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I just went whole hog with a yaw, camera and TPMS system from Nichols Manufacturing to hook up my 2017 RW3901MB to my 2020 F350. The Redwood has the camera mount up at the top, but as I understand it, I will need to pull the camera wiring harness up to the front of the camper. I haven't done any looking as the camper is in storage, but planning to get started next weekend. Anyone have any tips/advice?
If there is wiring already in place, I would explore tieing into that instead of running the Ford wire all the way. There will be some cutting of wires and maybe soldering involved. But that beats opening things up and trying to run the Ford cable the entire length of the trailer.
I didn't have any existing wiring in mine, so I ran it over the top of the trailer. Mine is not a fifth wheel so it was a bit easier.
When the day comes (when is Covid crap is over...)
I will be installing the Ford camera on my 5th wheel. The trailer is a rear kitchen floor plan. I have found a LP gas pipe underneath the trailer that runs from front to back on the outside of the underbelly covering. I will be tying the camera cable to that pipe. Eazy peazy.
And the trailer is a 2009 so I don't mind drilling a few little holes in it to anchor the cable at the front or rear.
Thinking some more about it, is there a benefit of mounting the Ford camera at the factory high location, or would it be just as good or better to mount it lower?
It certainly would be easier to mount it and fish the wires from a location below the rear windows....
Have someone hold the camera in those positions and see how it looks on the screen in the truck. Up high, it's out of the way and unlikely to ever get whacked. Down low, it's more likely to get hit. It's a lot easier to clean the lens when it's down low.
Mine is above the rear cargo door and the resolution is poor.
If there is wiring already in place, I would explore tieing into that instead of running the Ford wire all the way. There will be some cutting of wires and maybe soldering involved. But that beats opening things up and trying to run the Ford cable the entire length of the trailer.
I didn't have any existing wiring in mine, so I ran it over the top of the trailer. Mine is not a fifth wheel so it was a bit easier.
Pre-wiring is usually just for the Furrion systems, which means power only. I haven't seen a pre-wire yet that let you run the signal from the Ford camera, though I wish manufacturers would start getting on board with doing that.
In our fiver, I had the dealer run it in hopes that it would look better than if I did it myself. I was 1/2 right:
Camera installed on the rear Trim piece added inside, top bunk Trim piece added inside, bottom bunk.
Outside and how it got trimmed out in the bunks, it looks good, like it was meant to be. But up front running it to the kingpin, I really wish they had taken the time to drop the skin and run it tucked up and in instead of the way they did it here:
Cable running from front storage cubby. Cable running to kingpin. Cable at the kingpin.
Dealer said they had to do it this way because of how the frame's laid out, but there's gotta be a path that the 7-pin follows, so there should have been a path to run these alongside it.
And finally, to get an idea of how the image looks up high, here's what I see in the cab from mine:
I put in a wired camera on my last two travel trailers. One bumper pull and the new 5er.
I ran the cable along the corner trim to the bottom side of the camper and in both cases zip tied the cable to the propane pipe which ran almost the full length of the units.
To get from the camera to the bottom, I followed the edge trim and drilled small holes in the trim flange that allowed me to use small zip ties to attach it to the trim.
On my 5er, I entered the front storage/battery compartment from the bottom and then ran the cable between the front bedroom floor and the skin covering the bottom of the overhang to the pinbox. It was easy to use a flexible fish tape to pull it thru that area without much trouble. I then zip tied the camera cable to the 7 pin cable.
Pre-wiring is usually just for the Furrion systems, which means power only. I haven't seen a pre-wire yet that let you run the signal from the Ford camera, though I wish manufacturers would start getting on board with doing that.
In our fiver, I had the dealer run it in hopes that it would look better than if I did it myself. I was 1/2 right:
Outside and how it got trimmed out in the bunks, it looks good, like it was meant to be. But up front running it to the kingpin, I really wish they had taken the time to drop the skin and run it tucked up and in instead of the way they did it here:
Cable running from front storage cubby. Cable running to kingpin.
Cable at the kingpin.
Dealer said they had to do it this way because of how the frame's laid out, but there's gotta be a path that the 7-pin follows, so there should have been a path to run these alongside it.
I was able to fish my camera cable thru that area with little trouble. I removed those two screws which gave a little more room for the fish tape to travel. Easy Peasy.
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