to use some battery operated lights until I can rig up a house battery.

My late father left me an converter. I will post pics when I find it and see if it is usable for my situation.

Thank you for all the help gents

If you look underneath the truck, near the tailgate, you’ll likely find a connector for installing a 7 pin pigtail. Check your dealer or etrailer.com for buying the factory 7pin pigtail - plug it into the connector and ready to go. You may also have to install a fuse in the fuse box in order to get 12V power to the 7pin when/if you install one.

[Grit_dog]

stevenal wrote:
The weight rating of an F150 is insufficient for most truck campers.

Thanks for that. At least it took 2 pages before the weight cops showed up….

Casey, do a little learnin on the different types of trailer plugs and their functions.
It’ll help you understand what MFL was explaining.

[stevenal]

The weight rating of an F150 is insufficient for most truck campers.

[Caseylikesmotor]

The truck is a 2012 Ford f150. It only came with a 4 pin.

With all this great info, I think I'm going to use some battery operated lights until I can rig up a house battery.

My late father left me an converter. I will post pics when I find it and see if it is usable for my situation.

Thank you for all the help gents

[stevenal]

Most of us have a convertor and a dedicated house battery in the camper. Running lights from your starting battery may cause a no-start condition. There is a forum here dedicated to TCs.

[nickthehunter]

MFL wrote:
For the interior lights to work from a 120v house receptacle, you would need a converter to convert 120v to 12v. It may operate the interior outlets.

It is not a big job to add a 7-pin to truck, for a knowledgeable person that has prior experience. You would need to run wire from battery under hood, all the way to rear of truck. If you bought a kit, watched a UT video, you should be able to do it.

Jerry

What kind of vehicle do you have? If it’s a late model pickup, it probably already has a connector for a plug and play 7 pin receptacle.

[MFL]

For the interior lights to work from a 120v house receptacle, you would need a converter to convert 120v to 12v. It may operate the interior outlets.

It is not a big job to add a 7-pin to truck, for a knowledgeable person that has prior experience. You would need to run wire from battery under hood, all the way to rear of truck. If you bought a kit, watched a UT video, you should be able to do it.

Jerry

[Caseylikesmotor]

Thank you guys for the information.

So it sounds like I will have to get a 7 pin professional to splice in a 7. I can do it myself but I'm wondering is it a big deal? Would there be 7 wires to connect or 4 and 3 needed to be added?

Also, I did plug into the 110volt from the house and no lights worked, but I didn't check the 2 outlets.

Thank you guys

[MFL]

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.

[MFL]

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

[KD4UPL]

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.

[nickthehunter]

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.