Hi All,

I'm about to fit a solar charge controller to our Puck L and am looking for a way of getting the cables into the 'van. I'd rather not cut any holes in the side of the 'van. I've seen mention in a few posts about cutting a hole in the floor inside the battery / electrics locker then fixing a tube with a removable screwed top in the hole. This seems a great idea to me and would also allow me to feed in the TV antenna lead and allow a mains lead to be passed under the van to the awning side of the van. Thing is, what do I use for the tube, obviously it has to be the right diameter, I would think that approx 35-40mm would do, and be pretty robust with a good seal on the cap.
To save me scouring Tescos can anyone suggest a suitable tubular container I can modify or are there purpose made threaded and capped plastic pipes out there similar to the soil pipe size one sees on plumbers vans?

Thanks,

Chris

Chris

35-40mm?

If you want to come through the floor you need a couple of IP44 plastic junction boxes, one each side of the floor linked by a couple of say 20 mm conduits with the necessary grommits/locknuts etc.

For what you need, a sparks would have the necessary bits rolling about on the floor of his van or try your local electrical wholesaler, otherwise its the curse of B&Q, buying 10 when you need 2.

I wouldn't put the mains and TV aerial in the same conduit as you will likely get interference.

C

Hi Siblini,

Thanks for your reply I think what you are suggesting is a more permanent / fixed solution?

My requirement is to have all the cables removable, 35mm diameter should allow me to fit through an IEC C16 kettle type connector to supply mains to the awning, not too worried about the interference as I don't imagine that I'll be using ac power in the awning whilst watching tv, to be honest there is probably more chance of rf interference from the solar panel wiring than the mains, but then again I don't tend to watch tv when the sun is shining!

However, a couple of clip on ferrites on the SP and mains wiring will probably help as well.

Chris

Hi All,
I managed to find some plumbing fittings which have done the job perfectly! 40mm waste pipe fittings, a screw cap end fitting and a coupling. The screw cap has a rubber seal inside so the coupling is totally air and water tight when screwed up tight.

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I luckily had a hole saw of the correct diameter, so after carefully checking I was nowhere near the frame I cut through the floor, I then coated the cut surface of the floor with epoxy resin and, after roughing up the surface and coating it with epoxy resin I inserted the coupler through the floor and formed a fillet of epoxy inside and out around the coupler. When the epoxy had set, after 24 hours, I epoxied the screw cap fitting into the coupler.

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This is how the Solar controller is fitted next to the battery. When the solar panels are in use the cables will come up through the pipe fitting, I shall pack out the remaining space in the pipe with some foam pipe insulation. And of course, the TV aerial cable will come in through here as well. The fitting is large enough for a kettle plug type mains cable connector to fit through, I just have to work out where to take the mains supply from!

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Hope this is of some use to anybody trying to get temporary cables into their 'van.

Chris

Just an idea, not tried it - use a washbasin plug hole. It is flanged on top and has a nut to hold it in place underneath. And it has a plug for when you aren't using it.

Hi Grimbert,

Wouldn't the cables be obstructed by the grid in the plug hole or the cross bar holding the securing nut/bolt?

Chris