Gettin' power to the bed!

03Bluerado · July 22, 2003

A while back there was a topic about putting a 12v outlet in the bed of a truck to run some accesories, I think a cooler was one of them. I want to use a 12v cooler on next weeks camping trip, I have the weatherproof 12 v outlet from Walmart all ready to go I am just not sure where I should wire it from, electrical being my weak point! I have an 03 Silverado and it has the 8 wire harness, it has a red wire that I thought was constant power, but I can not get power there. This is a problem because I want to use that power source for the white knight back up lights I also just installed. I have power to reverse, just not that red wire. Is there something in the fuse box that needs to be changed, in order to make that wire have power? Manual did not mention anything about this that I could find.

Finally I have the dual batteries from the factory, should I wire the 12v accesorie outlet from that? That being the Megafuse I guess??

Thanks for any help and ideas!

July 22, 2003

I would just keep it simple and plug into the cigarette lighter.

BlackSilver · July 22, 2003

That red wire on your 8-wire harness is fused under the hood, but no fuse is installed at the factory.

Check the underhood electrical center (left side above the fender). You will see two fuse positions called "Stud #1" and "Stud #2", named after me and my twin brother. One of those postions (forget which one) will not have a fuse installed. Put one in!

Happy camping to you!

Markeaux · July 22, 2003

Do you have the oem trailer wiring socket in the rear bumper? If so there is a gm adapter that plugs in it and has a 12v socket, I just got one from www.gmpartsdirect.com

http://www.gmpartsdirect.com/results.cfm?s...number=12497781

They also have a gm oem locking gas cap that is otherwise identical to the oem cap ... it even comes with the same type plastic harness/lanyard so it can be hung on the gas door hook (well it's similar to the one on my 01 Tahoe, don't know if all the other trucks have the same thing).

Victory Red · July 23, 2003

Do you have the oem trailer wiring socket in the rear bumper? If so there is a gm adapter that plugs in it and has a 12v socket, I just got one from www.gmpartsdirect.com
http://www.gmpartsdirect.com/results.cfm?s...number=12497781

That is too cool. Thanks for the link.

03Bluerado · August 7, 2003

Do you have the oem trailer wiring socket in the rear bumper? If so there is a gm adapter that plugs in it and has a 12v socket, I just got one from www.gmpartsdirect.com
http://www.gmpartsdirect.com/results.cfm?s...number=12497781

They also have a gm oem locking gas cap that is otherwise identical to the oem cap ... it even comes with the same type plastic harness/lanyard so it can be hung on the gas door hook (well it's similar to the one on my 01 Tahoe, don't know if all the other trucks have the same thing).

Hey thanks for the part numbers, I ordered the adapter and the gas cap! I also ordered the new and improved brake control harness that came with a 40amp maxi fuse I guess its called. I placed the fuse in the Stud #1 postion as per the GM directipons and STILL I get NO power to red wire in the trailer harness!! This is starting to really piss me off !! Is there a trick I am not doing here? Any help appreciated, thanks guys...

03Bluerado · August 8, 2003

Do you have the oem trailer wiring socket in the rear bumper? If so there is a gm adapter that plugs in it and has a 12v socket, I just got one from www.gmpartsdirect.com
http://www.gmpartsdirect.com/results.cfm?s...number=12497781

They also have a gm oem locking gas cap that is otherwise identical to the oem cap ... it even comes with the same type plastic harness/lanyard so it can be hung on the gas door hook (well it's similar to the one on my 01 Tahoe, don't know if all the other trucks have the same thing).

Hey thanks for the part numbers, I ordered the adapter and the gas cap! I also ordered the new and improved brake control harness that came with a 40amp maxi fuse I guess its called. I placed the fuse in the Stud #1 postion as per the GM directipons and STILL I get NO power to red wire in the trailer harness!! This is starting to really piss me off !! Is there a trick I am not doing here? Any help appreciated, thanks guys...

Gang I thought would follow up so if anyone else has this issue it may help. After another perusal of the owners manul yielded nothing and a call to Chevy even less, I went off to the dealer, after some playing around and pulling the left fender brace and complete UHEC cover we found two red wires disconnected, one of these we put on the Stud#1 pole and tightened down, wallah ! Power to the rear harness and NO 40 amp fuse needed! Also noticed the blue wires disconected that provide trailer brake power (something else GM failed to mention in the book) so now when I hook up my new Prodigy it will actually work.

So if you have a Silverado with Dual Batteries (TP2) this is how its done, thanks for being so vague GM!