Furrion Observation Camera Power question

[boevermann]

We have a Surveyor 201RBS, which is pre-wired for the Furrion camera. After owning the trailer for two years we bought the 5” observation model.

Trailer is in outdoor storage so today was a dry day to do the install. Plugged the camera into the pigtail connector on the power cord for the monitor and successfully paired it. Blue light was lit on the camera. Everything going smoothly so far.

Mounted the camera. Pre-wired was great. I only needed to fight with getting the connectors into the opening alongside the “mile” of extra cable Forest River left.

Connected the trailer to the TV and turned on the lights. Plugged in the monitor and have no signal from camera. At first I thought it was a wireless signal issue. Then I noticed that the blue light was not lit up on the camera.

Those of you that have one of these cameras: does the blue light come on when your trailer lights are on? If so, I’m guessing that my pre-wired trailer isn’t. [emoji53] What a wasted morning.

Any troubleshooting tips before I start removing the base and start fishing for the connection in the wall?

[SimchaSabre]

My Cedar Creek which I've had for less than 2 weeks came with 1 rear camera & 2 side mounted, rear facing cameras. I just learned today that they are apparently hard wired and powered up all the time. The manual talks about an in-line switch & fuse but I haven't found those yet.

[War Eagle]

If the blue lights off you have no power. Did the wires you tapped into have a stripe on one and if so was it green or red?

[boevermann]

@War Eagle: The trailer was pre-wired so I didn’t need to do any wiring. Just plugged the camera into the connector and screwed it into the mounting bracket. Should have been a 15-20 minute job.

But... if I need to remove the bracket and check the connection, what’s the proper configuration? My camera came with a bracket and wiring (that I didn’t need due to pre-wiring) and the camera wires are red and black. I’m probably asking too much of Forest River to use consistent colors/striping in their wiring. I’ve done a tiny amount of home electrical but zero auto electrical so a complete newbie. Thanks for the help!

[dankirk]

On our Rockwood, I just plugged the camera in to the pre-wired plug. It turns on, and the camera LED glows blue, when the trailer running lights are on. I assume they just connect the pigtail to the center running light.

[dankirk]

Originally Posted by boevermann

We have a Surveyor 201RBS, which is pre-wired for the Furrion camera. After owning the trailer for two years we bought the 5” observation model.

Trailer is in outdoor storage so today was a dry day to do the install. Plugged the camera into the pigtail connector on the power cord for the monitor and successfully paired it. Blue light was lit on the camera. Everything going smoothly so far.

Mounted the camera. Pre-wired was great. I only needed to fight with getting the connectors into the opening alongside the “mile” of extra cable Forest River left.

Connected the trailer to the TV and turned on the lights. Plugged in the monitor and have no signal from camera. At first I thought it was a wireless signal issue. Then I noticed that the blue light was not lit up on the camera.

Those of you that have one of these cameras: does the blue light come on when your trailer lights are on? If so, I’m guessing that my pre-wired trailer isn’t. [emoji53] What a wasted morning.

Any troubleshooting tips before I start removing the base and start fishing for the connection in the wall?

Might be a dumb question, but were the trailer running lights lit up? Was your trailer plugged into your tow vehicle?

[mopwr4me2003]

Possible fuse to your outlet in your TV? Sometimes depending on the type of plug that is supplied it could cause a fuse to blow if metal makes contact in the socket.

There are also fuses inside of the plug end as well and one of those may have blown as well to.

Just a few things to look at as well.

[mopwr4me2003]

Originally Posted by mopwr4me2003

Possible fuse to your outlet in your TV? Sometimes depending on the type of plug that is supplied it could cause a fuse to blow if metal makes contact in the socket.

There are also fuses inside of the plug end as well and one of those may have blown as well to.

Just a few things to look at as well.

And someone slap me if I say as well one more time [emoji12]

[dankirk]

Also, I’ve heard that some of the brand new GM trucks are not working with the Furrion cameras for some reason.

[boevermann]

I’ve been trying to troubleshoot this in my head and as I re-read all of your responses, @SimchaSabre’s comment jumped out. I discounted it before because the camera is mounted directly below the center running light. It would be stupid to wire it to the house wiring when the trailer wiring is right there!

Since the trailer is stored away from power I pull the batteries and keep them charged in the garage at home. I brought a battery with me yesterday but didn’t hook it up because I was dealing with the trailer wiring, or so I assumed. Same assumption as @dankirk. So, yes, the trailer was hooked up to the TV and lights were on. Also, Toyota Tacoma so the GM issue is not a concern though good info to have if we ever want a bigger trailer and move to a larger TV.

@mopwr4me2003, are you referring to the outlet in the cab where the monitor plugs in or the connector at the hitch? Monitor works fine and when the camera is plugged into the pigtail it works. If there are fuses at the hitch connector then I’ve learned something new today!

The camera possibly being wired to the house instead of trailer wiring is nagging me. I’m going to swing by after our other event this afternoon, hook up the battery and plug in the camera and see what happens. I kick myself for not thinking of it yesterday.

[mopwr4me2003]

Originally Posted by boevermann

I’ve been trying to troubleshoot this in my head and as I re-read all of your responses, @SimchaSabre’s comment jumped out. I discounted it before because the camera is mounted directly below the center running light. It would be stupid to wire it to the house wiring when the trailer wiring is right there!

Since the trailer is stored away from power I pull the batteries and keep them charged in the garage at home. I brought a battery with me yesterday but didn’t hook it up because I was dealing with the trailer wiring, or so I assumed. Same assumption as @dankirk. So, yes, the trailer was hooked up to the TV and lights were on. Also, Toyota Tacoma so the GM issue is not a concern though good info to have if we ever want a bigger trailer and move to a larger TV.

@mopwr4me2003, are you referring to the outlet in the cab where the monitor plugs in or the connector at the hitch? Monitor works fine and when the camera is plugged into the pigtail it works. If there are fuses at the hitch connector then I’ve learned something new today!

The camera possibly being wired to the house instead of trailer wiring is nagging me. I’m going to swing by after our other event this afternoon, hook up the battery and plug in the camera and see what happens. I kick myself for not thinking of it yesterday.

I had to go out to mine and check and when all is hooked up the blue light comes on for the monitor and then the screen comes on with picture. The blue light is also on for the camera when the system is operating correctly. I do remember when I got my camera i had issues as well and I found the cord to my monitor was bad. My screen would come on and I would see the colored lines but black screen and would not pair. I ordered a new power cord just to try it from etrailers and my issue was resolved. Don’t really know what was wrong with it but it worked and I have had no issues since and going on season 2. Not saying this is the issue but just a thought.

As for the fuse I was referring to any and all fuses that would power the system. Seeing as how your monitor is on that would tell me the port for the cigar lighter is working. As far as the other fuse for the pigtail that would be another one I would check as well but it seems you have power there also. I was just trying to throw out possibilities to you that sometimes when things don’t work we over look.

[corky310]

Mine came from the factory with constant power on as long as the battery is connected. I had to install a battery disconnect since Prime Time didn't bother to put in a switch to turn the camera power on or off.
When I'm hooked up to shore power I now have a security cam for the back of the rig

[Gmar60]

My Surveyor was wired to back up lights. Try putting tv in reverse. Re-wired mine to nearest clearance light. Now it’s powered when headlights are on.

[Lvn2tvl]

Originally Posted by boevermann

I’ve been trying to troubleshoot this in my head and as I re-read all of your responses, @SimchaSabre’s comment jumped out. I discounted it before because the camera is mounted directly below the center running light. It would be stupid to wire it to the house wiring when the trailer wiring is right there!

Since the trailer is stored away from power I pull the batteries and keep them charged in the garage at home. I brought a battery with me yesterday but didn’t hook it up because I was dealing with the trailer wiring, or so I assumed. Same assumption as @dankirk. So, yes, the trailer was hooked up to the TV and lights were on. Also, Toyota Tacoma so the GM issue is not a concern though good info to have if we ever want a bigger trailer and move to a larger TV.

@mopwr4me2003, are you referring to the outlet in the cab where the monitor plugs in or the connector at the hitch? Monitor works fine and when the camera is plugged into the pigtail it works. If there are fuses at the hitch connector then I’ve learned something new today!

The camera possibly being wired to the house instead of trailer wiring is nagging me. I’m going to swing by after our other event this afternoon, hook up the battery and plug in the camera and see what happens. I kick myself for not thinking of it yesterday.

Pull the prewired cable out of the hole and measure for 12v with running lights on. If no voltage you have an issue with the internal connection. Like someone else said the prewired connection may be connected to the backup wires instead of the clearance lights. If you have voltage your camera may be defective.

[boevermann]

I realize now that I didn’t fully test reverse yesterday. I put the TV in reverse but got no camera signal. I probably didn’t give it enough time to make the connection. Today I had dear wife put the TV in reverse while I eyeballed the camera. Sure enough, like @Gmar60, my Surveyor is wired to the backup lights.

Looks like I’ll be tearing everything down to re-wire the next dry weekend day we have. So much for pre-wired convenience! Thanks for all of your insight.

[SimchaSabre]

The Furrion camera systems can obviously be wired for different intents. In the case of my CC,. It's wired into the main 12VDC to allow security monitoring while in side. It also allows for rear and side viewing while driving. My guess is when a RV mfg includes "pre-wiring" for a camera system, the get to choose the wiring method. I knew in advance, how my unit was wired, but the dealer did not. They had me connect my TV so they could pair the cameras...an uneccesay step as I suspected. Good luck with your method of choice.

[mopwr4me2003]

Originally Posted by boevermann

I realize now that I didn’t fully test reverse yesterday. I put the TV in reverse but got no camera signal. I probably didn’t give it enough time to make the connection. Today I had dear wife put the TV in reverse while I eyeballed the camera. Sure enough, like @Gmar60, my Surveyor is wired to the backup lights.

Looks like I’ll be tearing everything down to re-wire the next dry weekend day we have. So much for pre-wired convenience! Thanks for all of your insight.

Just out of curiosity which camera did you get? If you only got the back up camera this would make sense. I know you said observation camera but I would double check model number ( if you have not already done this ) before you start tearing into things just to make sure. Good luck and hope it works out for you [emoji106]

[boevermann]

@mopwr4me2003, it’s the FOS05TASF, so it’s the observation and not the back up only model. But that’s a fair point—double check what ya bought before wiring it for what ya didn’t!

[tonyz1]

Originally Posted by boevermann

I realize now that I didn’t fully test reverse yesterday. I put the TV in reverse but got no camera signal. I probably didn’t give it enough time to make the connection. Today I had dear wife put the TV in reverse while I eyeballed the camera. Sure enough, like @Gmar60, my Surveyor is wired to the backup lights.

Looks like I’ll be tearing everything down to re-wire the next dry weekend day we have. So much for pre-wired convenience! Thanks for all of your insight.

Glad you found your camera problem. But I must say this perplexes me. I've never owned a travel trailer that had backup lights. Is this something unique to the Surveyor line? Just wondering! Thanks.

[boevermann]

@tonyz1: The trailer itself doesn’t have backup lights. I think Forest River just ran wire for the camera and connected it to the “reverse” circuit at the hitch connector. Like you I’ve never seen a trailer with backup lights.