HOW TO RUN WIRES TO ROOF RACK.

ANSWERED QUESTION--- SEE LAST POSTS.
I'll update this with pics later and clean up the last posts with a better DIY. But this is how to run wires up to your roof rack safely... More or less...
I Tried my absolute hardest to keep every safety component intact and unaltered. Got any questions, Fire away and go check my build thread for better pics of the end result of this one In my humble opinion I did a damn good job. No leaks to date and all wiring is more than rated to handle the loads and four 75Watt HID if I upgrade em in the future.




Got a cool set of HID's

For a great deal

And now I have a fun reason to play with my welder & fabricate a roof rack. To mount them above the windshield.

But
Now my problem is how to get a total of ten wires into the engine bay to wire up to my sPOD.
can I wire them all to one common hot and negative & only run two wires?
Maybe punch one hole, plug & waterproof it & run em between the headliner & the ceiling?
Any way to run it through the frame?

Either way,
Anyone have experience getting wires from outside on the roof into the engine bay & look clean still?

Popped the black weather stripping off & found it all sealed up underneath...

Thanks in advance
Spencer

 

well why 10 wires? ground all the lights to the metal bar....then run 2 power wires....therfre only 2 wires coming from the roof

 

I was thinking about it & I'd be much more comfortable running halogens in series
But I'm not sure if I can do this with HID's
I know when HID's kick on they have a big draw for the first second or two...

So
Now another question.
Can I run HID's in parallel or series?

And the question remains- where & how do I get the wires into the engine bay without running it across the window or something stupid?

 

i ran 2 9" 55w hids with 1 wire and 1 switch....it was fine...use relays and fuses...some people have stuffed the wires down the side of the A pillar

 

You can run it into the door sill behind the rubber lining and there should be a small opening between the front corner of your door (near the mirror) and your hood. That's how I ran mine.

 

Know anyone that could share a picture of how they ran the wire?
& what's the A pillar exactly..?
Thanks!

 

this is all i could find...but you can see where the wires go

 

Ahh ok looks like it runs next to the windshield under the rubber I hadn't looked there very closely.

Thanks man! This is why I love tacomaworld

 

if your rack doesn't use the existing threaded holes in the rails, youcan jsut run the wires through those. if the rack bolts into those holes, you can either drill new ones, or drill a small hole in your shark fin antenna (all 3 options have been done successfully). then you just run the wires through the headliner and down the a-pillar.

here's one with the wires running back to the shark fin on a '12


this is generally how it will look if you run them through the existing holes or your own drilled ones. seal up with silicone to finish it off.


then run them through the headliner


and remove the oh shit handle (only 2 bolts) to pop off and run wires down the a-pillar.

 

bump cause I wanna see how people run their wires through the roof

 

Thanks!
Don't have a shark fin
And I plan to shamelessly copy this gold
http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd-gen-tacomas/52018-custom-roof-basket-build-thread.html

So all the pre-tapped holes will be used. I think I'll have to run it in the door frame or around the windshield.
I did notice I might be able to find a clean way through the rear window seals and up bewteen the headliner and the roof. Gonna be a HUGE pain in the ass, from what I've seen, ill have to rip the whole truck apart to get that headliner off.

But
It's a labor of love. My first new truck I refuse to let anything look less than OEM.

 

subbed

 

x2, I see no need for 10 wires being required. If it were me, I'd fish the wires into the 3rd brake light assembly and go from there.

 

I used the FJ Cruiser OEM Roof light connector. Very nice weather proof connector. They are a little hard to find though. The gauge might be a little small for 5 HIDs in parallel though.

http://www.odu-usa.com/services/custom_connectors.php

 

Might go with this one

Hmm kinda thinking out loud here
I'll still have one circuit with 3X 55 watt lights, so two wires that can handle a 13 amp load
Another circuit for the two floods
And another for the 3 LED bars that'll go on the left right and rear.

So I could take it down from 16 wires down to four...
How thick will these wires have to be?
That common ground of those 4 will have to be able to handle about 25 amps :0

 

Anyone know where to find a wiring diagram for the third brake light circuit? Like where it goes & I it'd be possible just to use fish tape & pull wire through the loom & avoid disassembly ?

 

Ah don't know why I didnt update this! I ran the wires up the driver's door B pillar, and drilled through the roof channel. To run my entire roof rack light setup, I ran One 10 GA ground wire direct from battery to a dedicated ground lug on the rack. That eliminated doubling wires and still gave me an absolutely clean ground. I have SIX 6" LED's, two left, right and rear, wired parallel in sets of two, again eliminating wire bulk- now rather than twelve wires for the LED setup, It cut down to THREE. my HID setup is four 9" Chinamade lights which work great for their cost. Those were wired into two parallel sets, one center for spotlights and one outer set for floods. This cut wires down to TWO instead of Eight wires.

 

SO
all in all, I had to find a way to run six wires to the roof.
went from the sPOD switch panel in through the firewall, under the kick panel on the left, under the floor sill, up the B panel (kinda screwed up the clips pulling that B panel frame cover off)
and then came the awful part......
I had 6 10GA wires to pull up through the roof....
so Had to grab the balls and say lets do this and drilled a 1/2" hole directly above the B panel.

Tip- do NOT NOT NOT try to angle the hole toward the B pillar! the roof has several layers of sheet metal kinda folded up and stamped together on the flat part of the roof rack channel. drilling at an angle will cut through a couple layers, but will ultimately never make a clean penetration to that internal B pillar. also, if equipped, YOU'RE DRILLING INTO YOUR AIRBAGS BE FUCKIN CAREFUL.

DRILL DIRECTLY DOWN toward the ground directly above your B pillar. Drill a tiny pilot hole and notice how damn close you are to your side curtain airbags. take your damn time and DO NOT let that bit dive through the metal more than 1/8" . this is extremely hard, but taking an hour to drill will be well worth walking away from rolling your truck down the road.

 

forgot to mention- the black rain gutter cover thing must be removed when drilling and then replaced after wires are ran- mount your rack over this cover to keep more rain out.


once this big ass gaping hole is drilled, carefully bore it out a little more to make it smooth- slow drilling will leave oblong holes and very rough edges. bore it a little rounder and grab your file and needlenose pliers and get EVERY SINGLE LITTLE BURR outta that hole. Assume any metal shavings or burrs touching your airbag to be the cause of death for your firstborn child when that airbag rips instead of inflating.
so check check check again for little metal burrs and file that hole down smooth, pulling the shavings out always. Put a good rubber grommet and lube that baby up like a first date, pull the wires through, get good big shrink wrap- the kind with the melting inner lining. this stuff will be key to keeping water OUT of your cab and away from your airbags. get that liner to sit below the grommet and shrink everything up. Use 6-8" higher than the roof line.

now grab that rail liner you took off and good sealant. I use Tremco 626 sealant for work all the time and swear by the stuff. If you cant find anything that good, heavy duty silicone works. Just get something you trust and a whole lot of it. silicone/ seal up the penetration. try and get the stuff pushed into the hole, around the inside of the grommet, and then fill the rail channel completely up for about 4" in both directions. mark and cut a notch in the rail cover, snap it back in, smash it down and wipe the sealant off where it's smashed out, put more around the notch you cut and then open another beer. the wires and your rail cover are never gonna come off again

do this right the first time and do it once. Keep your airbag untouched, clean and DRY. keep the water out.

AH! ALSO
when you run the wires up the pillar, RUN THEM OUTSIDE OF THE AIRBAG. it's harder to do, but in an accident, your wires won't become projectiles or cut that airbag in half. Don't make your hurry to wire lights the reason your insurance denies comping your neck brace and wheelchair.