Good Sam Club Open Roads Forum: Tech Issues: Truck Camper interior lights


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Caseylikesmotorbikes

Kelowna

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Posted: 04/09/23 06:00pm

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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.

rk911

DuPage County

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Posted: 04/09/23 06:10pm

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first thought...check the bulbs.

Rich
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corvettekent

Marysville, WA

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Posted: 04/09/23 06:25pm

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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.

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nickthehunter

Midwest

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Posted: 04/09/23 06:27pm

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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.

* This post was edited 04/09/23 06:44pm by nickthehunter *

KD4UPL

Swoope, VA

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Posted: 04/09/23 06:28pm

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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.

MFL

Midwest

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Posted: 04/09/23 06:44pm

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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

MFL

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Posted: 04/09/23 06:54pm

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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.

Caseylikesmotorbikes

Kelowna

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Posted: 04/09/23 07:00pm

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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

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Posted: 04/09/23 07:13pm

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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