Fitting extra gauges - Running wires

[Essex2Visuvesi]

Looking at how to route the wires to my gauge pod, EBC, AFR etc so there's quite a bundle of wires to run
Where do you guys run your extra wires?

[spit]

From engine bay to rear bins, the driver's side grommet has less clutter than those on the passenger side. Ditto for the driver's sill compared to the pass. side.

If you're running to a pod in/on the dashtop bin, best access is on the Driver's side face of the bin near the hinge. A QMax cutter gives a neat hole that you can grommet to protect your harness and wires can be fed with a long arm up to the left of the clutch pedal. Shove your arm up there and you should be able to feel the side of the bin without getting caught up in wiring etc.

Data cable is a good thing to run from front to back rather than a nest of individual wires so you can keep things tidy and simple. It'll also handle a voltage feed and earth (handy for things like wideband where sender and gauge work better on the same circuit). Don't forget an appropriate fuse.

There are of course other routes/options. I've generally found this to be the one where you don't need to break out a bigger swear box  s:wink: :wink: s:wink:

[Essex2Visuvesi]

I did think about data cable. Got a box of CAT5e data cable, be any use?

[onion86]

Last time I did a turbo conversion I put the wires down under the driver's kick panel (ground there), under the sill and out through the passenger grommet as Ste's suggested (there is a lot less exiting there). I'm sure that was also quite likely as I spent quite a bit of time on the phone to Ste over that weekend back in 2009  s:) s:)   However it did mean wires going over the intake to the boost gauge, LC-1 (AFR) and fused permanent live straight from the battery which didn't look super tidy. I piggybacked to take a switched feed off the yellow wire in the back of the stereo.

This time (over this weekend just gone) I've gone exactly the same, but routed the wires under the bins and across to the passenger grommet where my active sub already exits. Definitely not quite as easy and there's already a massive loom going out there, but allows me to get the wires straight out behind the battery and keep the engine bay cleaner. I did it all without taking the battery out, but that would make life a lot easier. I've actually put them out of the side of the grommet and taped over rather than making a new hole in it (sub has been like that 3 years), it did look like it's got a tiny bit damp in there though over the years as the grommet isn't going to be fully doing it's job as-is.

[onion86]

Interesting on the Cat5 cable... I'm now running through the same grommet:
rear bin <--> engine bay:
2 (1 pair) x permanent live for active sub
2 (1 pair) x ground for active sub

engine bay <--> dash:
1 x 2.5mm data feed from LC-1 wideband to XD-16 gauge
1 x ground for LC-1 (to earth at same place as XD-16)
1 x switched live for LC-1
3 x wires for boost gauge

So are you saying I could run all 8 (10) of those cables through the grommet with a single piece of 8 wire (4x pairs) Cat5e?

[Essex2Visuvesi]

I don't know, cat 5 is quite thin cable. I'd guess it would be ok for signal lines, not sure about power feeds tho as it's quite a thin gauge wire

[shnazzle]

Peaked my interest as well to clean up wiring,but I certainly wouldnt even try running a sub through a cat5 wire. Maybe two wire pairs twisted together at a push...so that would leave 4 signal cables.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A5000 using Tapatalk

[paulj]

Not used multicore wires on cars but from my experience keep power and signalling separate, as the power can sometimes drown the signal if they are very close.

[SteveJ]

2 (1 pair) x permanent live for active sub
2 (1 pair) x ground for active sub

CAT5e is only good for 0.5A (ie: 6W @ 12 V) per conductor so unless that's a seriously dinky sub then that is a no-no!

It's not even sufficient to power the wide-band O2 controller.

[edit]

CAT5e is really not suited to use in an automotive application for general signal work - there is too much electrical noise floating around and none of the sensors / applications you are likely to be implementing will drive the cable in the correct manner to counteract the induced noise.

Use proper cable for power (and keep as short as possible) and shielded cable for signal returns (such as oil pressure & temp, wideband O2 output to gauge etc)

[/edit]

[Essex2Visuvesi]

OK cool
Back to the drawing board