2018 FWC Fleet wiring to truck battery

[jasper]

Hi all,

Fairly new to all of this, so bear with me. I did some searching here, but couldn't quite find exactly what I was looking for.

I have a 2018 Fleet with solar, and two batteries. It has the 3 prong plug ready to hook up to the truck battery.

I have this Attwood trolling motor connection ready to install into the truck, but I'm not entirely sure how to wire it to the truck battery. Can anyone point me in the right direction to some instructions or a simple diagram to get me on my way?

Thank you!

 

[Jack]

The wire from the camper plug to the truck should be 6 gauge (or thicker, if you wish). 8 gauge will almost always work, but the wiring effort is more than the cost difference in gauge so go for 6 gauge. In addition to the two 6 gauge wires, run a third 12 or 14 gauge wire. It's cheap, no more effort, and you may need it later if you have a DC-DC converter that needs a sense wire or if you want running lights.

The black wire from the camper should be ground. Use a multi-meter to check ohms from the camper black wire into the Atwood connector to a camper ground point (the ground terminal in the 120V outlet is easy to get to) just to make sure; it should be close to zero ohms. The corresponding Atwood wire to the truck should be black and go to the point under the hood where the battery connects to the chassis. Do not connect directly to the battery ground.

Mount a 30A or 50A thermal breaker near the battery under the hood. If only two wires are connected to the Atwood connector from the camper, the other is your 12V positive wire. Run a red wire to the "Aux" side of the thermal breaker under the hood. Run another 6 gauge red wire from the "Bat" side of the thermal breaker to the positive side of the battery. On recent trucks, the battery will have a number of fuses coming off the positive terminal. Connect to the fuse for accessories (if you can figure out which one it is), but any should work. In any event, do this last and be careful. On some trucks, if you blow one of these fuses, you have to replace the whole fuse fixture and that can set you back $70 or more.

If the camper Atwood connector's three wires are used, check with FWC. One will be for battery charging and the other is likely for running lights. Get their guidance on which is which. You will need to connect that third connector wire to the 12 or 14 gauge wire and to the trucks running lights circuit.

When I wired our truck, I did not mount the truck connector in the truck bed side wall. I installed a screw eye in the camper side wall just below the front tie-down opening. A carabiner clip keeps the connector/wire off the truck bed. If the camper is off the truck, a plastic tie strap to a bed hook keeps the wires from dragging on the ground.

 

[Old Crow]

Hi all,

Fairly new to all of this, so bear with me. I did some searching here, but couldn't quite find exactly what I was looking for.

I have a 2018 Fleet with solar, and two batteries. It has the 3 prong plug ready to hook up to the truck battery.

I have this Attwood trolling motor connection ready to install into the truck, but I'm not entirely sure how to wire it to the truck battery. Can anyone point me in the right direction to some instructions or a simple diagram to get me on my way?

Thank you!

I think of the following as the classic FWC setup for truck-to-camper wiring. There are arguments for doing things a bit differently but it's a good starting point as it shows what's-connected-to-what, wire colors, etc. .....

Link to post with Steps for Wiring a Truck pdf

Note: At the time it was done, I believe the isolator was the older Surepower 1314A so that's why the battery separator diagram looks like that.

Also- If you've been doing some reading here on WTW on the subject, you've probably seen discussions on these topics:

- whether the wire gauge shown is sufficient/optimum
- whether truck-to-camper wiring is even needed if you have x amount of solar
- whether modern truck's smart alternators put out sufficient voltage to fully charge your camper batteries (and whether that matters if you have solar to top them off)
- whether truck-to-camper wiring can over-stress your alternator (particularly if you have deeply-drawn-down LiFePO4 camper batteries)
- DC-to-DC chargers (typically Victron, Renogy, Redarc and occasionally CTEK) (for voltage boost and temperature compensation)

These threads come to mind....

So, you want to set up a good electrical system in your camper? (and in fact any of the threads in Vic Harder's signature line)

Texota's My Idea Of The Perfect Truck Camper Electrical System

 

[jasper]

Thank you both for the replies! Based on some of what you shared, Old Crow, I may just forgo this connection for the time being and see how the solar setup treats me. My electrical needs are pretty minimal at the moment.