Best way to route fridge and 12V feed to van cables?

[gregmacc Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close gregmacc]

I've had the new 2014 face-lift 4D4 150 since December last year and it's time to install some wiring for the auxiliary/fridge battery and a 12V supply to the A'Van Cruiser camper trailer. I've built up an integrated battery pack box consisting of a 100a/h Century AGM, a Redarc BCDC1225, and a couple of 12V power outlets. It will supply my 52Lt compressor fridge and 300W inverter. I want to locate the battery pack in the rear cargo area, behind, and secured to a rear mounted cargo barrier. The battery pack and fridge will be removed from the car when not touring.
The A'Van has a (very basic/inadequate - soon to be upgraded) 12V system. I want to supply it with a dedicated 12V supply from the alternator/cranking battery in the car. What is the best route to take when running cables from the engine bay to these end points? ... My preference would be the security of one of the two main chassis members. The cables will be fairly hefty ... double insulated 16mm2 for the feed to the A'Van and probably marginally smaller for the battery pack. Both will be sheathed in corrugated split flex conduit. I'm not particularly enthusiastic about removing interior trim to facilitate cable placement but will consider any advice or suggestions forthcoming.

[D4Dforme Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close D4Dforme]

have you already bought the battery?..............Looking into a Lithium set up for mine ATM..........bit more expensive but saves weight and 3x the run time for given Ah.......100ah Li......delivers roughly 300Ah of battery life and can be re-charged in 3-4 hours weighs 16kg.So far the cost seems to be around the $600 mark for the battery.

Dan

[gregmacc Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close gregmacc]

Thanks for the prompt late-night reply Dan ... Yes, already have the battery. I don't know that I could find $600 for a battery anyway. Hmmmm, 16 kg ... now that would be nice. The Century weighs 30kg! ... If I had to replace it at some stage I think something like a 20kg (ish), $200 (ish) AGM mounted on the front RH guard battery position provided would be my best bang for buck. It's only going to be running a 2.5 amp fridge and possibly some small device/camera chargers via the inverter. I've got plans for solar input to cover multiple day, no alternator charging camps.
Cheers, Greg.

[D4Dforme Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close D4Dforme]

Sounds good but there seems to be some issues mounting AGM's under bonnet.......like lifespan they don't like the ambient temp......A 40ah Li will run the fridge for around 3 days depending on the amp draw ofcourse......40a Li can be bought for under $300 and weigh 6kg......and hidden anywhere.

sort of stumbled across all this just recently there a fair bit on a caravan forum......I was originally looking into a lghter option for the electric trolling motor on my boat....I have a 130Ah AGM but it weighs bloody 32kg and needs to be addressed.....snooping on the net has given me plenty of new ideas for these Li batteries including adding one to the cruiser for the fridge......pretty popular these days.....apparently.

Dan

[gregmacc Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close gregmacc]

Thanks Dan ... Got a link for that caravan forum?

[gregmacc Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close gregmacc]

And Dan ... seeing as you seem to be the only PP member awake at this ridiculous hour (we are in the same time zone I think) ... any suggestions for my cable routing question?

[Fred63 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Fred63]

I only recently run cables to an anderson plug on the tow bar to supply the caravan.
As i have an Aux battery under the bonnet i ran the cable down the fire wall on the drivers side and kept the cables up on top of the chassis rails where possible
I only ran 10mm sq single insulated in split conduit.
16mm sq double insulated will be a lot larger and the conduit will need to be maybe 25mm dia.
it was pretty tight keeping the cable up out of the way with what i used.
i used the calculator on the redarc site to determine the size.
cable length 12 m
Max current 20A
Allowable voltage drop 0.5V
Cable size calculated 8.2mmsq

16mm sq would be good for 40 A using the same length and voltage drop as above.
If you haven't already got the cable 10MM sq should be all you need and will be easier to keep up out of the way.

fred

[mjrandom Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close mjrandom]

Greg best bet is to look at people's builds and see what they have done. Also a search will bring up the other 300 times this has been asked. Once you see what most people have done then ask some questions there if you have any. I would be very doubtful that a 40AH Li battery can run a fridge in the real world for 3 days. Please post up the data.

[gregmacc Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close gregmacc]

Thanks for the reply Fred ... Yes, I had a brief crawl around under the car yesterday and can see that running cables on top of the chassis rails would be challenging. Did you consider "inside" a chassis rail? I did so in a previous car and although sorting access in and out of the rail was a pain, it eventually worked very well ... ultimate mechanical protection and far fewer cable ties
Regarding the 16mm cable: I considered the total length of the 12V path ... from car cranking battery (at the front of the engine bay) to the van battery/charging device (at the rear of the van). A distance of roughly 11 metres ... X2 to allow for the overall length of both conductors = 22 metres.
At this stage I've only purchased enough 16mm twin to do the run from the cranking battery to an Anderson plug at the tow bar. I'm still not sure whether to maintain 16mm all the way through the van. It might be considered overkill but I want to be sure that at the end of the day voltage drop will not be a contributing issue with any future problems and/or load additions to the system.
Incidently, when speaking on the phone to a Redarc technician about my plans he suggested 16mm.
Cheers,
Greg

[maulbeagle Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close maulbeagle]

on the 150 petrol (facelift model) the passenger side chassis rail is navigable with cable from just behind the front wheel all the way to the rear. not easy though, especially pulling through thick cables. got it done in the end though.

[gregmacc Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close gregmacc]

Thanks m ... Sounds good, just what I need to hear. Passenger side also suits for where I plan to put power outlets for fridge and inverter (somewhere around where the jack lives).

[maulbeagle Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close maulbeagle]

yep that's what I did.
photos if you're interested:




just remember the chassis may be different between petrol and diesel models.

Good Luck !

[gregmacc Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close gregmacc]

Thanks for the photos m ... Really like that setup ... I'll be doing very similar.

[gregmacc Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close gregmacc]

My wife and I spent the best part of the entire day running cables ... eventually managed to get a bunch of cables to the cubby-hole where the jack resides ... and a chunky 12 volt supply to the tow-bar Anderson plug position (to supply the A'van fridge/battery/charging system) ... All encompassed inside the passenger side chassis rail. Lots of huffing and puffing, grunting and groaning, but the end result is very neat and tidy and well protected. Next weekend will hopefully see both ends of the cable runs appropriately terminated.
Thanks all for comments and advise.

[foxclan Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close foxclan]

My wife and I spent the best part of the entire day running cables ... eventually managed to get a bunch of cables to the cubby-hole where the jack resides ... and a chunky 12 volt supply to the tow-bar Anderson plug position (to supply the A'van fridge/battery/charging system) ... All encompassed inside the passenger side chassis rail. Lots of huffing and puffing, grunting and groaning, but the end result is very neat and tidy and well protected. Next weekend will hopefully see both ends of the cable runs appropriately terminated.
Thanks all for comments and advise.

Glad to hear that all the "Huffing and Puffing, Grunting and Groaning." Had a happy ending Gregmacc....
I believe you can get no better protection for a cable run the length of the vehicle. Threading it through the chassis rail eliminates the possibility of hook ups by sticks etc.
Providing the entry and exit points don't rub the insulating layers through.
Ran an ABR Sidewinder double insulated Twinflex +Blue brake wire, from left hand front through chassis rail to rear Anderson plug. Must use a sturdy draw cord/wire and have an assistant.
p.s. there are some good Anderson plug mounts/covers around now to make for a neat and tidy termination.
Cheers
Troy