Running wires to roofrack?

[Hawk Thor Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Hawk Thor]

I have two gutter mounted roof bars. I plan on building a box to go on them and I have already mounted small worklights to light up the ground to the sides. I have not wired the lights yet because I´m not sure what´s the best way to route wires up there and to get them to the outside.

I want to lay some wiring up there for future use. Worklights for the back and sides, forward facing spotlights and/or a search light and solar-cells. So thats probably 5 12V+ wires and a common ground, and the wires for the spotties and search light will need to support a 100W bulb.

Should I drill the B-pillar and have the loom come out between the doors and run it up the roof bars leg, or should I drill a hole in the roof and pull my wiring thru one of these (see image below) and seal it with plenty of silicone? I will have a junction box in the roof box for the common ground wire and more.


How did you run your wiring to the roof rack? Any hints or tips? Is there any "official" route for roofwiring in a Prado, inside pillars or behind interior panels. I´m quite capable og connecting everything but I don´t want to start drilling my roof if there is a better way. The rack will not go further back than 1/3 of the cargo area windows and no further front than mid front doors.

[Taresk Member Find all posts View Profile Close Taresk]

Re: Running wires to roofrack?

This is how mine is done, and it's never leaked. Runs down the pillar and under the carpet after entering that hole. (the other wire is a radio antenna I have on the rack, it just goes between the rubbers, was a quick fix for a damaged stock antenna)

[Hawk Thor Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Hawk Thor]

Re: Running wires to roofrack?

Thanks for your reply. I was looking at this last night. I bundled all the power wires together and got a small piece of wire similar to the control wiring for a IPF 924 searchlight. There is no way to get all of those wires out between the doors without the risk of chaffing or pinching.

I called Arctic Trucks this morning and the mechanic I talked to recommended going through the roof underneath my proposed roof rack box. I will have connectors between the box and the cable clamp in the roof to facilitate easy removal.

[StormyKnight Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close StormyKnight]

Re: Running wires to roofrack?

Just a note on your 5 12V wires & one earth....

All of the current shared through the 12v wires will return back through the single earth. This will effectively limit the current through the all of the circuits unless the earth wire is of sufficient capacity, an alternative is to run 2 or three 'normal' wires to share the load.

Cheers

[Hawk Thor Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Hawk Thor]

Re: Running wires to roofrack?

I was planning to run a nice big ground wire, and have a junction box inside the cargo box to join the ground wires together.

Another option is to run a large 12V+ wire and ground wire to distribution blocks/junction boxes up there and have the relays and fuses inside the cargo box and then just run some small wires or cat5 cable to control the relays.

:idea:Thinking about I might just go this way over the other, the cat-5 is a much neater install and can be fitted with RJ45 connectors to make it easy to remove the switch panel and easy to disconnect from the roof rack. A common power cable will also have less voltage drop and it would be easier to add more electronics later.

That way all you would see under the box is a cat-5 cable going to a RJ45 connector, two wires going to a 50A anderson plug which would be secured to the bottom of the roof rack and the IPF 924 search light control cable with an appropriate connector.

[moprado Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close moprado]

Re: Running wires to roofrack?

Hey man,
how did you go with you two rack box set up? Do you mind posting up some pics? Sounds like a good idea. I'm still thinking of what light setup i should get for mi prado. want atleast 4 facing front, and 2 facing rear, and prehaps one on each side of the car.
Still thinking though.
Cheers

[xlr8_87 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close xlr8_87]

Re: Running wires to roofrack?

Although I haven't done it yet (pure laziness) I've tested running a wire upto the lights on my rack. Ran it inside the engine bay and up through the small gap where the drivers side windscreen wiper comes out. It's a tight fit (with a twin 6mm squared cable) but it doesn't foul on the wipers when they are on, nor the bonnet hinges when they close. Then run up the snorkel and onto the racks.

Here's a couple of pics of the trial fit.

[Hawk Thor Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Hawk Thor]

Re: Running wires to roofrack?

Hey man,
how did you go with you two rack box set up? Do you mind posting up some pics? Sounds like a good idea. I'm still thinking of what light setup i should get for mi prado. want atleast 4 facing front, and 2 facing rear, and prehaps one on each side of the car.
Still thinking though.
Cheers

I haven´t done anything yet, I´ve been busy working on the daily driver and house. I don´t know how much help I can be with your set-up. If it were me and I was building a Prado like the ones I see here I would have two spotlights and two driving lights facing forward, two driving lights or spread beams facing back and two spread beams on the sides. The forward facing lights would be similar in size to Hella 4000 compacts to minimize air resistance, with an HID conversion small lights should serve you well.

Although I haven't done it yet (pure laziness) I've tested running a wire upto the lights on my rack. Ran it inside the engine bay and up through the small gap where the drivers side windscreen wiper comes out. It's a tight fit (with a twin 6mm squared cable) but it doesn't foul on the wipers when they are on, nor the bonnet hinges when they close. Then run up the snorkel and onto the racks.

I think that setup might collect ice and it might whine at high speed. I would be worried about the wires insulation getting rubbed through by the wipers.

[xlr8_87 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close xlr8_87]

Re: Running wires to roofrack?

Ah yeh I forgot you were in Iceland. No need for us to worry about that here :P

Wires don't actually rub on the wipers when they're working so I should be right

[dave0074 Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close dave0074]

Hi Hawk,if you have a snorkel fitted then you can run the wires up inside it,IVE RUN X2 30AMP Wires inside mine and it turned out great.enter thru airbox up the snorkel in conduit,and out thru top at the rear.Ive attatched a small anderson plug on a bracket so i can disconnect if need be to remove roofrack.you dont even see a wire until it comes out at roof level,plus its protected and makes no difference to mixtures for the engine.when you run the cable up snorkel, remember to coat it with sensor safe silicon or it will rattle around and give ya the shits,good luck.

[craigm Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close craigm]

dave, i think Hawk has probably found a solution since he posted almost Four Years ago... and hasnt been on the site here for a couple of years now. Still, thanks for sharing your solution on getting your cable up to the roof... I ran mine up the side of the windsreen which tucked neatly into the rubber seal and just to ensure that the cable stayed in place, used a dab of black silicon every 100mm or so just to be sure. The cable continues up and into the housing of my factory roof rails and pops out the back of them to a weatherproof female plug which feeds my 40" Aurora LED Bar. You have to look pretty hard to find any trace of the cabling which is whats required for SWMBO as it's her daily drive!!!

[SandStorm.au Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close SandStorm.au]

+1 for punching your cabling up through the snorkel and airbox. I drilled a hole in the airbox (vacuumed up all the plastic shavings), installed a rubber grommet there and siliconed everything in place and repeated the same up the top of the snorkel just below the ram head (Safari snorkel). Will post pics shortly.

Regards,
SandStorm.au

*EDIT: Pics are up, though the forums are doing weird rotation shenanigans. Tilt your monitor!