Twin slider pre-pop top wiring advice

[Led Sandwich]

I have a Swb twin slider that goes in for carpet lining and a pop top in a week or so, I just wanted to check if there was any wiring I should get in before the carpeting is done, do people generally go under the floor to get wiring through or is it ran through the roof line. I have the charger and battery under the drivers seat and my intention was to have a 12v fuse board there.

If I do need to run cables or am I better running some conduit and draw cables at this point?

My plan is to have a fridge, lights and led accessories as well as a 240v fuse board with a mains charger back to the leisure battery that’s under the drivers seat then 240 in the kitchen area from the caravan hookup.

 

[Steved55]

I put all my ceiling lighting wiring in place before my pop top was fitted. I did the carpet lining myself so wiring wasn't an issue but I think most of my front to rear cabling I ran from the drivers seat base into the space beneath the offside slider footwell then up to my fuse box in the rear cupboard. Are you fitting solar? If so you will need cable routing for this also

 

[middle-englander]

Draw cable might not be a bad idea. Installing my rear camera cable was a bit of a pain.
I did the same as the previous poster with the bulk of my 12V cable runs.

 

[Bigsidavies]

Mine is a twin slider and I gave the pop top installer the cable for a solar panel and he installed it along the roof channel with the excess coiled up under the trim panel at the rear of the roof and the front excess just dangling by the b-pillar. Made my solar installation plug and play when I did it.
He fitted the lights and wiring, although I ran the cable feeds from my fuse box area to my switch and up to the roof with plenty of spare for him to work with. That way you know you’ve got it fitted where you want your switch and 12v fuse box.
I have LB and dc-dc under driver’s seat, and consumer unit, 12v fuse box, 240v Victron blue smart and 12v isolation switch all on the rear of the units so they are accessible when you open the driver side slider.
The Victron mppt controller is mounted behind a trim panel in the rear of the pop top.

 

[Led Sandwich]

Thanks for all of the responses, i hadnt through about routing through the footwell after the roof is in but that would mean i can get front to back within my units quite easily. do any of you have any pictures of your setups? or any advice on light switch locations.

 

[roadtripper]

A couple of thoughts

The OE wiring runs up the pillars and along the roof so if you want to run a caMera or lights in a tailgate it might be best to get that in first. Make sure you can get to the loom connections and ground points relatively easily afterwards too.

You probably want to put some lighting runs up the pillars and along the top for rear lights. I'd also consider putting in a power run the same way to the front of the pop top area so you have the option of putting a reading lights/12v socket for chargers up there.

 

[Led Sandwich]

A couple of thoughts

The OE wiring runs up the pillars and along the roof so if you want to run a caMera or lights in a tailgate it might be best to get that in first. Make sure you can get to the loom connections and ground points relatively easily afterwards too.

You probably want to put some lighting runs up the pillars and along the top for rear lights. I'd also consider putting in a power run the same way to the front of the pop top area so you have the option of putting a reading lights/12v socket for chargers up there.

thats really useful insight, for the reversing camera is that down the nsr and would it just be a single wire?

 

[Bigsidavies]

I have two-way light switching. One switch is on the b-pillar to turn on/off as you get in, and the other is in the rear corner so lights can be turned on/off whilst in bed. Although sometimes I turn that one on with my arm while I’m asleep so I’d put it higher up next time.

 

[roadtripper]

The camera would be specific to the type of camera so not an easy one to put in ahead of time "just in case" like you could for basic power runs. But it tends to be a single all in one cable.

For some aftermarket cameras you might want to pick up a reverse signal, so again you'll need access to the loom. You should be aware it's normally not a "clean" signal but pulsed and there are various threads on how to deal with that.

The main run is from UK Passenger seat base (where the main electrics are), up the B pillar, along the roofline and then down the D pillar AFAIK

 

[Led Sandwich]

Right so u have ran conduit from the b pillar to the d pillar on both sides, 20mm on the os and 10mm on the ns and pulled two thin cables through each to act as draw chords. Hopefully that should tie me over. The roof installers are running the solar cables for me so the only thing I guess worth running now would be cables for a 240v charger to the battery. Does anyone have an idea what sort of cable size that would need?

 

[Bigsidavies]

The Victron 240v blue smart charger comes with the cables, has a quick connector and has two sets of battery connections-crocodile clips and ring terminals. They also sell a plug in extension cable.
I’ve located my charger under the floor in the void where the o/s step would have been then run the cable out through a hole in the van, through the void under the underbody tray where the diesel heater is fitted and up through the big grommet under the driver’s seat. That’s the route for most of my cabling.

 

[roadtripper]

For a 240v charger you are best if you can extending the 240v cable and keeping the charger as close as practical to the batteries. A smart charger needs an accurate reading of the battery voltage so the longer the 12v cables the more voltage drop because of the length can be an issue.

Which charger are you intending to fit and what charge current rating is it?

 

[Led Sandwich]

ah ok perfect that makes it simpler, i’ll run some 2.5mm three core to under the drivers seat for now and work it out a little later, i’ve not thought about what charger i’d want so no real rush

 

[roadtripper]

A lot of folks use the blue artic type cable, and that's useful as many recognise that "blue cable = 240v"

However you can use any robust cable such as the traditional "pond" cable.

Most importantly get your cables from a reliable online or bricks and mortar vendor - there is a lot of very bad quality cable about on eBay/Amazon including some of the horrible copper coated aluminium that you absolutely do not want in your van.