So I'm trying to get ready to pick the trailer up Thursday and wanted to get a couple of things done but don't really have time to do everything in a permanent fashion. The 2 biggest items were the backup camera and I wanted to be able to use my magnetic trailer lights in case I can't get the ones on the new trailer working - really don't want to be messing around in the GP lot or along side the road.
The trailer lights were really a simple issue. I picked up a 7 pole/round pin trailer plug and a 4 pin vehicle side plug. It was simple to wire the 4 pin into the 7 pin (colors are even labeled in case you're wiringphobic) then plugged that into the truck and my magnetic lights into that. Easy peasy.
The backup camera takes a little more work. First part was threading the 20' of video cable from the back of the truck to the front. That was probably the hardest part and I still need to zip tie from the fuel tank back. I followed the truck's wiring loom so deciding where to go was automatic. I still haven't decided for certain where I'm going to mount the camera but probably directly over the pintle hitch. For now I'm going to screw it to a 2x4 and clamp it in place so I'm not rushed in getting that done. Next task is getting power to it. For the time being I ran a line from the 12v lug on the new trailer plug and just tied the ground into the wire coming out for the 4 pin. I can now pull the camera off whenever I want and not have to worry about being hardwired to the truck. I will mount it permanently at some point but in the meantime I just want to be able to use it for this trip.