How would I get a usb wire through this very small hatch rubber accordion hose?

[iDash]

I'm installing a rear dash cam and I have to get a USB mini cable into the hatch. The issue is that there is a small rubber accordion hose that run the wires for the wiper blades and light in the hatch. The USB Mini connector end is too big to fit through.

The issue is it is extremely tight and I can't fit the end of the usb mini through it. I tried everything to try and pull it through.

Would anyone have any ideas on how I can deal with this?

Thanks

I circled in red the accordion hose I need to pull the wire through.

 

[Nigel]

I've never bothered since you don't gain much when you do get it through, just go straight from the headliner to the camera, the camera should be as high as possible while still in the area swept by the wipers and heated by the demister, so the cable length needed is quite short. Make sure there is enough slack and it is better to run it almost horizontal to the camera than vertically so that as the hatch opens the cable twists, otherwise you need to leave a big loop that can unfold, twisting will put less stress on the cable and connectors and is probably neater.

 

[kamkar]

I have planned to go thru the rubber thing, but just never gotten around to it yet.
So i just go from headliner to the rear hatch, which do mean when closed i have some excess wire dangling, but i am okay with that.

Going thru a similar rubber thing for installing my side cameras on rear doors, feding the USB C plugs thru was easy if i took the rubber thing off, if i dident i am sure it would not have been possible.

On my hatch i have 2 og those rubber things, one loose in this pic as the dealer after putting on a new rear hatch after i was rear ended could not be bothered to do a simple job properly, they also did not connect the real plate light.

They are easy to pull off ( tool less ) just mind the wires inside it, just a lip on the ends of it holding it to the body / hatch.
Once off you be in a better position to feed the USB plug thru and you probably dont even have to fish it thru with something.

 

[kamkar]

Depending on the plugs on your wire, if one is a strait one and the other a angled one, you might want to start in the back so you dont have to feed a 90 deg bend plug thru something.

My doors weas prety easy just 4 wires in the rubber thing 2 for speaker and 2 for door opener, so plenty of room for my USB plug too.

 

[jokiin]

plenty of WD40 if it's tight

 

[iDash]

Using lube would have been a good idea, I don't know why I didn't think of that.

I ran the wire earlier today. Maybe i'll try and silicone the holes I tried to make. I doubt that much water gets there to actually get into the car.

 

[kamkar]

Wouldn't that lube get in the plug connections ?
I think if i tried that i would have to tape up the plug first.
But my way taking off the rubber thing and the slack in the wires already there, then being able to feed the USB C plug into it was pretty easy, but of course the small USB C plugs on the wires in the K2S system helped a lot, the body of the plug are just 1 mm or so larger than the wire / USB connector itself.

If dashcam makers want to facilitate good installations, they at least got to have 1 strait plug on their USB wires.
The 2 wire composite wires used by some Korean systems and now the Viofo A139, they are like OMG so much more easy to deal with, and at least the A130 plugs / wires you can feed thru a straw if you wanted to.

 

[joe384]

I've never bothered since you don't gain much when you do get it through, just go straight from the headliner to the camera, the camera should be as high as possible while still in the area swept by the wipers and heated by the demister, so the cable length needed is quite short. Make sure there is enough slack and it is better to run it almost horizontal to the camera than vertically so that as the hatch opens the cable twists, otherwise you need to leave a big loop that can unfold, twisting will put less stress on the cable and connectors and is probably neater.

Hi nigel, can you explain what you mean by this? Do mean if the camera is in the middle, it enters the headliner over to one side so it is going as horizontal as possible?

In this video

they barely manage to get one coax cable through so I just want to get an idea of what your method looks like

 

[lacibaci]

I would cut the USB cable and then splice it. Depends on how comfortable you are with a soldering iron

 

[iDash]

I would cut the USB cable and then splice it. Depends on how comfortable you are with a soldering iron

I thought of that but the issue is that the usb cable is shielded and twisted. I was just worried about messing up the signal transmission so I did not want to go that route. It would also weaken the wire, and it could break in that area.

What that means is, you can't as easily start cutting and reordering signal cables as if they were power lines.

I would have gone that route if I had no other choice.

But yes, that is definitely something to consider if you need a total clean job.

 

[Nigel]

Hi nigel, can you explain what you mean by this? Do mean if the camera is in the middle, it enters the headliner over to one side so it is going as horizontal as possible?

Yes, I bring the cable out between the headliner and the rubber boot seal, it doesn't go to the tailgate unless I use a cable clip to secure it.

To reach the camera, which is mounted on the tailgate glass, neatly when the tailgate is both open and closed, a bit of slack is needed, the more horizontal that slack is, the less the cable needs to bend when the tailgate opens, it twists instead, which is better.
Exactly how it fits will depend on the car, the car in your video seems to need a rather longer length of slack than mine.. Can't take a photo of mine now, it is dark.

I would cut the USB cable and then splice it. Depends on how comfortable you are with a soldering iron

I don't recommend doing that with a cable with USB connectors! Depends on the camera what is inside, some have several pairs of conductors inside, it would end up a mess, others are coax, which is probably easier. Some are coax cables with coax connectors, you could probably fit a connector to the cut ends fairly easily to join them back together properly...