Cable routing under soft area between front seats

[California Dreamin]

A hopefully quick question for a Monday evening. I am looking to route a thick (~12mm diameter) cable from the battery terminals under the passenger seat to the area under the drivers seat (to locate a solar controller there with a plug for the removable panel in the rear of the seat base trim behind the driver). I have searched the forums endlessly looking for a reference I am sure I have seen about there being an easy cable route within the 'soft' section by the hand brake.

Does anyone know how to access this area and how full the cable route might be? Any photos? How do I remove the carpet to access that area and if I am careful/ don't need much room to access could this be done be undoing the rear bolts and loosening the front seat bots and wedging the seats up for access to avoid complete removal?

Apologies if I am being a numpty and haven't managed to find the thread on this.

 

[Max-Felix]

Go under. Large grommet in the base of each battery well.

 

[California Dreamin]

Great idea, thanks you - it is a Beach so only a battery on the passenger side - is there also a grommet under the driver's side with some space for another cable?

 

[Max-Felix]

Yes, 99.9% sure but easy to have a look - slide seat forward, unclip rear plastic hinged panel.

 

[jts46]

Good info

 

[Skewif]

A hopefully quick question for a Monday evening. I am looking to route a thick (~12mm diameter) cable from the battery terminals under the passenger seat to the area under the drivers seat (to locate a solar controller there with a plug for the removable panel in the rear of the seat base trim behind the driver). I have searched the forums endlessly looking for a reference I am sure I have seen about there being an easy cable route within the 'soft' section by the hand brake.

Does anyone know how to access this area and how full the cable route might be? Any photos? How do I remove the carpet to access that area and if I am careful/ don't need much room to access could this be done be undoing the rear bolts and loosening the front seat bots and wedging the seats up for access to avoid complete removal?

Apologies if I am being a numpty and haven't managed to find the thread on this.

12mm diameter.. that is massive... why so big?

 

[California Dreamin]

it might only be 10mm outer diameter - fairly regular two core cable for charging connexion. Up to about 16A charging...avoiding an unnecessary voltage drop.

 

[Skewif]

Got you. Out of curiosity does the Beach have a display showing current in/out of LB?

 

[Max-Felix]

No display on the Beach, easy to wire something in or just carry one of these for a fiver or less:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/p/12v-24v-LE...y-Tester-Detector/1988514636?iid=271523172364

 

[Bramco]

Go under. Large grommet in the base of each battery well.

Now I'm going to have to go grovelling under the van to find these!! For the Beach this will be really useful for anyone who has followed the instructions about setting up an inverter to power a charger for an electric bike battery.
The contacts where I plug the inverter effectively into the leisure battery are currently hanging out of the back of the seat base behind the leisure battery, not the best solution, so routing them under the soft bit to under the drivers seat will be perfect as this is also where the inverter is stowed when not in use.

 

[Max-Felix]

Useful video here (about 12 mins in) showing grommets - I think there is a larger one too (maybe only in one side but cannot remember):

https://www.kiravans.co.uk/blog/post/video-how-to-fit-your-new-mv-airo-heater

Easiest thing is to get the seats out of the way and go in from the top.

 

[Skewif]

Now I'm going to have to go grovelling under the van to find these!! For the Beach this will be really useful for anyone who has followed the instructions about setting up an inverter to power a charger for an electric bike battery.
The contacts where I plug the inverter effectively into the leisure battery are currently hanging out of the back of the seat base behind the leisure battery, not the best solution, so routing them under the soft bit to under the drivers seat will be perfect as this is also where the inverter is stowed when not in use.

Might have to go grovelling too. That’s a great idea for a permanently connected high power inverter. Could mount it with easy access to the 230v socket and on/off switch at front of seat base.

 

[Bramco]

Useful video here (about 12 mins in) showing grommets - I think there is a larger one too (maybe only in one side but cannot remember):

https://www.kiravans.co.uk/blog/post/video-how-to-fit-your-new-mv-airo-heater

Easiest thing is to get the seats out of the way and go in from the top.

Thanks!

Edit: One issue I've just thought of is you'd want to protect the wires under the van, wouldn't be great if a stone or whatever split them.

There's a bit on the video from under the van at around 16 minutes showing the grommet under the drivers seat.

 

[Max-Felix]

Yes, just wrap some split pipe or something around the wires and make sure they go through grommets of course.

 

[California Dreamin]

Great info - thank you. I havent yet looked under the van so cannot picture the run between the two grommets - does it have to navigate all sorts of stuff or is a straight line possible?

Taking the more dull approach of routing under the carpet still an option I want to understand. How easy it it to pull the carpet up one the plastic strip covering the rear edge of the carpet is removed?

Does anyone else fin the life conspires to prevent you getting the time to spend on stuff like this ahead of a bank holiday weekend when you need to sort your solar for autonomous living?

 

[Max-Felix]

Not sure re' underneath but it will be a very short easy run I'm sure. Not had the carpet up but there is a well known spongy void under there so should be space. Normally just a case of systematically removing trim to see. I'd still go under though!

 

[reserves]

This thread might be useful for you, has pictures with the seats out and cables ran between the passenger seat and drivers

https://vwcaliforniaclub.com/threads/stage-2-audio-upgrade.10787/page-2

 

[Andy]

In short take both seats out, both seat bases, handbrake & then carpet should pull forwards out of your way. If going under the van both seats & bases have to come out as wall as battery then you can get to gromets through slit in carpet.

DO NOT turn ignition on with airbag wires disconnected, warning light comes on & need dealer or someone with VCDS to turn off.

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

 

[California Dreamin]

Managed to get in there tonight and had a real result - it turns out there is an accessible cable channel running directly between the two front seats. It is accessible by tilting the passenger seat forward, removing the battery then tilting the seat base forward too as the portal to it is under the plate upon which the battery sits. the other end of the secret tunnel is under a carpet flap on the left side (looking from rear) of the under seat area on the drivers side about 6 inches in from the rear. A nice dry self contained route - with apparently nothing in the way - i just gently pushed a 12mm cable straight across and it appeared under the other seat. Magic. Hope this is useful to anyone else looking to use the area under the drivers seat for anything useful.

 

[Max-Felix]

Awesome result. Any pics?

 

[California Dreamin]

IMG_1540

• California Dreamin
• May 23, 2018

This is the driver's seat side - cable entering from left having run under floor (without lifting any carpets or anything, just straight through.

IMG_1544

• California Dreamin
• May 23, 2018

and this is the passenger side looking towards the centre (sorry about the terrible photos). The thick black wire is the one I fed through.

 

[soulstyledevon]

Sorry, only just seen this.
That’s the run I used. Better to have the cabling within the van. Just remove both front seats, it makes the work of fitting cabling etc much easier.

Not sure about fitting an inverter to a Beach. With only one leisure, I can’t see it powering stuff for very long...?

 

[Skewif]

Not sure about fitting an inverter to a Beach. With only one leisure, I can’t see it powering stuff for very long...?

Agreed as to charge a (my) flat eBike battery would use more than 50% of Beach LB in about 3 hours. But if you charge only while driving or have say 200w solar the setup works rather well.

 

[Bramco]

Agreed as to charge a (my) flat eBike battery would use more than 50% of Beach LB in about 3 hours. But if you charge only while driving or have say 200w solar the setup works rather well.

Exactly - drove back from Derbyshire yesterday and the battery was almost re-charged before getting home. We also have solar.

I'm planning a trip to the dark peak in a couple of weeks and might try to find a pub where we can stay overnight, so there wouldn't be hookup. But with one charge overnight I can have a couple of days on the trails without any issues, whereas without the inverter I can only manage one good run unless I have hookup.

Obviously if you're going to fit a high power inverter and run a hair dryer then it won't last long but for e-bike battery charging and PC battery charging it should be fine, especially if you have solar fitted.

Of course if you have hook up then you'd use the mains rather than the inverter.