2020 OTG Prep, when they forget to provide the loop of slack
Unit: 2020 26RBSWE built in September 2019
I've asked questions and commented on other threads related to the OTG (off the grid) pre-wire package on all 2020s. At that time I did not have a visible loop of 12v (8ga) wire in the pass-through which should have been there. On a side note I did have a loop of romex to install an inverter with bypass, aka pass through. That too is part of the OTG. After searching the forum and asking questions I learned all that I could before I began exploratory surgery by cutting holes in the front wall of the pass-through. In the hopes that it may be useful to someone else, I thought I would post some pics and the data as it relates to my unit.
The idea of providing the loop in the pass through is this: There is a port on the rooftop that claims to be rated for up to 500 watts of solar. Wire runs down inside the front wall of the rv, should loop in the pass-through so you have slack to work with, and then continue down and out and connect to the batteries. But as luck would have it, my line-worker pulled the wire tight, no loop, tight from the rooftop to the batteries. With that many watts, you have to use a solar charge controller. Normally, you would cut the loop, connect the wires from the rooftop to the charge controller, and the wires from the batteries to the charge controller, and the charge controller would then do it's job passing on the proper charge (from the panels) to the batteries.
If you have to cut a hole in your wall to find this 12v 8ga wire, here's my advice. Crawl under the rv, locate the heavy 12v wire and measure the distance from the driver side wall to the point of exit under the belly. In my case that was about 29/30 inches. Then inside the pass through, mark that location on the front wall. That's about where the wires will be coming from the batteries. The gland on the rooftop was 18in from the driver side wall, and I thought that might give me a diagonal run of wire to the 30in point but it did not. As you can see in the pics below, my wire is running very vertical at the 30 inch mark. Carefully cut the luan to make an opening. I used a battery operated multi-tool cutter, not penetrating the paneling. I finished up by cutting the rest of the way through with a razor knife.
Hopefully, you'll have a loop behind the wall instead of the line pulled tight.
I haven't done anything more yet, but I think I will have to cut the ends off the wire at the battery and tape new wire onto the old wire and try to fish the new wire up through those small conduit pipes keystone put in there. I'll post on that experience when I get to it.
Here are the pics. The small hole to the left was off target, but I was able to see and feel the wire. The second, upper hole, was cut in the hopes of finding a loop. Nope, not there, but at least it was right over the wire. Then I enlarged the first hole by doubling it's width to better see where the wire was going out to the batteries. By then I knew I was going to have to pull wire up that way.
I've name the pictures to give you an idea of what you're looking at...
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Mike
2020 Cougar 26RBSWE TT (sold)
2018 GMC 3500HD Duramax (sold)
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