Outlaw, Time to find a chase for my wires

[zman7458]

So, I've finally got my new (to me) 2014 37MD Outlaw home and while I'm finalizing the design stage prior to ordering all the parts I will need I figured I would get an idea of where and how everything is going to go together in the space allowed. I've already found the perfect location for the batteries and associated hardware. The storage compartment right in front of the drivers side drive tire is 40" wide by 20" deep by 30" tall and my batteries are 9.5" wide by 7.5" deep by 11" tall, which is perfect for putting a unistrut trapeze held by strut angles bolted directly to the steel beams on each side of the compartment so the poly tub won't be supporting any of the 650 lbs. of batteries. this just so happens to be a pass through compartment which has a back wall that is 18" tall then open for the last 12". So I'm thinking a 30" tall by 40" wide piece of 3/4" treated plywood and screw it place right behind the batteries which will have 5" of spare space behind them anyhow (although I will leave most of that in front) this will give me plenty of room to mount the controllers and inverter with all the wiring, meters and disconnects mounted neatly on the board. Now for my question, is there a wet wall or something similar in these things that has a wider opening or do I open a cabinet and open a side wall where I can patch the hole with a cover, I know how I would do it in a house or business, but I'm at a loss for the proper way to do it in this beast. Any ideas? I gotta get from the roof to the basement in the shortest route possible. Thanks Phil

[PbdBlue]

Originally Posted by zman7458

So, I've finally got my new (to me) 2014 37MD Outlaw home and while I'm finalizing the design stage prior to ordering all the parts I will need I figured I would get an idea of where and how everything is going to go together in the space allowed. I've already found the perfect location for the batteries and associated hardware. The storage compartment right in front of the drivers side drive tire is 40" wide by 20" deep by 30" tall and my batteries are 9.5" wide by 7.5" deep by 11" tall, which is perfect for putting a unistrut trapeze held by strut angles bolted directly to the steel beams on each side of the compartment so the poly tub won't be supporting any of the 650 lbs. of batteries. this just so happens to be a pass through compartment which has a back wall that is 18" tall then open for the last 12". So I'm thinking a 30" tall by 40" wide piece of 3/4" treated plywood and screw it place right behind the batteries which will have 5" of spare space behind them anyhow (although I will leave most of that in front) this will give me plenty of room to mount the controllers and inverter with all the wiring, meters and disconnects mounted neatly on the board. Now for my question, is there a wet wall or something similar in these things that has a wider opening or do I open a cabinet and open a side wall where I can patch the hole with a cover, I know how I would do it in a house or business, but I'm at a loss for the proper way to do it in this beast. Any ideas? I gotta get from the roof to the basement in the shortest route possible. Thanks Phil

One thing to consider is perhaps not locating the charge controller and inverter in the same compartment as the batteries unless you are planning on going with AGM's. Also is it possible to seal the compartment from the rest of the motorhome storage area? Again if not going with AGM batteries you will need to vent the area as there will be all kinds of nasty corrosive and flammable (i.e. hydrogen) outgassing from the batteries in that compartment hence the thought to not mount sensitive electronics in the area. AGM's will mitigate most of that concern but at 2X the cost. The other potential pitfall may be that 650# additional to one side of the coach which also happens to house other heavy items like the genset and a slideout might result in some very unbalanced weight distribution and axle\tire loading. May not be a concern but certainly something to look at. To get to your other question the walls are typically solid sandwiched foam walls. Routing cables down through the walls themselves is probably not feasible. Commonly a refridgerator vent or a plumbing vent is used to route the cables from the roof.

[zman7458]

Originally Posted by PbdBlue

One thing to consider is perhaps not locating the charge controller and inverter in the same compartment as the batteries unless you are planning on going with AGM's. Also is it possible to seal the compartment from the rest of the motorhome storage area? Again if not going with AGM batteries you will need to vent the area as there will be all kinds of nasty corrosive and flammable (i.e. hydrogen) outgassing from the batteries in that compartment hence the thought to not mount sensitive electronics in the area. AGM's will mitigate most of that concern but at 2X the cost. The other potential pitfall may be that 650# additional to one side of the coach which also happens to house other heavy items like the genset and a slideout might result in some very unbalanced weight distribution and axle\tire loading. May not be a concern but certainly something to look at. To get to your other question the walls are typically solid sandwiched foam walls. Routing cables down through the walls themselves is probably not feasible. Commonly a refridgerator vent or a plumbing vent is used to route the cables from the roof.

I am using AGM batteries for several reasons, but the out gassing was a biggie for me. I will be trying to offset the weight by putting some of my heavier items in the same compartment on the other side of the coach (i.e my tools and compressor etc.). thats a bummer about the foam walls, but a good suggestion about the plumbing vent since the bath is directly above that compartment, but I wonder how I will get my remote control/displays from the inverter and charge controller up next to the other displays in the hallway where I had planned to run them. I have fished foam filled walls before, but it was no fun. I wonder how they got their wires in? I imagine before the foam went in lol. Well that will give me something to think about. Thanks so much for the input PbdBlue. Phil

[PbdBlue]

Originally Posted by zman7458

I am using AGM batteries for several reasons, but the out gassing was a biggie for me. I will be trying to offset the weight by putting some of my heavier items in the same compartment on the other side of the coach (i.e my tools and compressor etc.). thats a bummer about the foam walls, but a good suggestion about the plumbing vent since the bath is directly above that compartment, but I wonder how I will get my remote control/displays from the inverter and charge controller up next to the other displays in the hallway where I had planned to run them. I have fished foam filled walls before, but it was no fun. I wonder how they got their wires in? I imagine before the foam went in lol. Well that will give me something to think about. Thanks so much for the input PbdBlue. Phil

It's an interesting project. I hope you don't mind my devil's advocate stance but it's always a healthy thing to think through all the possible pitfalls. You have a pretty heavy chassis on that rig so I expect that the weight won't be a showstopper but I guess that depends on what you're going to haul in the toy bay. I'm thinking you will want to make the battery rack structure very robust. 650# will be quite a load when you factor in the road vibration. I never had much luck fishing wires through the foam walls as they are typically a glued sandwich assembly. The interior walls should be open if you can use them. On my rig I mounted the control displays on an interior hallway wall and routed the cables under the bathtub to the wall.

[zman7458]

Originally Posted by PbdBlue

It's an interesting project. I hope you don't mind my devil's advocate stance but it's always a healthy thing to think through all the possible pitfalls. You have a pretty heavy chassis on that rig so I expect that the weight won't be a showstopper but I guess that depends on what you're going to haul in the toy bay. I'm thinking you will want to make the battery rack structure very robust. 650# will be quite a load when you factor in the road vibration. I never had much luck fishing wires through the foam walls as they are typically a glued sandwich assembly. The interior walls should be open if you can use them. On my rig I mounted the control displays on an interior hallway wall and routed the cables under the bathtub to the wall.

No not at all, it's exactly what I need. as for the toy bay I'm going to have a UTV back there or my Harley (which is what I'm trading for the UTV) but either way it will be around 700# back there. The battery rack I'm building will be made from 1 5/8" unistrut suspended from the two metal beams on each side of the bay. I've hung transformers from these trapezes so this will be plenty beefy for this app. as to the walls, the interior walls was what I was referring to all along. I suspected I wouldn't be able to get into the exterior walls, so that is excellent news. I'll be posting my equipment layout in the going green section right after I hit send on this post if your interested. Thanks for playing the advocate for me. Phil

[PbdBlue]

On the interior walls many times you will find the panels are stapled on. It's not like a home where the blocking is standard spacing so it can be a little difficult to know where the bracing is. If need be you can sometimes pry the paneling back to gain some access and then re-staple it back on. Most times there's a trim piece or such that hide the staples.