ATF: Road Warrior - 12volt power / wiring questions (backup camera prewire)

blaird

Member
So I took delivery on Wednesday of a 2017 427. While I had a Furion model in my truck and the dealer offered to hook it up for me if I was willing to wait another 1.5 - 2 hours I declined 4 screws no problem (whoops). Everything is connected at the top but I get no power.

Behind the housing the Furion connector is connected to a yellow / yellow-white wire but there is no power going to it verified this on the source wire *NOT* then Furion wire. The schematic on the horribly out of date manual indicates that this should be left brake/turn but it also says markers are green but I think I've got black and white. (small hole and couldn't tell). So, the question is where is this camera connection supposed to be getting power from.

Searching around I find a bunch of references but nothing seems to exactly match. Ofcourse for all I know there is a switch somewhere that turns this camera on. but my neighbors 4 week old cyclone he indicates his camera is powered even with the disconnect switched off. Any help before I just split into a marker wire on where it's intended to be would be appreciated.

SECOND question:
dealer said the two battery cut offs are the same. But glancing it seems like there is a cut off for the trailer and a cut off for the inverter. Can this be confirmed, is there in existence a schematic / wiring plan for these trailers that shows what everything is and how it's connected. Just like my solar "pre-wire" says plug and play but I'm pretty sure I found the wires for that plug zip tied to a bundle not connected to anything.

Just to be clear, I love the trailer and do feel after just a few days of walking it the build quality is top notch. But there seems to be a huge gap in knowledge transfer from manufacturer -> dealer -> customer.

Thanks in advance!!
 

danemayer

Well-known member
Hi blaird,

Congratulations on the new Road Warrior and welcome to the Heartland Owners Forum.

On the cutoff switches, you're correct. One is the main cutoff and the other is for the inverter that powers the residential refrigerator when not plugged into shore power. Our owner-written Residential Refrigerator Guide has a block diagram of the electrical layout that should help you understand what does what. There's also some other important information on how to use the Residential Refrigerator.

I don't know much about the Furrion hookup, but I think it taps power coming from the tow vehicle. I would expect you have to have the tow vehicle hooked up to read power on that wire. Depending on tow vehicle wiring, you might have to have the truck running or at least in aux mode to send power to the trailer.
 

cookie

Administrator
Staff member
I've heard that the camera gets its power from the running lights.
So plug into your truck and turn the running lights.

Peace
Dave
 

blaird

Member
Dan, thanks I'll take a look there I didn't see that one or when I did I thought it was just basically the actual manual. So I'll take a look at those more carefully.
Yea the camera power seems to be all over the place. From running lights, marker lights, interior sconce lighting? heck at this point I'm surprised nobody suggested it being induction powered so you have to drive near power lines to get it to work.

Jokes aside, I was hooked up to truck wasn't on shore power and no generator going. We tested running lights on.. brake lights on, reverse engaged and every other combination I could think of. Even turning on the LED lights off the rear. flipping every switch I could find in the back to on. We then figured hey maybe something is different between the 7pin in the bed and the one on the bumper and moved the trailer connection there (just to be sure). But considering the number of threads in say the cyclone or main forum about the camera being "always on" makes me think it was pulling power from either the trailer batteries or the truck or both assuming it's on a circuit that's wired in parallel.

Guess I'm gonna need to make me a nifty cool signature setup!
 

danemayer

Well-known member
One more thought. The Furrion manual talks about it being a "reversing" camera that only works when the truck is in reverse. Maybe Heartland prewires it that way and the truck has to be in reverse to get power.

When wiring the Furrion camera system as a reversing camera,
the power supply for the camera must come from a reversing
indication power source (backup lights) or transmission wiring.
The power source can also be from the 7 way connection on your
trailer using the green wire from the center pin for the back up light
power source or from directly at the back up tail light circuit which
feeds to the reversing bulbs.
 

blaird

Member
So, finally got a chance to get back over there with all my tools including a wire tracer (sends a tone that you can trace).

The Camera was connected to yellow wire with a white stripe for + and a white wire for -.
That wire seems to down the side to the underside of the trailer and all the way to the front on the drivers side. Eventually crossing to the Passenger side before entering the front service area / battery compartment.

It was spliced to a in-line fuse holder with guess what "NO FUSE!" I jumpered it and presto camera engaged.

so as I suspected a missed step that really should be in the owners manual or something for the trailers.

Important items of note. That inline fuse is connected to a junction block that's directly connected to the battery. This means that even if you kill the battery disconnect the camera and those items will remain powered. This explains the common thread in the Cyclone forum regarding an always on camera. Easy solution, you can either tap into that inline fuse using some blades or cut the wire. And route it to a rocker / toggle switch that's mounted on the front so you can flip it when you park. Very easy to get an weather rated toggle and solve that problem.
IMG_2720.jpg


Hope this helps to save someone some trouble. Perhaps I should go share it to those other threads that noticed always on.
 
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