Thanks! I don't know about the fresh air door actuator, so far mine is working great. I did have an issue with my 2011 Explorer actuator door acting up. I replaced the actuator and it resolved it. It was easy to get to, hopefully yours is too?
Thanks for this information man, I just bought a F-150 recently and had a hell of a time with this nonsense issue. This is 100% ridiculous for Ford to made this so complicated. You are awesome for sharing this information though.
Kenneth, please add Ford F150 to this list I have a 2019 F150 Lariat FX4 and I put a gooseneck hitch in to tow our horse trailer and had the same issues. I couldn't get the loading lights or interior lights to work. It is all connected to the 12v charge circuit. I watched your video and all works great. I even brought the truck to my local dealership and they thought I was crazy and said their tester said all was working. Of course it is working if I shut the door and take the fob out of my pocket and leave it in the truck. My son is a manager at the dealership so tomorrow I will call and make sure they all have this information so hopefully no one else will spend time with a meter or test light on this issue. Thank you so much, Joe
That is good to know the F150 works the same way,,,, or actually not good. I don't understand what Ford's thinking was with this, but i'm glad the video helped sort it out. I will be curious to hear what the dealership thinks about it and if Ford gave them any information about why. I'll happily add the F150 to the list, but i'm not sure how far back it would be effective?
Thank you, thank you, thank you! This worked on my 2020 F-350 Diesel Lariat with factory brake controller. It drove me nuts and I was ready to run a dedicated line from the upfitter switches., This was terribly frustrating and you helped... big time.
Dude thank you so much for this video I have a 21 f250 and my interior lights would not work in my trailer. No fuses were blown and I was blown. I thought something was wrong and was about to take it back to the dealer. They probably would have laughed at me.
@@KennethLeake Trailer dealer said truck was problem and Ford dealer said trailer is problem. No solution until today watching your post. THANKs so much. I have 2020 F250 and 2020 travel trailer.
Bud, You save my butt I could not Figure out why I could not get power to the charge wire. Until I saw you talk and show about leaving the driver door open. This also applies to the 2018 F350 6.7L. So I just wanted to say a BIG Thank you for making this video! 😁😁😁
Thanks for posting this! Everything I read, I needed the 30amp fuse in block #27. That didn't seem to work though. My #65 was blown as well. That still didn't "fix" it. I have been pissed trying to figure it out. Watched this video, and that's all it was in the end. Thank you!
Thank you. This video is very helpful in understanding why the charge circuit never seems to work when I test it. I would have never thought to take the key fob out of my pocket and leave it inside the truck. My previous f350 had a key and I never had any issues after learning how to activate the charging by stepping on the brake a couple times. I’ll probably just bypass the controller because I jut need it to work without cutting power when I get out of the truck. It seems like you could jumper the red and orange wires at the controller through a relay that gets energized by a circuit that is only hot when the truck is running and still retain some protection from draining the battery when the ignition is off.
That is similar to what I ended up doing. I connected the trailer port to an upfitter switch so the stock configuration is in place until I turn on the upfitter switch and then it's effectively direct. Overall it works well.
I've been having the same issue on a 2020 F350. None of these work on this model (at least the one I have). What I have found is that now the "Smart Tow" feature will only supply power to the 12volt pin when the truck is in drive and that is it. So if you need power for a powered jack or something like that, you are out of luck unless there is an aux battery on the trailer you tow to provide power when the truck is not in drive. There is one caveat that someone told me but I can't remember the correct sequence (and what follows is just an example) but it is something like put the transmission in all the gears press on the brake twice then put it into drive then into park and the computer goes into some diagnosis mode and it supply's power to the 12 volt pin. I have a 26 foot race trailer and I do not have an aux battery in it so I can't use the load lights and interior lights in the trailer. I will probably just run a line from one of the upfitter switches to the 12 volt pin on the 7 way and cap off the factory wire.
That doesn't make any kind of sense. I don't understand what Ford is thinking in the way they power this pin. There is no need for any kind of complicated control, just turn it on if the truck is running and be done with it. Running a separate wire from an upfitter relay is likely the simplest solution.
I recently got an enclosed cargo trailer and have been trying to figure out why the interior lights don’t work. I traced the issue with the truck. Just did what you showed here with my trailer emulator and it worked, a stupid design if you ask me, tomorrow I will try the trailer again.
Great video for newer models. I cannot understand why most all manufacturers have gone to this. I have a Late '99 F350 and it came from the factory with the 12v charge lug hot all the time but the original owner had Ford change it to hot in the "run" position and engine actually running. I work independently with handicap mobility lifts and make special adaptors to utilize the power to operate the lifts. Can't do that anymore.....
Thank you I was really scratching my head over this one I thought it might be a fuse swap like the upfitter switch 5 and 6 During my testing I also found it will have power with the parking brake set and in reverse like what??? And no need for the key to be in the truck at that point same as you found with being in neutral
Thanks for taking the time to post this. I am going through the same thing with a 2019 F350 with a Lance slide-in camper. My truck also has a built-in trailer controller and so it does not have the additional fuse and relay. I cannot get it to charge the camper battery while in park running in the driveway. I have not tried the sequences you show but will be tonight. I suspect that the missing fuse and relay provide 12v on the trucks without the controller. Adding them back may be a way to provide a steady 12v to the trailer connector without the strange "safety" steps you demonstrated.
You are correct those fuse/relay locations are for the trucks without the built in controller, but you cannot add them and make it work. The built in controller contains the relay for the charge circuit. Their are two options to bypass. 1. Jump the red and orange wire at the controller. This works, but also does not provide any sort of battery drain protection for the truck. 2. bypass the factory controller and rig your own charge relay to power with the key or with an upfitter switch. You can use the existing orange wire from under the dash to the rear of the truck, but also know that the size of wire will limit charging. If you need less than 20A, this should be sufficient.
@@KennethLeake got it. That makes sense. As long as it’s charging when I’m in the truck driving I will be good. I’ll be testing mine tonight with my new found knowledge. Thanks again
Wow. Thank you so much for posting this video. I have a 2019 F-350 and I also found that I couldn't get the battery line to go positive unless there was something connected to the left and right tail-lights and I pressed the brake pedal at least once. I wired a small resistor between left and right tail-light to ground to trick my truck that there were actual tail-lights. Thanks for sharing what you learned.... p.s. the reason I wanted the 12V power was for a powered cooler. Why doesn't ford just keep 12v there all the time.. what's the harm?
That is a good question as that would sure make things easier. I am curious, does yours have the keyed ignition? The resister is a great idea to trick the truck. Does it think you have a trailer connected all of the time in the trailer settings though?
I recently purchased a 2021 Ford Explorer and hooked it up to my travel trailer and every time I would open the door I would get an error message saying “Charging your trailer has been disabled.” I wanted to know why and called Ford. They had no explanation. Does anyone know why Ford vehicles do this?
The trucks that have keyed ignition work differently. I have not been able to test one of those, but I'm hearing those require pushing the brake pedal, and/or connecting the trailer to the plug before it starts charging. It seems odd, but the way the keyfob trucks work is odd as well. If I get a chance to test a keyed truck, I will definitely update this post.
That’s some crazy trouble shooting, how in the hell did you figure all that crazy monkey motion. I had no idea that’s the way it should work, I bought a new trailer and guy in the shop told me I didn’t have 12v to the charging pin, I have a 2019 f350 Platinum I’ve been chasing around thinking I had wiring issues, come to find out with your help from this video I don’t, thanks for this crazy video.
Glad it helped you. Like you, I was doing some accessory wiring and needed to know exactly how this line worked. It took a little time to test it all out, but in the end I now have mine working exactly like I want it to. Unfortunately there are a few others that have posted that theirs works different from mine. I'm not sure why Ford made them work different from each other. It should be a simple wire with a relay and a fuse, but they feel the need to run it through a strange controller setup. Like I mentioned, it is probably done this way to reduce the risk of a spark when you connect the trailer, but I would rather see that spark instead of it happening when I get back in the truck and don't know that I had a wiring issue.
Thanks for you video! I just learned my 2018 F-150 SuperCrew with tow package will not charge the trailer batteries while driving. The RV dealer checked the 7-pin Aux 12V and it showed no power. I spoke with a Ford service tech and he stated in order to have power the truck needed to be parked and you had to keep your foot on the brake pedal. He then hooked up a device that simulated a towed trailer and when the brake was not pressed there were zero amps at the 7-pin., but when the brake was pressed it showed 6-7 amp at the 7-pin. I also learned about a DC-DC battery charger that bypasses the 7-pin and can produce 20+ amps. Does anyone have experience with a DC-DC charger?
I have heard of a few trucks that only charge if the brake pedal is pushed. I am curious what trim package you have? XLT, Lariat, etc? The charge method you are having, just doesn't make any sense to me as to why they would do this. I would be curious to see Ford's reasoning. As for a DC to DC charger, yes, many have used them and they work very well if you are trying to get your trailer 100% charged due to the voltage drop over the wiring distance. For me, and likely many others, I am not needing to squeeze every bit of power I can into the trailer as long as it can get a good amount of charge and be around 80-90% full then I am good. The DC to DC can bump that up a bit more if you need it. For yours, it might be a good option, but I personally would change the way the factory charge line is working.
@@KennethLeake Thanks for your insight. I have the XLT trim level. I did a lot of research before buying the truck and trailer and everyone I spoke with assumed or assured me that the truck would charge the trailer batteries while towing.
@@edsegalla3893 and those people are correct that it "should" charge. I have heard on the XLT, without the OEM brake controller, that you have to install the relay and fuse into the fuse box under the hood. Check your manual for the location of these to be sure. On my 19 F250, those locations are there, but empty. With the factory brake controller, it doesn't use those and feeds through the brake controller instead. Definitely confusing, but you might try adding those if they are not there and see if that gets it going.
I have a 2017 F-150 Platinum. It has the built-in tow package with the OEM brake controller. I too followed these directions and mine still doesn't get power to the 12V, and like you I've seen people that were shown by the dealer that unless the truck detects the presence of a trailer, it won't send power to the connector, and you are supposed to do it in a specific order. 1. With vehicle off connect the trailer. 2. Power on vehicle. 3. Press on brake until you get the verification message that the trailer is detected.
@@mcgilm1 It's interesting how some trucks work different from others. I have since bypassed mine, and rigged it to be on anytime the engine is running, and I can turn it on at anytime i want with an upfitter switch, even if the engine is not running. (this is so that when connected to my cargo trailer the solar can charge the truck if needed) Every so often I notice that it thinks I have a trailer connected even when I don't, but I did that occasionally before as well. I don't see why Ford has chosen to make this such a complicated procedure just to apply power to your trailer or just a tongue jack if needed.
There have been a few people respond that have had to have something hooked to the tail lights for it to work. It appears there are several different configurations used, even on the same year trucks. You might verify your fuses or test with a trailer connected. Mine was a fuse.
The reason it is wired that way Is to turn off charging when the driver is not in the truck because of dump trailers. Ford wants to disconnect the trailer charge wire when dumping because of amp draw. Good idea. Poor implementation.
I suspected it was something along those lines, but yea, not a very good implementation. And dump trailers are not the only high amp draw thing out there. The fuse should take care of that issue. Or even better, an auto-reset breaker would be nice for that.
You are my hero! I only got mine to work with the truck in reverse with the parking brake set... I'll have to try this next time!!
Great video! Let’s talk about the fresh air door actuator lol. My 2015 has some similar quirks with the door closing & not closing.
Thanks! I don't know about the fresh air door actuator, so far mine is working great. I did have an issue with my 2011 Explorer actuator door acting up. I replaced the actuator and it resolved it. It was easy to get to, hopefully yours is too?
Thanks for this information man, I just bought a F-150 recently and had a hell of a time with this nonsense issue. This is 100% ridiculous for Ford to made this so complicated. You are awesome for sharing this information though.
Kenneth, please add Ford F150 to this list I have a 2019 F150 Lariat FX4 and I put a gooseneck hitch in to tow our horse trailer and had the same issues. I couldn't get the loading lights or interior lights to work. It is all connected to the 12v charge circuit. I watched your video and all works great. I even brought the truck to my local dealership and they thought I was crazy and said their tester said all was working. Of course it is working if I shut the door and take the fob out of my pocket and leave it in the truck. My son is a manager at the dealership so tomorrow I will call and make sure they all have this information so hopefully no one else will spend time with a meter or test light on this issue. Thank you so much, Joe
That is good to know the F150 works the same way,,,, or actually not good. I don't understand what Ford's thinking was with this, but i'm glad the video helped sort it out. I will be curious to hear what the dealership thinks about it and if Ford gave them any information about why. I'll happily add the F150 to the list, but i'm not sure how far back it would be effective?
Holy crap! Thank you I was about to go crazy.
Thank you, thank you, thank you! This worked on my 2020 F-350 Diesel Lariat with factory brake controller. It drove me nuts and I was ready to run a dedicated line from the upfitter switches., This was terribly frustrating and you helped... big time.
Glad it was able to help you out.
Thank you for this video! I almost started to tear through the system and found your video. Definitely saved me from making a mistake!
You are very welcome and I am glad I was able to save you some time.
Dude thank you so much for this video I have a 21 f250 and my interior lights would not work in my trailer. No fuses were blown and I was blown. I thought something was wrong and was about to take it back to the dealer. They probably would have laughed at me.
Don't feel bad, they might not have been able to figure it out either! Lol
@@KennethLeake Trailer dealer said truck was problem and Ford dealer said trailer is problem. No solution until today watching your post. THANKs so much. I have 2020 F250 and 2020 travel trailer.
@@gregmiscvn You are very welcome and glad it helped you out.
Bud, You save my butt I could not Figure out why I could not get power to the charge wire. Until I saw you talk and show about leaving the driver door open. This also applies to the 2018 F350 6.7L.
So I just wanted to say a BIG Thank you for making this video! 😁😁😁
Glad it was able to help you!
Thanks for posting this! Everything I read, I needed the 30amp fuse in block #27. That didn't seem to work though. My #65 was blown as well. That still didn't "fix" it. I have been pissed trying to figure it out. Watched this video, and that's all it was in the end. Thank you!
You are very welcome, glad it was able to help you out.
Long way from intuitive, huh? Thanks for the great detective work!
What in the name of all that is good was ford thinking? Thank you for the knowledge.
Thank you. This video is very helpful in understanding why the charge circuit never seems to work when I test it. I would have never thought to take the key fob out of my pocket and leave it inside the truck. My previous f350 had a key and I never had any issues after learning how to activate the charging by stepping on the brake a couple times.
I’ll probably just bypass the controller because I jut need it to work without cutting power when I get out of the truck. It seems like you could jumper the red and orange wires at the controller through a relay that gets energized by a circuit that is only hot when the truck is running and still retain some protection from draining the battery when the ignition is off.
That is similar to what I ended up doing. I connected the trailer port to an upfitter switch so the stock configuration is in place until I turn on the upfitter switch and then it's effectively direct. Overall it works well.
I've been having the same issue on a 2020 F350. None of these work on this model (at least the one I have). What I have found is that now the "Smart Tow" feature will only supply power to the 12volt pin when the truck is in drive and that is it. So if you need power for a powered jack or something like that, you are out of luck unless there is an aux battery on the trailer you tow to provide power when the truck is not in drive. There is one caveat that someone told me but I can't remember the correct sequence (and what follows is just an example) but it is something like put the transmission in all the gears press on the brake twice then put it into drive then into park and the computer goes into some diagnosis mode and it supply's power to the 12 volt pin. I have a 26 foot race trailer and I do not have an aux battery in it so I can't use the load lights and interior lights in the trailer. I will probably just run a line from one of the upfitter switches to the 12 volt pin on the 7 way and cap off the factory wire.
That doesn't make any kind of sense. I don't understand what Ford is thinking in the way they power this pin. There is no need for any kind of complicated control, just turn it on if the truck is running and be done with it. Running a separate wire from an upfitter relay is likely the simplest solution.
I have a late 2020 F450. Has this situation changed since this video was produced?
A few of the people that have commented have seen the same thing on 20 and 21 Superduty's, so it's likely the same thing on a 2020 450.
I recently got an enclosed cargo trailer and have been trying to figure out why the interior lights don’t work. I traced the issue with the truck. Just did what you showed here with my trailer emulator and it worked, a stupid design if you ask me, tomorrow I will try the trailer again.
Agreed it's pretty dumb why it would work that way. Let me know if it works when you test with your trailer.
@@KennethLeake yes the interior lights worked. Thanks for this video so helpful
@@jpgale That is great news!
Great video for newer models. I cannot understand why most all manufacturers have gone to this. I have a Late '99 F350 and it came from the factory with the 12v charge lug hot all the time but the original owner had Ford change it to hot in the "run" position and engine actually running. I work independently with handicap mobility lifts and make special adaptors to utilize the power to operate the lifts. Can't do that anymore.....
Yea, I've heard it's something to do with possible sparks when connecting a trailer. I'm wondering if that's really ever been an issue. Lol
@@KennethLeake Well in all the trucks and trailers I've had I've never had a problem with any of this on my older ones....
Thank you I was really scratching my head over this one I thought it might be a fuse swap like the upfitter switch 5 and 6
During my testing I also found it will have power with the parking brake set and in reverse like what??? And no need for the key to be in the truck at that point same as you found with being in neutral
Thanks for taking the time to post this. I am going through the same thing with a 2019 F350 with a Lance slide-in camper. My truck also has a built-in trailer controller and so it does not have the additional fuse and relay. I cannot get it to charge the camper battery while in park running in the driveway. I have not tried the sequences you show but will be tonight. I suspect that the missing fuse and relay provide 12v on the trucks without the controller. Adding them back may be a way to provide a steady 12v to the trailer connector without the strange "safety" steps you demonstrated.
You are correct those fuse/relay locations are for the trucks without the built in controller, but you cannot add them and make it work. The built in controller contains the relay for the charge circuit. Their are two options to bypass. 1. Jump the red and orange wire at the controller. This works, but also does not provide any sort of battery drain protection for the truck. 2. bypass the factory controller and rig your own charge relay to power with the key or with an upfitter switch. You can use the existing orange wire from under the dash to the rear of the truck, but also know that the size of wire will limit charging. If you need less than 20A, this should be sufficient.
@@KennethLeake got it. That makes sense. As long as it’s charging when I’m in the truck driving I will be good. I’ll be testing mine tonight with my new found knowledge. Thanks again
@@mountaineermade You are very welcome!
Wow. Thank you so much for posting this video. I have a 2019 F-350 and I also found that I couldn't get the battery line to go positive unless there was something connected to the left and right tail-lights and I pressed the brake pedal at least once. I wired a small resistor between left and right tail-light to ground to trick my truck that there were actual tail-lights. Thanks for sharing what you learned.... p.s. the reason I wanted the 12V power was for a powered cooler. Why doesn't ford just keep 12v there all the time.. what's the harm?
That is a good question as that would sure make things easier. I am curious, does yours have the keyed ignition? The resister is a great idea to trick the truck. Does it think you have a trailer connected all of the time in the trailer settings though?
AWESOME...wish I would have watched your video two hours ago....lol
I recently purchased a 2021 Ford Explorer and hooked it up to my travel trailer and every time I would open the door I would get an error message saying “Charging your trailer has been disabled.” I wanted to know why and called Ford. They had no explanation. Does anyone know why Ford vehicles do this?
Great info, thanks for posting.
Got in a f250 with trailer charing concern. My is controlled by TRM. It needs turn on the power out relay by scan tool to power that charging circuit.
I'm not sure I follow? What year truck and what trim level?
Same issue, was told it's the brake controller from dealership
i don't think the dealers even understand how these trucks work.
Also I wonder how the keyed ignition switches work do they have the same issue as the key fob trucks?
The trucks that have keyed ignition work differently. I have not been able to test one of those, but I'm hearing those require pushing the brake pedal, and/or connecting the trailer to the plug before it starts charging. It seems odd, but the way the keyfob trucks work is odd as well. If I get a chance to test a keyed truck, I will definitely update this post.
That’s some crazy trouble shooting, how in the hell did you figure all that crazy monkey motion. I had no idea that’s the way it should work, I bought a new trailer and guy in the shop told me I didn’t have 12v to the charging pin, I have a 2019 f350 Platinum I’ve been chasing around thinking I had wiring issues, come to find out with your help from this video I don’t, thanks for this crazy video.
Glad it helped you. Like you, I was doing some accessory wiring and needed to know exactly how this line worked. It took a little time to test it all out, but in the end I now have mine working exactly like I want it to. Unfortunately there are a few others that have posted that theirs works different from mine. I'm not sure why Ford made them work different from each other. It should be a simple wire with a relay and a fuse, but they feel the need to run it through a strange controller setup. Like I mentioned, it is probably done this way to reduce the risk of a spark when you connect the trailer, but I would rather see that spark instead of it happening when I get back in the truck and don't know that I had a wiring issue.
Thanks for you video! I just learned my 2018 F-150 SuperCrew with tow package will not charge the trailer batteries while driving. The RV dealer checked the 7-pin Aux 12V and it showed no power. I spoke with a Ford service tech and he stated in order to have power the truck needed to be parked and you had to keep your foot on the brake pedal. He then hooked up a device that simulated a towed trailer and when the brake was not pressed there were zero amps at the 7-pin., but when the brake was pressed it showed 6-7 amp at the 7-pin. I also learned about a DC-DC battery charger that bypasses the 7-pin and can produce 20+ amps. Does anyone have experience with a DC-DC charger?
I have heard of a few trucks that only charge if the brake pedal is pushed. I am curious what trim package you have? XLT, Lariat, etc? The charge method you are having, just doesn't make any sense to me as to why they would do this. I would be curious to see Ford's reasoning. As for a DC to DC charger, yes, many have used them and they work very well if you are trying to get your trailer 100% charged due to the voltage drop over the wiring distance. For me, and likely many others, I am not needing to squeeze every bit of power I can into the trailer as long as it can get a good amount of charge and be around 80-90% full then I am good. The DC to DC can bump that up a bit more if you need it. For yours, it might be a good option, but I personally would change the way the factory charge line is working.
@@KennethLeake Thanks for your insight. I have the XLT trim level. I did a lot of research before buying the truck and trailer and everyone I spoke with assumed or assured me that the truck would charge the trailer batteries while towing.
@@edsegalla3893 and those people are correct that it "should" charge. I have heard on the XLT, without the OEM brake controller, that you have to install the relay and fuse into the fuse box under the hood. Check your manual for the location of these to be sure. On my 19 F250, those locations are there, but empty. With the factory brake controller, it doesn't use those and feeds through the brake controller instead. Definitely confusing, but you might try adding those if they are not there and see if that gets it going.
I have a 2017 F-150 Platinum. It has the built-in tow package with the OEM brake controller. I too followed these directions and mine still doesn't get power to the 12V, and like you I've seen people that were shown by the dealer that unless the truck detects the presence of a trailer, it won't send power to the connector, and you are supposed to do it in a specific order.
1. With vehicle off connect the trailer.
2. Power on vehicle.
3. Press on brake until you get the verification message that the trailer is detected.
@@mcgilm1 It's interesting how some trucks work different from others. I have since bypassed mine, and rigged it to be on anytime the engine is running, and I can turn it on at anytime i want with an upfitter switch, even if the engine is not running. (this is so that when connected to my cargo trailer the solar can charge the truck if needed) Every so often I notice that it thinks I have a trailer connected even when I don't, but I did that occasionally before as well. I don't see why Ford has chosen to make this such a complicated procedure just to apply power to your trailer or just a tongue jack if needed.
Holy moly. Thanks!!!!!
Same for my 2019 F150
glad it helped!
Thank you!
Thx for this.
Yes thank you
Tried this on my 2018 f350 w/ factory brake controller,, does not work.
There have been a few people respond that have had to have something hooked to the tail lights for it to work. It appears there are several different configurations used, even on the same year trucks. You might verify your fuses or test with a trailer connected. Mine was a fuse.
Thanks
I will buy a chevy next time.
The reason it is wired that way Is to turn off charging when the driver is not in the truck because of dump trailers. Ford wants to disconnect the trailer charge wire when dumping because of amp draw. Good idea. Poor implementation.
I suspected it was something along those lines, but yea, not a very good implementation. And dump trailers are not the only high amp draw thing out there. The fuse should take care of that issue. Or even better, an auto-reset breaker would be nice for that.
Another one of FORD"S better 💡
I am sure they have some reason for it. Likely to prevent sparks when you plug it in,,,, but that risk is pretty tiny.