Rig Build with FWC Hawk

pvstoy said:
Those seem cheap enough.

On my Hawk flatbed the table is in the rear and if table is too high it could swing around and shatter the rear window if it would hit to hard on a ruff road. I guess it could happen on a front table model also. There were pictures that someone posted that they broke their front window.

Mine also would shimmy down so I went ultra cheap and had some leftover 2" electrical conduit. Cut to length and set the table where we enjoy the height. The writeup and pictures were here somewhere but could not find it. Images attached.
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Thats a good idea too. I thought for $16 it was worth it to not have to constantly readjust the table as we'll likely always leave it up and at its highest position.
 
I am hooking up my truck running lights to the camper and know the green wire coming from the camper is for those lights.

I connected a 10 or 12 gauge wire to the FWC wire which is an 8 I believe and ran that to my running light connection. Any reason why I would need to pull that cable and run something thicker to just run the running lights?
 
If your 2016 camper has LED running lights then the total current for all the lights is maybe an amp. If you have incandescent bulbs you may be at 10-15 amps. Either way 12 awg is sufficient. I ran 16 awg for my LED running lights.
 
Jon R said:
If your 2016 camper has LED running lights then the total current for all the lights is maybe an amp. If you have incandescent bulbs you may be at 10-15 amps. Either way 12 awg is sufficient. I ran 16 awg for my LED running lights.
Thanks! I figured anything bigger would be overkill, but just wanted to be sure and ask you legends here!
 
I followed the write-up here to install an awning I had from one of my previous overland builds onto my Hawk. Its a small awning but enough for two of us to sit under to hide from the sun sometimes!

Its mounted over one of the passive vents to my fridge but I am not concerned about that. These isotherms do not make that much heat and the entire vent is not blocked. You can see the lower vent/access panel is still clear as well. The interior protrusions are behind the passenger side seat and in the cabinet of the "bathroom".

I used the same hardware that the mentioned-thread suggests except a bit longer and used thread protectors on the interior to ensure no scratching anyone or anything.

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I can't get my running lights to power on my camper. I feel like I am missing a piece of the puzzle.

Am I correct in my understanding that all I need to do is connect the green wire coming from the camper to a powered line that runs my truck's running lights? Why is the gauge so big for just a simple circuit of a few LED lights?

Any help is appreciated!
 
Did you wire the 7 pin male directly to the camper wiring?

If so, have you put a meter to the back of the plug to ensure you’re getting 12VDC when the truck lights are on? If not, you’re either on the wrong pin, or the truck side is the problem.

If you do have power there, you’ll need to chase/meter the camper wiring. Does it go to a fuse block, and is there power on both sides of the block? If there is you may have an open circuit or high impedance somewhere down stream. Bad light circuit ground is a possibility. I suspect they use the frame as ground, but not certain of that.

You might also jump from the camper battery to the light circuit to see if you have lights.

Hope that helps, good luck.
 
My 2021 Grandby has the light grounds run with wire to the negative bus bar near the ACR. They were not tied to the frame.
 
I am going to run a wire directly to battery to ensure that the lights work on the camper. Thanks for the idea to test. It could be my 7-pin outlet not powering on because there is nothing hooked up to it technically.

Does the black wire from the camper wiring need to be grounded regardless if the white wire is wired up or not? I guess, does the black ground both the battery charging (white) wire and the running light (green) wire?
 
jclifb said:
Does the black wire from the camper wiring need to be grounded regardless if the white wire is wired up or not? I guess, does the black ground both the
battery charging (white) wire and the running light (green) wire?
Because the marker lights are powered by the truck's 12 volts, there must be an electrical return path to the truck's 12 volt ground. If there is conductivity between the camper ground and truck ground, you are good. If not, you will need to provide the path yourself. A DMM (Digital MultiMeter) is your best friend here.

Paul
 
Thanks guys, it was indeed the ground coming from the camper. I just got a long piece of 2-wire romex and ran it from the camper wiring to my truck's battery to test the lights. No issues when connected directly to battery so I had the ground wrong.

I'm thinking I am just going to install a switch panel in the truck and tie the camper lights into that panel as opposed to the driving lights on the truck. I like the of being able to turn the camper lights on when needed on their own. Will report back!
 
Here is a picture of the camper on the truck finally! I am going to build the roof rack for the front of the cab today, but rain is in the forecast for the rest of the week here so I likely won't install till next week.

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I got the Rhino-Rack crossbars installed on the truck yesterday. Pretty simple to install following the supplied install instructions. I have a Rhino-Rack Pioneer platform that I am going to cut to size to make a custom, small platform to attach recovery gear. I will begin that today and explain how I do it.

On another note, this truck makes 35" tires look so tiny
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. But, my gearing would not like 37" or bigger for the long distances I plan to travel in a few months!

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Hey. Not sure if this is any help but I ran my marker lights wire (14 awg maybe?) in the same loom as my truck to camper 6 awg wire to the front of the truck. I ran it through a relay with a fuse and hooked it up to one of these guys that plugs in behind my headlight: https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/TEEHWH106. Works well. I can snap a few photos if you’d like.

Mine aren’t leds and drew more power than I thought they would.
 
Been a while since I posted in here but I am back with more questions! We leave for a multi-month trip in a few weeks and last on my list is wiring a Victron DC-DC charger to my battery from my truck's battery. I bought the isolated charger so I am going from truck battery directly to camper battery.

Is there a resource or guide anyone can point me to that helps explain how I need to wire it?
 
Got an AC installed this weekend with some inspiration from jdavis on here. I swapped the exterior supports from his so that they would help hold the weight of the AC. All-in-all, an easy project for camping in the Southeast when power is available!

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Looking good, James. Congrats on the new rig. What part of Alabama are you in?
 
jclifb said:
I live in West Alabama in Tuscaloosa.
Nice! I have some good friends in Tuscaloosa and family farther east on Lake Martin. Maybe our paths will cross sometime.
 

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