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Roof Rack Wiring? Search search I know...

DanMan2k06

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Damascus, MD
Well I did, and can't seem to find what I'm looking for at all. This seems to be more the area of 5-90, fitch, splitz, ghostdakota, and any other lighting/electrical freaks. What I'm thinking of doing is essentially making a roof-mounted PDC. I'm in the works of putting together a roof rack which will be home to 8 fogs lights. Yup, 8. (6) 100 watt driving fogs in the front, and 2 wide-beam fogs in the rear. The front 6 will all have 100watt bulbs, the rear 2 will remain standard 55. My question is, how the heck do you wire something like that? I have all the relays and switches in place, but I'm going to need one heck of a fat wire going up to the roof. I was thinking of running some 4, maybe 2 awg wire up there into a radioshack/fitchbox special kind of deal, and then splitting it into it's necessary 12 or 10 awg to go to the individual lights. I am kind of scared of drilling a 1/2" hole in my roof though, and that thick of wire won't exactly go up the side of the windscreen either. Maybe some sort of cable gland? How has everyone on here done it? I know the (4) 55 watt hellas is pretty standard, but my setup seems to require much more power.

This is what I DON'T want...
Img0004.jpg


I'm almost tempted to make some kind of power-transfer device. Like a big copper post, pressed tightly and sealed inside a tube, which is then slid inside some sort of square plate, which is bolted to the roof. The all the terminations end with a ring terminal. No grommets, no wiring that could get pinched or sliced. Kind of like a cable gland, but slide a copper bolt in there instead of the wiring poking all the way through.
 
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Narrow beam, wide angle fog lights on the roof? The whole idea of narrow beam lights in fog is to avoid glare, mounting fog lights on the roof is somewhat oxymoronish.

Unless, of course, you have a totally different reason for using fog lights on the roof rather than driving lights.
 
Goatman, your uninformed, sarcastic and generally useless posts are no longer needed here. I suggest you find another forum to frequent. Besides, what the hell have you ever contributed to NAXJA except lame opinins and misguided tips?

Get a hobby or something. :rolleyes:

To the OP:

I really like how you made the XJ roofline incorperate side windows in the roof as in this pic you posted. Any more details on how you did that mod?

Img0004.jpg


-----Matt-----
 
Goatman, your uninformed, sarcastic and generally useless posts are no longer needed here. I suggest you find another forum to frequent. Besides, what the hell have you ever contributed to NAXJA except lame opinins and misguided tips?

Get a hobby or something. :rolleyes:

To the OP:

I really like how you made the XJ roofline incorperate side windows in the roof as in this pic you posted. Any more details on how you did that mod?

-----Matt-----


:laugh:

That's good. :)




BTW, the pic he posted was what he didn't want. Dork. Don't you read? :rolleyes:
 
A few years ago I helped a buddy wire a roof rack full of lights. We used a heavy dudy extension cord and cut the ends off. We ran the cable up out of the back hatch. It only showed about three inches of the cord from the hatch up to the back gutter mount.

The extension cord was also fairly water proof and since it was a three strand wire we could use one for the outter lights, one for the inner lights and one for the ground. I think it was about 12 Ga in each strand so pleany big enough.
 
A few years ago I helped a buddy wire a roof rack full of lights. We used a heavy dudy extension cord and cut the ends off. We ran the cable up out of the back hatch. It only showed about three inches of the cord from the hatch up to the back gutter mount.

The extension cord was also fairly water proof and since it was a three strand wire we could use one for the outter lights, one for the inner lights and one for the ground. I think it was about 12 Ga in each strand so pleany big enough.

I have wired a friends XJ with black outdoor extension cords, it works quite well.

To the OP, you could mount the PDC / relay box in your roof rack if you weather proof it and don't mind it being there. Then you will only have two wires entering the vehicle from it. One for the power and one for your switch wires (use CAT5 cable). Ground it up top. The only way to get the wires to the roof is run it out the hatch and then hide it asap so you should only have a few inches showing or drill a hole, insert a rubber grommet, and run the wires through it. From the PDC, your power wires would run right to the lights.

The opposite way of doing this would be to mount the PDC in the engine bay or in the cabin and then run a power bundle up to the lights. You could bundle 8, 8AWG wires for power.

I personally think running 8AWG (or whatever you choose to use) is easier than mounting the relay box up on the roof rack. They could exit from the top of the hatch area but I would drill holes, use grommets and seal them well in a clean way. That's what I did.

I guess one more way would be to use one larger wire and then split it once you're on the roof but I'm not sure how efficient it is when you split the power from 1 to 8 like that.
 
Hmm, just had a thought (musta bumped my head).
What about removing one of the riv-nuts that holds the factory roof rails on? Or just drill your hole through the roof rail. I'd think that, from there, it would be fairly easy to keep it stealthy.

I second what BruceB83 said about mounting the new PDC underhood or somewhere inside/less exposed. Safety. I don't think I like the idea of having the always-on hots running through the cabin to outside. If you flop or clip a tree on the trail and tear the rack (and PDC) off, that one wire end will still be hot. If the PDC is inside, then the leads to the roof are only hot when the switches are on.

Also, if the PDC is on the roof, wouldn't you have to run another set of wires back down to the switches? You're already concerned about space for wires right? I guess you could run power up driver side a-pillar and switch down pass. side a-pillar. Got overhead console? Switch runs could be short and easy.

Sorry for the rambling reply. Heavy coffee morning.
 
Hmm, just had a thought (musta bumped my head).
What about removing one of the riv-nuts that holds the factory roof rails on? Or just drill your hole through the roof rail. I'd think that, from there, it would be fairly easy to keep it stealthy.

Got overhead console? Switch runs could be short and easy.


I've been using well nuts (what those expanding rubber nuts are called) for roof light wiring for years. I typically pop in a pair of them at the front, rear and either side, then tie in on the inside as needed, using one for positive and one for negative. Keeps wire runs short outside, and maintains a clean look, even if you don't have a full roof rack. This also allows you to keep the wiring relatively flat to the roof, both inside and out and it provides for built in grommet. This also is a weatherproof setup by design. If you're really concerned, you can seal it up with a dab of silicone, rather than attempting to fill in a big hole.

Also, for the PDC being on the roof rack - if you wire it properly with fuses or at least fusible links, there's no more danger than clipping the light wires while power is on.
 
Got overhead console? Switch runs could be short and easy.

Yup.
DSC01941.jpg


I think I'm set on drilling a hole, but don't know what to put in it for protection. Shoving some wire through and silicone just isn't going to cut it. All the accessories are going to be wired to a master switch, so if something bad does happen I can cut the wire to everything.
 
I think I'm set on drilling a hole, but don't know what to put in it for protection. Shoving some wire through and silicone just isn't going to cut it. All the accessories are going to be wired to a master switch, so if something bad does happen I can cut the wire to everything.


I'm tellin' ya...use the well nut setup :) I know I have pictures around here somewhere....I'll see what I can find.
 
What about using a couple of painless's Jamb Tac's? I think it could be mounted very stealth like, but I'm not sure if sure if they are weather proof
 
Found em!

IMGP3323.jpg


IMGP3338.jpg



After I was done, I soaked them with the hose for a good five minutes, both with just the hose and sprayer handle. Not a drop of water got through. While these pictures are showing standard hardware, I did eventually replace them with stainless screws/nuts for corrosion protection just in case. I've also used this method with CB coax in the past with good results as well.
 
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