I'm about to start routing a few runs of 8 or 10 awg wire to the trunk for an aux fuse block and some (eventual) toys. Just wondering if anybody has done this before and might have a write up on how they did it.


I know about the grommet through the firewall (supposedly under the brake booster I believe), but am more curious as to where people routed their wire through the cabin and how they removed the trim pieces and/or carpet.


Also curious as to what awg wire people may have used since I don't want the wire to be a visible bump under the carpet or door sills or anything...


Thanks for any write up or advice you can send my way!

 

I can tell you fairly definitively. I've done it for myself a couple of times, as well as for other people.

What are your objectives for the toys, 2nd battery, etc. What do you plan on running back there?

He's a few pictures, for you. If you want to drop me a PM/email/phone I can explain it to you as well.

Leave the rubber plug off the cable until you run the wire. After you poke the 8 or 10 wire through the new hole, you'd want to route it through the panel with the hood release is, and out the bottom. The door floor trim will need to be removed on the 1st and 2nd row seats, as well as the center trim piece between them. All should snap off, with the right care, you should not lose any of the plastic or metal clips, but you have to be really careful.

If you do lose a clip, with some work and a magnet, you should be able to fish it out. You'll run the cable, preferably double shielded marine cable all the way to the 2nd row door. From there, you can tuck the wire into the trim / and or fish it through to the cover for the rear hitch adapter.

Most of what you need should be found under Traxide, HAM or Solar. DISCO3.CO.UK Photo Gallery - Home > Member Galleries > tlt

 

I still owe you another e-mail about my winch mount!

Thank you for the help. I'll try to give a detailed explanation about what my ultimate goal is and it might help to clarify things. However, I think your description along with a glance at the actual trim makes it seem like I shouldn't worry so much. BTW, I love this picture of yours.

Basically, I would eventually like to install the traxide system with a 34M battery in the driver's side battery compartment. From this aux battery, I would like to run a 6 or 8 AWG wire to a Blue Sea 5025 fuse block and fuse it at the battery with a 40 amp fuse.

Then, from the fuse block, I would like to run two lines to the roof (1 for a 240W LED Light Bar and 1 for a 40W or so LED rear facing work light). The light bar will be controlled by the LR OEM driving light switch (the one installed to the side of the steering wheel) and the rear work light will be controlled by a Contura switch installed in the trunk area.

I would also like to run a wire across the trunk to another 12V cigarette outlet and fuse it with a 10A or 15A fuse.

Finally, I would like to run two separate lines (each fused at 5A) to two separate Blue Sea USB power outlets.

I will ground the Blue Sea Fuse box in the rear corner (where the trailer wiring is grounded) and perhaps at another location somewhere. I will run the wiring to the roof through the trailer wiring grommet behind the driver's side tail light.

In addition, I would like to make a separate run from the Aux Battery to the rear (fused separately from the Blue Sea box for noise isolation purposes) for a HAM Radio Unit. I'm not sure where it is best to ground the radio yet, but I will certainly ground the antenna at the point you recommended at the tailgate hinges.

Finally, I would like a final run of wire to the trailer socket in order to add an anderson plug or something similar there for charging purposes (not sure whether I'm going to go solar or simply make a port for the CTEK charger - i know i need a controller if I go solar). I don't know whether it is okay to wire this charging point to the blue sea box, or if I should make a separate run directly to the aux battery... something to be decided in the future i guess.

Hope all that makes sense!!

 

I can do a few more pictures of my final ham install. I used a FT857D with a remote head. The final radio location is the rear cargo compartment. I drilled two holes on the bottom to feed in the antenna coax (thin) and power, ground, etc. The tinytrack aprs also lives there.

If I did it over again, I might install the Anderson power pole in the compartment, but I decided to leave it where it is now. The Anderson connectors are used throughout the installation, so you have options. You'll note, as I wired the solar controller, you can power the radio, fridge, accessories, and what not at the Anderson Power pole, and the solar charger is connected directly to the yellow top on a dedicated line. The "load" side of the controller goes to the Power Pole, and then everything plugs into that. With that methodology, you can bypass the solar controller, and even the Power Pole. That particular one has 2 usb sockets on it. There is nothing wrong with a separate socket like you linked too.

The angle mounting method fits only in one spot, where it's shown, and keep them out of the way, from being hit and out of the cargo space.

Inside the rear hitch compartment, you will find a body ground bolt. You can run a ground strap to your radio from there. The coax has 5 turns with a ferrite at the base of each antenna. So far, the radio works great, with no vehicle noise to speak of. I got an external speaker from Amazon that fits under the ashtray/coin tray. Unfortunately, it keeps it from opening, if it was just a hair shorter it would be nice. Here is the speaker /ref=oh_details_o03_s00_i01?ie=UTF8&psc=1 You'll find the Lido mount here.

I've been kicking around a few better solutions for antenna mounts, from the hood bolt mount, roof rack mounts, and other stuff. I'm beginning to think the hood mount makes the most sense for height / off roading, etc. I even played with a license plate mount, but discovered the LR rear plate mount is all plastic, and would require some drilling to beef it up.

I have a separate dedicated wire run, for the two marine outlets, total load rating for 15 amps. That's a lot of juice for those plugs, so if you run bigger loads, I would cut off the ends and go with the Power Pole.

I'll have to think a little on the opposite side power outlet run, you would want to run it from the rear, perhaps off the Power Pole. The power pole is nice, because each outlet is fused, and if a fuse blows, it lights up.

On the main power runs, particularly where HAM is concerned. I have both positive and negative fused on both power runs, at the battery side. If you get a short, anywhere in your lines, the fuse should blow. I use marine rated wire, unfortunately the #6 might be too big to go through the body hole, I've got a roll, but haven't yet tried to install it. You'll see the "white" looking wire, which is ultraflex marine wire.

You could potentially do your roof rack lights by running up the A pillar, maybe by removing the cover, there might be space, drilling the A pillar is almost impossible it's extremely hard material. The other option as you mention might be a run outside the vehicle with the #6 to the ear hitch area, and then getting it into the cabin, roof rack, etc. Another possible would be to get your power from the power pole, and route it out of the rear to the roof, along with your grounds, coax, etc. A separate run up for the switches, something a bit smaller. Keep in mind, voltage drops on DC are rated total distance of the run, both ways. So a 6' pair is actually 12' electrically.

I haven't addressed the blue sea, battery choices, etc. There is only one battery that actually fits the LR factory mount, I don't have it, I have a yellow top, which is appropriate for the winch.

Traxide has a new kit, I wish I knew you needed one, I just did a group buy with another fellow and we ordered a pair, I can probably help you get it sorted if you want to order a new kit. The upside of the 160 is the fact that you can charge with your solar in the boot, and it will charge the primary battery as well. Personally, I don't think it's worth the hassle to have a dedicated battery charger as you mention, to that end I decided to go with solar, a 100w panel will give you a decent 3-4 amp charge in ideal conditions, which should keep the batteries topped up. I can run two fridges, and they average 6.6 amps together 21 hours of draw. I am working on a commercial solution to offer a custom made solar panel mount for the LR3/D3, etc. Probably be a while before it's ready, but it will be slick.

Finally the solar controller, has two 6" mc4 leads presently, that just hang there, in the final install, those will be routed through that hitch cover, and to the roof for the panel. For now, I just plug in and toss the panel out when I want to charge. I can get some discounts on solar stuff, etc. so if I can help, glad to do so.

There are pictures in the gallery of the battery side, fuses and low/high voltage disconnects. The new traxide system comes with a nice 50 amp one. If you are going to run AWG 6, one power run should be adequate.

Time budget, at least a day, at my work pace.

Finally, you'll note the rear install, which has the two sockets, power pole, solar controller, and a high voltage connect for the APRS, and so on. Behind the solar controller is a hole cut into the cover, adequate to run in/out all the wires, and keep it neat and tidy.

DISCO3.CO.UK Photo Gallery - Solar Stuff/20140502 150543-s

Still noodling on some of the other stuff.

 

I'll bet Tim hasn't shipped anything yet and an addition to the order could be made.

 

Ya, don't think so... If somebody wants to add on, now's the time.. drop me a pm with your e-mail # and what you want.

 

I would definitely be interested in the USI-160 kit. Any chance you could PM me a price on that if the group buy has not shipped yet? Thanks!

 

Now that you've got your kit, I'll be interested to see how the install takes shape. I've also ordered a light bar, so figuring out a slick install path for the wiring will be an interesting project. Let's share some ideas, pictures, etc.