Preferred route for main solar feed FC25FB

[thiel]

Originally Posted by daleyocum

I did some poking around in the trailer today and found a great solution. This only works for a 25’ Front bed twin, though, so a pretty narrow application. Turns out in the bathrooom next to the toilet is a 45 degree panel that, when removed, exposes the ABS vent pipe to the roof! As others have done, I’ll just feed the wire down through the first few inches of that pipe then drill through the side (patching well, of course) and then run the wires straight down this 45degree chanel and out the wall to the underside of the street-side twin bed where all the electronics are to be located.

Any thoughts about how to seal that half inch hole (with two 6 ga wires) in the ABS vest pipe? I’ll just glob on lots of silicone adhesive unless someone has a better idea.

Are you saying you're going to run your wires inside the actual pipe... and then just pop them out somewhere just a few inches under the ceiling? That IS a great idea and significantly shortens the run from the roof.

[daleyocum]

Originally Posted by thiel

Are you saying you're going to run your wires inside the actual pipe... and then just pop them out somewhere just a few inches under the ceiling? That IS a great idea and significantly shortens the run from the roof.

Yep that’s what I’m planning. I’ll just drill a hole in the vent pipe a few inches down from the roof inside the trailer. I'll feed the wire up from there until it appears out the roof vent and give it a pull. When it’s done I’ll silicone seal the hole in the pipe.

[thiel]

Originally Posted by daleyocum

Yep that’s what I’m planning. I’ll just drill a hole in the vent pipe a few inches down from the roof inside the trailer. I'll feed the wire up from there until it appears out the roof vent and give it a pull. When it’s done I’ll silicone seal the hole in the pipe.

I poked around online late last night and I would say that 70% of people say "no harm" in running the wire through the pipe, and the other 30% think the trailer will explode!

I really like this idea and I'm going to steal it. Once I get that panel open, I may opt to put a 45 branch in there (if there's room) and angle the branch "up" so that there's no possibility of dripping. I figure I can put a cap on the stub of that branch and then drill through it with a bit sized exactly for the wire. That and a bit of putty should make it super tight.

This simplification makes a lot of other questions go away: with this easier wire path, it's a no brainer for me to opt for heavier gauge wire since the snaking process is going to be a lot simpler. Thanks again for sharing the details... I think this has solved a number of problems for me.

Have you made any determination on which panels etc? I think I"m going to go with Renogy 100w "Slim" design. Two up front and two in the rear. Then a Victron bluetooth charge controller and a Victron charge monitor.

[daleyocum]

Originally Posted by thiel

I poked around online late last night and I would say that 70% of people say "no harm" in running the wire through the pipe, and the other 30% think the trailer will explode!

I really like this idea and I'm going to steal it. Once I get that panel open, I may opt to put a 45 branch in there (if there's room) and angle the branch "up" so that there's no possibility of dripping. I figure I can put a cap on the stub of that branch and then drill through it with a bit sized exactly for the wire. That and a bit of putty should make it super tight.

This simplification makes a lot of other questions go away: with this easier wire path, it's a no brainer for me to opt for heavier gauge wire since the snaking process is going to be a lot simpler. Thanks again for sharing the details... I think this has solved a number of problems for me.

Have you made any determination on which panels etc? I think I"m going to go with Renogy 100w "Slim" design. Two up front and two in the rear. Then a Victron bluetooth charge controller and a Victron charge monitor.

I'm using Renogy Eclipse 100w panels because of their small size. Five will fit with no problem. I didn't want to get half way into the project and find out bigger ones wouldn't fit. Laziness I guess plus it's all tax deductible.

I, too, will be using Victron everything. MPPT charge controller, Multiplus hybrid inverter, Battery Monitor, etc. Batteries will be BattleBorn. 200-300ah.

[daleyocum]

Originally Posted by thiel

I poked around online late last night and I would say that 70% of people say "no harm" in running the wire through the pipe, and the other 30% think the trailer will explode!

I really like this idea and I'm going to steal it. Once I get that panel open, I may opt to put a 45 branch in there (if there's room) and angle the branch "up" so that there's no possibility of dripping. I figure I can put a cap on the stub of that branch and then drill through it with a bit sized exactly for the wire. That and a bit of putty should make it super tight.

This simplification makes a lot of other questions go away: with this easier wire path, it's a no brainer for me to opt for heavier gauge wire since the snaking process is going to be a lot simpler. Thanks again for sharing the details... I think this has solved a number of problems for me.

Today I tried to send a wire down the bath vent pipe route and failed. Not saying it can't be done but I couldn;t do it after an hour of fiddling. I found two problems.

First the vent on the roof isn't aligned with the pipe in diagonal chase in the bathroom wall. For unknown reasons it goes through several right angle turns inside the ceiling before emerging a few feet over on the roof. It may also T in there for all I know. Anyway try as I might I couldn't get a small wire to go where I needed it to go.

Second, I'm not sure about this but I think those vent caps may have something side them like a spring loaded door. That part I'm not sure of but I seemed to be running into things I'd have to push through.

Anyway, if someone figures out how to do this, please post it here. Otherwise, I guess I'll be going down the refrigerator vent like everyone else. Sigh.