Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

How do you guys get the wire for solar out to the top of the roof? If I run it before finishing, it will be in the way of fiberglass/epoxy/paint and, If I leave it between the spars and fish it out later, it'll probably take a much bigger hole in the roof than the diameter of the wire. Am I overthinking this!?

A grommet... sorry if I'm not reading your question correctly. I made a homemade silicone gasket to seal this one.

This is a similar solution to timc's roof. They're called "cable glands" when you look online for them. Easier to do the work prior to skinning, but with a bit of care you can do it after the build is done, just a PITA...

TimC wrote:A grommet... sorry if I'm not reading your question correctly. I made a homemade silicone gasket to seal this one.

This is the one I used. I went through the wall instead of the roof.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0111 ... UTF8&psc=1

I felt there was less chance of a leak if I went through the wall, and that put the wires at the back of a cabinet so I can route them to the galley where I keep the battery.

TimC wrote:A grommet... sorry if I'm not reading your question correctly. I made a homemade silicone gasket to seal this one.

Did it leak before you made the gasket? I think that's the one I got and may drill holes today;

Then it's top, side or maybe the back

twisted lines wrote:

TimC wrote:A grommet... sorry if I'm not reading your question correctly. I made a homemade silicone gasket to seal this one.

Did it leak before you made the gasket? I think that's the one I got and may drill holes today;

Then it's top, side or maybe the back

Well, it came with no gasket which is kind of useless. Instead of returning it I improvised by making my own gaskets with 100% silicone. Works well. No leaks on the wire ports. Butyl tape would work as well.

TimC wrote:… Butyl tape would work as well.

I can verify that butyl tape does work. I installed cable glands on my roof in 2016 and still no leaks as of 2021.

Thank's Guy's

Bezoar wrote:How do you guys get the wire for solar out to the top of the roof? If I run it before finishing, it will be in the way of fiberglass/epoxy/paint and, If I leave it between the spars and fish it out later, it'll probably take a much bigger hole in the roof than the diameter of the wire. Am I overthinking this!?

Right now, I have a plug for solar under the frame, under the floor, for weather protection, and I use a portable panel that we can lay on the ground at the campsite. (Doesn't work so well here in the cloudy northeast, but when we are in the southwest it's pretty good.)

I'm contemplating an upgrade by mounting a horizontal panel on (actually about an inch above) the tear roof. If I do so, I plan to run a cable of 10 gauge wire down the outside of the tear to that plug. No new wire penetration at all. I'll probably cover the wire on the side with some sort of protection, like a metal or plastic cable runway, which will be screwed into the side, but with pieces of butyl tape preventing water from getting in around the screws, as I did with the screws for the door frame. The solar panel, likewise, will be on a frame screwed to the sides, not the top, of the tear with butyl tape.

Tom