Best way to run DC to DC Cable from front of Ollie, Hull 292 to TV

[Teaney Hull 292]

Need your help on my DC to DC Orian 50 amp charger on Hull 292. There are 3 cables coming out and does not seem to have any more room for my Clam for the 2/0 cable. Should I go to the side of the rectangle? Or should I try to use on of the cable holes and add it to my clam? See pic attached. I’m open to any suggestions. 

Thanks

Gary

[jd1923]

39 minutes ago, Teaney Hull 292 said:

I’m open to any suggestions.

Gary, I believe you will want to drill to the right of the 3 pictured cables, but do this to be sure.

Open the front dinette seat and get a mirror down there, pointed towards the front a get a visual on the 3 OEM cables to see there is room. You want your cables running under the dinette but it’s not a good idea to drill blindly.

https://a.co/d/7amvqcN
 

Some go with a large gland to hold both 4 AWG cables but I drilled two 1/2” holes using simple plastic grommets that were a tight fit. My goal was to remove the least amount of fiberglass.

EDIT: you’re using 2/0 which is better, so two holes will certainly work better. You’ll have 5 holes in a line when done.

Edited 23 hours ago by jd1923

[Ronbrink]

29 minutes ago, Teaney Hull 292 said:

Should I go to the side of the rectangle? Or should I try to use on of the cable holes and add it to my clam? See pic attached. I’m open to any suggestions. 

I went to the side on my install. I did not have to trim the lower propane tank housing, but did have to notch the gland at the adjacent cable entry for proper fitment (see pic). In your situation, it appears you will have to trim said housing to adequately expose the outer hull at this proposed point of entry; there is no inner hull to contend with. Take caution by first doing a visual from within via the forward dinette seat hatch for proper clearances; standing on my head using a light and mirror worked for me. Once that preliminary visual proved acceptable, a 1/8” drill bit was used to carefully breach the hull only to make a sight reference point to further confirm the location. Based on that observation, a second hole was drilled to better find the center of the much larger hole needed to accommodate the DC/DC cables. 

[Snackchaser]

Gary,

"You can check out my post "More DC to DC charger installation tidbits" to see how I did it.  As seen in your picture, the outer layer of fiberglass has been trimmed to make room for the penetrations.  You can use an oscillating multitool to enlarge the rectanglular opening in the first layer.  The layers are not bonded together  and there is a gap between them.  Just be careful to to go through both layers.

 Once the opening through the first layer is bigger, then use a hole saw for a gland similar to the existing ones.  My gland was too large so I  filled it with RTV and snugged it up after the RTV cured.  

It's good to hear that you're using properly sized 2/0 cable.  There has been a trend of using undersized wire which may work, but it's asking for trouble. 🫢

 

[Teaney Hull 292]

7 minutes ago, jd1923 said:

Gary, I believe you will want to drill to the right of the 3 pictured cables, but do this to be sure.

Open the front dinette seat and get a mirror down there, pointed towards the front a get a visual on the 3 OEM cables to see there is room. You want your cables running under the dinette but it’s not a good idea to drill blindly.

https://a.co/d/7amvqcN
 

Some go with a large gland to hold both 4 AWG cables but I drilled two 1/2” holes using simple plastic grommets that were a tight fit. My goal was to remove the least amount of fiberglass.

EDIT: you using 2/0 which is better, so two holes really makes sense.

JD, as always I can count on you for great advice. Thanks again. As our shower was a dribble, and Anita could not wash her hair, I took the wash cloth/shampoo holder in the front of the sink and put a marine door. I’m able to see where the cables are coming in. FYI, just to the right from the outside is where I considered putting the new hole. When I looked from the inside, the sink plumbing drain is in the way. Hope it is clear in the pic below. Will carefully drill the holes and use a Cable Clam Craig used in his install. 

Gary

Hull 292

[Teaney Hull 292]

10 minutes ago, Ronbrink said:

I went to the side on my install. I did not have to trim the lower propane tank housing, but did have to notch the gland at the adjacent cable entry for proper fitment (see pic). In your situation, it appears you will have to trim said housing to adequately expose the outer hull at this proposed point of entry; there is no inner hull to contend with. Take caution by first doing a visual from within via the forward dinette seat hatch for proper clearances; standing on my head using a light and mirror worked for me. Once that preliminary visual proved acceptable, a 1/8” drill bit was used to carefully breach the hull only to make a sight reference point to further confirm the location. Based on that observation, a second hole was drilled to better find the center of the much larger hole needed to accommodate the DC/DC cables. 

Thanks JD

[jd1923]

2 hours ago, Snackchaser said:

It's good to hear that you're using properly sized 2/0 cable.  There has been a trend of using undersized wire which may work, but it's asking for trouble. 🫢

Yes true, this is the standard EE calculation which is based on 50A at 90-100' length of the wire, total length up and back. I believe I got away with 4 AWG since I only used 65 ft of wire. I've been working aftermarket automotive installations professionally since the 70s, so figured the shortest possible run for our TV. This heavy wire is soooo expensive these days. You're paying for every additional foot and increase in gauge!

Ran the wire through the frame to reduce distance and provided protection for the wire, no wire ties required most of the length. I also used the truck frame as ground, using only 2' of cable from rear connecter to frame (file ALL paint off), saving a good 15' of wire on the B- side, not running the ground all the way back to the battery which is truly unnecessary.

I know of other another installation using the frame ground using only 6AWG for a 30A charger. This is not suggested, but the report is, it's working fine.

In addition, I ran two 2-ft 4 AWG legs from battery B+ to the alternator and B- to frame ground up front. I believe, not doing so is the issue with many installations not producing good charge output. Most trucks have much less than 4AWG from battery to alternator and battery to frame ground. If you run 2/0 all the way, but from your battery has only 6AWG, you can guess the result. I understand length in the engine compartment is shorter, again the diff between theory and practice. It's HOT under the hood too!

My mod post can be found on the forum where I show my installation in detail.

Our system has run flawlessly regularly pushing 30-40A to charge the house batteries. I believe even though I upgraded the TV alternator from 130A to 180A, if I spent more money on the 220A model numbers would be a little higher. I've seen +48A max and with our 320W rooftop solar it can add to +60Ah max towing (10% per hour on our 600Ah). Recently I'm running the A/C 1-2 hours while towing prior to arriving to a campsite with electrical hook-up, and we arrive with a nicely cooled cabin!

Gary, good thing you purchased the Orion XS 50A. Only a few of us with the 50A model for greater capacity and efficiency!

My budget much preferred the cost of 65 ft 4 AWG vs. 90-100 ft of 2/0. But if you really need the extra length and believe as some do that the truck frame is somehow not an adequate ground, buy the 2/0 as Gary did. Many of you want to over-engineer your mods and there is nothing wrong with that.

Me too most of the time. I just did that buying D52 Dexter axles and Alcan springs rated at 2750 lbs. Our wheels are rated at 3200 lbs each and we're on Load Range-E tires. Except for the Oliver frame (weight capacity?) we could functionally carry 10K lbs, although who needs to. We're under actual 6500 GTW now, which will go up a bit with the heavier suspension, yet still under the 7K DOT label to be legal. To me over-engineering the suspension made sense given the road conditions today and the washboard we drive on regularly in Arizona! We all want improvement, though some of us, some of the time, need to consider budget as well.

Edited 21 hours ago by jd1923

[Teaney Hull 292]

3 hours ago, jd1923 said:

Yes true, this is the standard EE calculation which is based on 50A at 90-100' length of the wire, total length up and back. I believe I got away with 4 AWG since I only used 65 ft of wire. I've been working aftermarket automotive installations professionally since the 70s, so figured the shortest possible run for our TV. This heavy wire is soooo expensive these days. You're paying for every additional foot and increase in gauge!

Ran the wire through the frame to reduce distance and provided protection for the wire, no wire ties required most of the length. I also used the truck frame as ground, using only 2' of cable from rear connecter to frame (file ALL paint off), saving a good 15' of wire on the B- side, not running the ground all the way back to the battery which is truly unnecessary.

I know of other another installation using the frame ground using only 6AWG for a 30A charger. This is not suggested, but the report is, it's working fine.

In addition, I ran two 2-ft 4 AWG legs from battery B+ to the alternator and B- to frame ground up front. I believe, not doing so is the issue with many installations not producing good charge output. Most trucks have much less than 4AWG from battery to alternator and battery to frame ground. If you run 2/0 all the way, but from your battery has only 6AWG, you can guess the result. I understand length in the engine compartment is shorter, again the diff between theory and practice. It's HOT under the hood too!

My mod post can be found on the forum where I show my installation in detail.

Our system has run flawlessly regularly pushing 30-40A to charge the house batteries. I believe even though I upgraded the TV alternator from 130A to 180A, if I spent more money on the 220A model numbers would be a little higher. I've seen +48A max and with our 320W rooftop solar it can add to +60Ah max towing (10% per hour on our 600Ah). Recently I'm running the A/C 1-2 hours while towing prior to arriving to a campsite with electrical hook-up, and we arrive with a nicely cooled cabin!

Gary, good thing you purchased the Orion XS 50A. Only a few of us with the 50A model for greater capacity and efficiency!

My budget much preferred the cost of 65 ft 4 AWG vs. 90-100 ft of 2/0. But if you really need the extra length and believe as some do that the truck frame is somehow not an adequate ground, buy the 2/0 as Gary did. Many of you want to over-engineer your mods and there is nothing wrong with that.

Me too most of the time. I just did that buying D52 Dexter axles and Alcan springs rated at 2750 lbs. Our wheels are rated at 3200 lbs each and we're on Load Range-E tires. Except for the Oliver frame (weight capacity?) we could functionally carry 10K lbs, although who needs to. We're under actual 6500 GTW now, which will go up a bit with the heavier suspension, yet still under the 7K DOT label to be legal. To me over-engineering the suspension made sense given the road conditions today and the washboard we drive on regularly in Arizona! We all want improvement, though some of us, some of the time, need to consider budget as well.

JD, with the Nissan Armada Platinum there is a LOT of wires connected to the Positive on the Battery. Can I just add the + and - legs from Battery to Alternator and - to the frame? Or do I need to replace current smaller wires. 

[jd1923]

I got this style from a guy on eBay that sells Mopar with 100% feedback. There are cheaper ones but be careful re quality.

The smaller 8mm stud is to fasten to battery post and on the larger 10mm bolt you can insert 2-3 lugs on each side.

Not sure of the kind of battery posts you have on the Nissan but there are 1000s of varieties. You want to get all connections solid and if you wire like I did with extra ground and extra run to alternator, you’re adding 2 lugs to each post.

https://a.co/d/hn9O1Ak