EricSan
Member
- Joined
- Dec 28, 2023
- Messages
- 39
- Reaction score
- 13
- Location
- Central PA
- Country
- United States
- Dash Cam
- Viofo 139A Pro 2-ch w/ EcoFlow River 2 parking battery
I came up with a pretty easy way to run a cable to the rear camera or to run a power cable to the trunk if your are mounting a parking mode battery in the trunk. I tried to run cables above the headliner to the back of the car before, but I gave up because I couldn't figure out how to remove the headliner and avoid the side curtain airbag system. Then I had another idea tonight that I wanted to share. Maybe it helps you out a little. Using this method requires pulling only the A-pillar and C-pillar covers. There is no need to mess with the B-pillar cover or play with door seals or other trim pieces.
The trick is that you need something relatively thin and rigid that you can use to guide the power/video cable to the trunk, where my battery for parking mode will live. I had to cut off the USB plug at the end of the wire in order to thread it through, which is fine for my power arrangement. The challenge was finding something that was sufficiently thin and rigid to guide the power cord through to the back of the car. For this task, I used two wire coat hangers straightened out and joined end to end.
I made about a 1" overlap between two hangers, wrapped the overlap with some thin solid core wire, soldered them together, and covered the joint with two layers of heat shrink so it wouldn’t get caught up on anything as I threaded it above the headliner. The key is that the connected hangers needs to be long enough to travel the length of the headliner and stick out at the front and back by about 6" on each end once it is threaded above the headliner. This is an image of the area where I joined my two coat hangers to get the 6 foot length that I needed:
I also put two layers of heat shrink on the end of the hanger to soften the tip so it wouldn't scratch or poke a hole in anything:
Then, I used masking tape to attach the cut end of my power cord to the end of my joined coat hangers. Alternatively, you can tape the video cable for the rear camera to the joined hangers.
Starting with the length of the coat hanger sticking out of the car by the front door hinge parallel to the front quarter panel, I guided the coat hanger and power cord combo into the headliner at the top of the removed A-pillar cover, making sure to keep it above the side curtain airbag. Just go slowly and gently. If it gets stuck, pull it back 3-4" or so and push it back in again, maybe twisting or rotating the hanger a little. It took a few tries and about 5-10 mins of gently threading it in, getting stuck, pulling back a little, and then pushing in some more. Then it popped out at the top of the removed C-pillar cover. It was way easier than I expected it to be. No need to remove any other door trim, the rubber door seals, or mess with the B-pillar at all!
After the power cord and hanger combo popped out in the back, I undid my masking tape that held them together and pulled the hanger back out. The power cord was now neatly tucked up above the headliner and out of the way of the side curtain airbag. Then, I finished pulling the wire through until the slack was taken up in the front of the car. With a little bit of fiddling around afterward, I was able to get the power cord down into the trunk where the battery pack will live.
Hope someone finds this useful.
The trick is that you need something relatively thin and rigid that you can use to guide the power/video cable to the trunk, where my battery for parking mode will live. I had to cut off the USB plug at the end of the wire in order to thread it through, which is fine for my power arrangement. The challenge was finding something that was sufficiently thin and rigid to guide the power cord through to the back of the car. For this task, I used two wire coat hangers straightened out and joined end to end.
I made about a 1" overlap between two hangers, wrapped the overlap with some thin solid core wire, soldered them together, and covered the joint with two layers of heat shrink so it wouldn’t get caught up on anything as I threaded it above the headliner. The key is that the connected hangers needs to be long enough to travel the length of the headliner and stick out at the front and back by about 6" on each end once it is threaded above the headliner. This is an image of the area where I joined my two coat hangers to get the 6 foot length that I needed:
I also put two layers of heat shrink on the end of the hanger to soften the tip so it wouldn't scratch or poke a hole in anything:
Then, I used masking tape to attach the cut end of my power cord to the end of my joined coat hangers. Alternatively, you can tape the video cable for the rear camera to the joined hangers.
Starting with the length of the coat hanger sticking out of the car by the front door hinge parallel to the front quarter panel, I guided the coat hanger and power cord combo into the headliner at the top of the removed A-pillar cover, making sure to keep it above the side curtain airbag. Just go slowly and gently. If it gets stuck, pull it back 3-4" or so and push it back in again, maybe twisting or rotating the hanger a little. It took a few tries and about 5-10 mins of gently threading it in, getting stuck, pulling back a little, and then pushing in some more. Then it popped out at the top of the removed C-pillar cover. It was way easier than I expected it to be. No need to remove any other door trim, the rubber door seals, or mess with the B-pillar at all!
After the power cord and hanger combo popped out in the back, I undid my masking tape that held them together and pulled the hanger back out. The power cord was now neatly tucked up above the headliner and out of the way of the side curtain airbag. Then, I finished pulling the wire through until the slack was taken up in the front of the car. With a little bit of fiddling around afterward, I was able to get the power cord down into the trunk where the battery pack will live.
Hope someone finds this useful.
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