NewHilux.net

Afternoon all,

I've just mounted a roof top solar panel on my roof-rack and need to run the cable in between the cab and canopy/tray down to the chassis rail so I can connect it to my existing solar wiring.

I was just wondering if anyone has any tips for running a cable down between the cab and canopy/tray so that I don't experience any issues when out and about (noting that we do spend a fair bit of our time driving over corrugations).

Thanks in advance.

William

There are some gromets at the rear of the cab you can use

NZMarkb wrote:There are some gromets at the rear of the cab you can use

Thanks Mark, do you use anything to stop the cable rubbing? All I could really think was to cable tie the cable to base of the roof rack but couldn't find another point to tie it to on the way down (I'll look for that grommet now). I was just going to put a cable sleeve over the cord but was wondering if that was going to cause more damage from the rubbing.

I didn’t have a canopy on mine (had a hard lid) so didn’t have that issue sorry
You can get plastic cable tie bases with double sided tape on that may work

I ran mine up the chassis rail to behind the LH tail-light and into the tub to the solar regulator. From the regulator I snuck out through the tailgate rubber just at the window drain and up to the solar panel on the canopy racks via a small Anderson plug.

Thanks Mark and HK1837

Hi William. I used those cable tie adhesive bases too to run the solar cable into the cab. After a wet season the adhesive degraded and let go. I have since replaced with new adhesive bases and added some rtv adhesive to the sides of the bases. I thoroughly cleaned with alcohol both times. The RTV has done the trick
A bit tricky to put them on with tub on but possible. I'll post some pics if you are interested.

Thanks for the feedback DB, if you could post a picture that would be great.

No problem Will.
I routed my solar cable on the right hand side from my cabin roof rack down to the back of my canopy where it feeds through some loops attached to the canvas. From there it has one cable tie base on the top of the tub then spans the gap /crosses over to the back of the cabin.

Some duct tape held for about 8 months before adhesive deteriorated


One cable tie base adhered on a 45 degree angle about 30cm down from there
Heres a pic from under the car - rear vent on the right


Then a few cable ties straight along the bottom pinch weld to the drain grommet

These cable tie bases including the one half way down the cabin need to be accessed from under the chassis to attach.



Also from this grommet is a power supply from a battery in my cabin back to the tub
Conduit needed where the cable bends on sharp corner forward to the gromet
Some heat shield wrap - probably not needed.

We ban the use of those stick on cable tie brackets as they don’t last. After days they fail. I allow them if riveted but not with double sided tape.

Thanks DB, that's great! I'll have to watch how they go as HK suggests.

No worries mate.
Not obvious in the images as the red dirt sticks and covers the black rtv adhesive
The bases have been on for over a year now and still solid
In the 2nd image I added a blob of sicafkex onto of the vinyl wrap to prevent any cable slap