Cable Routing / Pulling Advice...

[technomadia]

I am working on a few electrical upgrades, and lacking a schematic for the Oliver, I would love some advice.

 

First off - I am planning to wire up the cell phone booster to be switched on/off by a switch on the power panel near the door, rather than the current method of needing to reach deep into the storage cabinet (over the small dinette) where it is tucked away.

 

My question: Is it possible to fish a wire up and over the roof (between the shells) to get from one side of the trailer to the other? Or will I need to run the wires all the way around the back?

 

Secondly: I would like to have separate master switches on the panel for the inside and outside lights. Lacking a schematic of the wiring harness makes this a bit difficult to figure out, but before I start tracing wires myself - has anyone mapped out where the power for the outside lights splits off from the panel?

 

One other thought is to route the ground lighting into the solar controller, so that I can make it automatic dusk-till-dawn lighting.

 

Finally: I want to mount an on/off switch for our inverter up near the mission control panels by the door. The inverter is located down under the front small dinette seat. What is the easiest way to run a wire from down under there to the cabinet up over the fridge?

 

Ultimately, this is how I plan to have the switches configured: (currently three are unused)

 

#1 - Fans

#2 - Cabin Lights

#x - Water Pump wired to be a slave to the cabin lights.

#3 - Outside Lights or Cabinet Lights

#4 - Booster Antenna

#5 - Mac Mini (our on board server) & Internet Router / WiFi (powered via 12v)

#6 - Dell Monitor / Backup HD (via small Inverter)

 

Thoughts?

 

- Chris

[andrew]

I am working on a few electrical upgrades, and lacking a schematic for the Oliver, I would love some advice.

 

I have been digging into it because I want to put in solar before Burning Man, so I will be looking into more of this as I go. I dunno what your time frame is on this, but I am probably going to start ordering parts in the next couple of weeks for our solar.

 

My question: Is it possible to fish a wire up and over the roof (between the shells) to get from one side of the trailer to the other? Or will I need to run the wires all the way around the back?

 

It appears to me (I have to do more looking to be sure that it goes all the way) that there is a gap between the two shells at the top of the trailer. However it appears to be about 3/8ths of an inch. So although data cables should reach, but I am not sure about connectors.

 

At the moment my plan is to just use that area to get in to bolt in the solar panel brackets and run the data cables all the way around the back with the rest of the wiring, only because it is still not that far and it seems easier to get to to troubleshoot.

 

I did find that the current wiring goes from the top to the bottom of the trailer between the shells on the street-side of the emergency exit window and it looks like there should be enough room to put more wires through there.

 

Secondly: I would like to have separate master switches on the panel for the inside and outside lights. Lacking a schematic of the wiring harness makes this a bit difficult to figure out, but before I start tracing wires myself - has anyone mapped out where the power for the outside lights splits off from the panel?

 

One other thought is to route the ground lighting into the solar controller, so that I can make it automatic dusk-till-dawn lighting.

 

I have not tracked those wires down, but I can't imagine they would be too tough to find since the switches are up on the tongue of the trailer.

 

I am planning to use the "load" on my solar controller for the fantastic fan because we don't full time in ours and so being able to leave the fan on permanently seems like a really nice feature and then the solar controller will take care of shutting it of if something goes wrong and the batteries run down.

 

When using the trailer I can see that disk-to-dawn lighting would be really nice. You could still switch that so you can turn the lights off from inside the trailer.

 

The inverter is located down under the front small dinette seat. What is the easiest way to run a wire from down under there to the cabinet up over the fridge?

 

I believe that you can fairly easily fish a wire from one side of the trailer to the other under the floor and up next to the fridge. I could well be wrong though so you may end up having to go all the way to the back and up through the "raceway" at the back of the trailer with the rest of the wires.

 

Ultimately, this is how I plan to have the switches configured: (currently three are unused)

 

Sounds like a good way to split them to me, the only thing I can think of is to put things that you are going to switch frequently towards the inside of the trailer because I find I can easily switch the 3 switches that are closest to the inside of the trailer without going around to look at them, but the other 3 are too far away to reach easily.

 

Also to note is that Sea Dog Line has if you need them.

[DCKiefer]

About fishing a wire through the roof, there is a small space, but part of it may be blocked by wires running to the AC and roof vent fan. If you try it I would go forward the roof vent. You will need a wire fish or tape which you can get at a hardware store.

 

About getting a wire from below to up top. The only location I found was as some one else stated on the street sid of the rear window. I have fished three wires through this location and the last was the most challenging so I think I have about filled the space. You will need to send the wire fish from the top, I tried the bottom up approach and never managed it.

[technomadia]

so being able to leave the fan on permanently seems like a really nice feature

 

In most conditions, it's great I would however highly recommend redefining the word 'permanent' to 'when in the trailer and there's not a dust storm' for Burning Man purposes. That is, of course, if you don't want a trailer full of dust when you return

 

- Cherie

[bugz]

I keep hearing that the dust at BRC gets into EVERYTHING. How did your Oliver do in those conditions? We've had JJ in the wind, rain, snow, hot hot heat and he has kept us snug and comfortable through it all but never a dust storm.

 

Lisa

[technomadia]

Orion did fantastically in dust storms. Seals up nicely. We even had folks come by at the end of Burning Man asking us how we kept our trailer so clean. The outside looked shiny and bright even after 12 days on the playa.

 

For the inside, I just covered the seats with spare fabric that I shuck out every so often, and once every day or so I took a paper towel and cleaning solution to the floor, walls and kitchen to keep them clean (which I actually do regularly anyway). Dust will get everywhere, but if you're careful about keeping your windows, doors and vent fans closed during dust storms.. your Ollie will be a nice refute from the dust.

 

- Cherie