[JEMtrav626]

Though I have the schematic for the wiring, I'm stumped trying to match what's on the schematic with what's in the vehicle. Does anyone know


(1) if it will work to tap into the feed to the right rear tail or parking light to provide 12v power to a rearview camera that will be on whenever the lights are on (which will be whenever the vehicle is being driven)? Or will this mess up the canbus or computer?


(2) which connector and which color wires would be the best place to tap, behind the right taillight assembly?
(3) would it be better to tap into the power supply to the trailer harness (which I don't anticipate using for a trailer)?
Thanks!
P.S. because the vehicle is built out, running wires and accessing things is limited.

 

[RDinNHandAZ]

Do you have the rear cigar/power outlet? If so that would be a good choice. 12 volt may have gone to the camera wiring that is up above the center rear above the doors, I found it easily but since I will not use it I didn’t test for power. The canbus does monitor the rear lights for low/no current and can signal if a bulb is out. Whether it senses high current I don’t know. The trailer harness should be fine. For any such search I would simply put a pointed end on my VOM and test/trace.

 

[JEMtrav626]

Thank you. I've done some more research, and the canbus also sends error messages if there's too much of a draw on any of the lighting circuits.


The rear cigar/power outlet was removed during the upfit. I'm trying to avoid dangling wires.


There is a rearview camera (only works in reverse and uses the NAV/audio monitor. So there should be power there, but it's easier to route to the trailer harness. One place I read Dodge said, don't splice into the trailer harness, but in the upfitter guide it gives directions to add a brake controller. I could simply use a four-prong connector to plug into it, using the "park" and "ground" pins.


Now to go find an ignition-switched power source for the monitor.

 

[RDinNHandAZ]

If the rear cigar outlet was removed the wiring will be there and that is your best option IMHO as you can draw 15 amps and it is fuzed. I doubt the upfitter would reprogram the computer to eliminate the outlet as there would be no reason to do so. Just thinking.

 

[proeddie]

,,,Now to go find an ignition-switched power source for the monitor.

This might work for you....


I decided the best place to locate the second jack was behind the dash in a spot where I could reach it if I needed to. Hoping to open up the dash just once!

The perfect spot for me was behind the cupholders. I removed the triple cupholder tray by just lifting it straight up. Easy.

There are 4 screws that hold the big curved cover in place. Two are under the cupholder tray and two are behind removable covers near the top of the curved cover. Once unscrewed, just pull straight toward the back of the van to remove this panel. There are about 9 plastic clips holding it. Here's what it looks like from the back:

If you reach up behind the cigarette jack, you can push it up thru the hole and unplug it, or just look underneath and unclip and unplug the connector!

Next I cut the black fabric tape wrapped around the plug feed wire back a few inches, and spliced a second cigarette jack on a cord to the wires going to the factory cigarette jack feed. Grey/Red is 12V+ and black is 12V- (ground)

Then I taped the connections back up to cover the blue clamp-on connectors.

Next I replugged the factory cigarette jack back in, and located the new jack at the bottom of the cupholder tray, where I had also routed the GPS adapter from the clipboard area. Then I put the big cover back on by pushing it back into place and replacing the 4 screws.

I wrapped the connection with a foam strip to keep it from rattling around in the dash and put the cupholder back in.

It works well!

GPS goes on and off with the key, just like the cigarette jack on the dash. I can access the connections without taking it all apart, by just lifting out the cupholder.

Hope the pics and details will give you an idea or two!

Disclaimer... this worked for me, but your results may be different. Do so at your own risk. I take no responsibility for any issues or damage that may occur.

 

[LarryK]

Though I have the schematic for the wiring, I'm stumped trying to match what's on the schematic with what's in the vehicle. Does anyone know
(3) would it be better to tap into the power supply to the trailer harness (which I don't anticipate using for a trailer)?

If you decide to go this route, Pin #5 on the 7-way connector has +12 volts present at all times. It is fused for 20 Amps ( the fuse is located at the battery). The wire is Red w/ Blue stripe, and you can follow it from the battery, through the drivers side footwell, up the "B" pillar, across the top rail, and down the drivers side rear pillar, and on to the trailer connector.
The downside is that the +12 is on all the time.
Hope this helps,
Larry

 

[JEMtrav626]

@proeddie Many thanks! Looks good, convenient. I expect to get to work on this next week.

 

[JEMtrav626]

@LarryK Mine has a four-pin connector. I need to check to see what's at the pin labeled "PARK." Not sure if it's on all the time.

 

[LarryK]

@LarryK Mine has a four-pin connector. I need to check to see what's at the pin labeled "PARK." Not sure if it's on all the time.

More than likely that pin only has power when the headlights are on.
I am assuming that Park stands for parking lights, but I don't know for sure.

 

[JEMtrav626]

@LarryK, I checked. No current unless the lights are on. Not a problem, because I drive with the lights on (because for some reason Winnebago did not order the daytime running lights option (which I have on my other vehicle, and had on my previous vehicles, and which I like).