suggested electrical pass through?

[steve whiteside]

Gents, I need a ~1" hole to pass though a sizable electrical cable/connector from truck battery. Im getting my brand new Grandby in 6 days. Should I ask them to give me a electrical penetration and if so, where??

Thanks, Steve

 

[Casa Escarlata Robles Too]

I would talk to Stan at FWC tell him what you want.
Frank

 

[steve whiteside]

I will call the dealer in the morning. It is due on Friday in rancho Cucamonga. So, it may have already left the factory or will soon.

thanks though, Steve

 

[Zirdu]

I too am interested in this question. I am in process of upgrading wires from start battery/alternator to house battery. Wondering what everyone has done about new hole in truck bed, and in camper? Where and how.

 

[Vic Harder]

I ran 2g wire from alternator to camper. Two 1/2" holes drilled in the floor of the truck bed, driver's front side, just above where the fuel filler runs down to the tank. Check multiple times before drilling to make sure you don't damage something important! The holes were then painted and then I inserted plastic wire protectors into the holes. Something like this https://www.homedepot.com/p/1-2-in-Snap-In-Bushing-10-Pack-27251/202077082

In the camper, I drilled two more 1/2" holes in the wooden floor pack, as far forward as possible, just under the aluminum framing part. Where you drill will depend on where you put your isolator and batteries. I sealed those holes with urethane caulk.

 

[Lineman]

I would drill my own hole. Run the wire outside the floor pack and come in directly to the battery compartment. That way you won't have to route the wire through storage compartments where it could be damaged. The factory does this with front dinnets where the battery compartment is in the rear of the camper.

 

[Vic Harder]

I would drill my own hole. Run the wire outside the floor pack and come in directly to the battery compartment. That way you won't have to route the wire through storage compartments where it could be damaged. The factory does this with front dinnets where the battery compartment is in the rear of the camper.

That's a great idea. Wish I had thought of it!

 

[steve whiteside]

I would drill my own hole. Run the wire outside the floor pack and come in directly to the battery compartment. That way you won't have to route the wire through storage compartments where it could be damaged. The factory does this with front dinnets where the battery compartment is in the rear of the camper.

You mean not through the floor but through the side into where ever you need that electrical termination? Not sure what you mean by floor pack.

 

[Vic Harder]

floor pack is the wooden bottom 1/3 of our campers.

 

[ntsqd]

On the CTD bed I was able to route both cables up thru the OEM provided tie-down holes at the front bulkhead.

I've seen the typical rubber grommets fail in short time periods, so those are never an option for me. If I have to do something like that I use a piece of Trim-Lock or fuel hose slit long-ways to guard the edge of the hole.

My preferred method is to use an isolated feed-thru like these:

Yes, that is 5200 that they're bedded in.

 

[Vic Harder]

I like those feed throughs! I’m adding those to my build for sure!

 

[ntsqd]

The one that I linked is from my source for those in the picture, but is not what I actually used. I've not recently seen the red ones offered there. Might be able to find the red ones elsewhere now that you know they exist.

A trick that I used to commonly see on NHRA Pro-Stocks was to use a welding lead QD connector set. They'd put the female in the firewall and the male on the heavy cable going to the starter. With some sort of QD connector for the control wire it made it fast to R&R the starter during an engine change.
That could be another way to work it. Only issue is that I don't think there's any way to enforce the correct polarity with those. My work used to use them for our high current QD's out on the production lines, but we're moving to Anderson's these days.

 

[UmkaAndHawk]

The battery compartment on my Hawk shell had two vents (I think as required by California law). I converted one of those vents (these are the chrome louvered vents) into a shore power port. The advice to do so came from Rocky Mountain FWC, as the batteries are sealed, the vents are likely overkill.

Is this what you have in mind?

 

[steve whiteside]

So I picked up my new Grandby on last Friday. The sales guy suggested coming though the cut outs for the forward turnbuckle. I have done that and it will work OK - at least until I decide exactly what my power situation should be- then I will start cutting holes.

Steve

 

[ntsqd]

One thought that I've had is to use an electrical J-Box on the outside of the camper down inside the bed. Use a nipple of appropriate length with a conduit nut and a big flat washer to hold it in place, and use a water tight type of strain relief on the other end. I was planning to do this with our previous camper, never got around to it. My thinking was to point the outlet down and to seal the J-Box to the side of the camper with 3M 5200. Can then pull the access cover off to feed the cables out, and then push them through the strain-relief before re-fitting the cover.

 

[astropuppy]

The battery compartment on my Hawk shell had two vents (I think as required by California law). I converted one of those vents (these are the chrome louvered vents) into a shore power port. The advice to do so came from Rocky Mountain FWC, as the batteries are sealed, the vents are likely overkill.

Is this what you have in mind?

that's how I did it to run the a/c or heater from shore power. Very simple and can be restored to stock.