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[BloggerL]

@grinchy Here you are.

 

[BloggerL]

Next, I wired the car-charging cable -- the one that connects directly to the battery or alternator -- for the Goal Zero Yeti power station. I don't have the power station yet, because I'm waiting for the new model, but it should be available soon.

This task was a horrible, miserable, painful endeavor that has likely ruined my hands for a few days. The charging cable is the thickness of a heavy-duty appliance cable, with a bulky plug at one end. Getting this cable through the already crowded firewall on the driver's side took me hours and many failed attempts and strategies. But I finally got it through. Then I connected it to the bundled extension cable, equally huge, and routed that under the dash and over to the center console. I went through a cavity alongside the console, turned a very challenging right angle to the back of the console and cut out a hole for a pass-through for the cable. I chose this area, because I plan to place the power station behind the console or first row seats, and because the cavity within the console trim is long and vacant enough to allow about 18" of this cable to be pulled in and out on demand.

But fishing the cable through the cavity without completely disassembling the console was torture. If I were doing it again, I'd do more advanced studying and take apart more of the console first.

The rather battered plug, now resting peacefully in place after a harsh journey -- ready for the power station when it's finally available:

 

[greynolds]

How easy or difficult is it to gain access to the back of the center console where you have that cable coming out? I’m thinking about replacing the 12V socket with USB charging ports or installing a separate USB charging port somewhere on that panel. I’m not sure I’m up for running a new power cable to that location, so I may just use the existing wiring for the 12V port.

 

[BloggerL]

@greynolds I wasn't able to open up that piece. The method wasn't obvious to me as with other panels throughout the car. I'm sure someone here must know how to do it, but I settled with partially dislodging the side panel and pulling back the edge of the strip above the cigarette lighter.

 

[greynolds]

@greynolds I wasn't able to open up that piece. The method wasn't obvious to me as with other panels throughout the car. I'm sure someone here must know how to do it, but I settled with partially dislodging the side panel and pulling back the edge of the strip above the cigarette lighter.

Thanks for the response. I think I may leave it alone for the moment then as I'm only planning on tackling stuff I'm very confident I can do without damaging things since the LC is still brand new. I know @Eric Sarjeant has installed extra outlets in this area, but he obviously has access to all the service manuals and techs who work on these things every day. I may pay for a short period of access to the online service manual and see if I can figure it out from there.

I've been working on running power cables to the cargo area to install some USB and 12V "cigarette" ports on both the driver and passenger sides (both power cables are run on the passenger side as I read there's a lot of stuff in the way on the driver side). I was able to do it by only partially pulling off the big rear quarter panel trim piece AND got everything put back together when I was done . I'm just waiting for some heat shrink crimp connectors to arrive so I can finish hooking everything up. Getting the 8 gauge wires started through the firewall grommet on the passenger side was "fun" (once started, getting the rest of the length of wire pushed through was a breeze) and getting through the 1st and 2nd row pillar area wasn't quite as easy as I expected it to be, but not too bad. Getting from the 2nd row into the jack area in the cargo area without completely removing the trim panel took a bunch of tries to fish a network cable from the jack area to the 2nd row area and then the rest was pretty easy. But I can't imagine running 4 gauge or thicker cables through some of these areas.

It's been fun following your build - you've been a LOT more ambitious than me.

 

[BloggerL]

@greynolds Yeah, I had been thinking about doing a little more on that console, but I'm going to quite while I'm ahead after successfully getting the Goal Zero cable in there.

Since my driver-side firewall grommet is extremely loaded now, I'll be using the passenger side grommet for additional items from this point forward. Does that take you to the glovebox? Any issues there?

I'll have to deal with the quarter panels in a few weeks too. I've got molle panels coming in the for the rear windows. I'm also working on a plan for some power and audio/video outlets.

 

[greynolds]

@greynolds Yeah, I had been thinking about doing a little more on that console, but I'm going to quite while I'm ahead after successfully getting the Goal Zero cable in there.

Hopefully we'll get lucky and Eric or someone else will chime in with some tips.

Since my driver-side firewall grommet is extremely loaded now, I'll be using the passenger side grommet for additional items from this point forward. Does that take you to the glovebox? Any issues there?

It takes you just under the glovebox. For access to that area:

• There's a panel under the glovebox that comes off pretty easily with several clips you release with your fingers close to the front edge of the dashboard, then plastic prongs that hook into slots on the firewall side. So once you release the clips, pivot the panel down slightly and pull back toward the seat to remove. IIRC, there was a wire harness attached to it for a light, so pay attention for that.
• Next, pop off the door jamb panel. Be careful because there's a wiring harness attached to it for the light that's in the panel. Just gently pull the panel up starting at either end; there's a series of clips that will pop out. It shouldn't require too much force to remove.
• Then on the side (between the firewall and the front door), there's a panel that you can remove by removing a plastic nut (it was only finger tight) that interlocks with the front door jamb panel. This will provide easy access to route the wire from where it comes into the passenger compartment to the door channel.

When you poke a wire through the passenger side grommet, it will come out just slightly above the bottom of the glovebox, but there's no need to remove the glovebox to fish it through (at least with 8 gauge wires), you just need a flashlight and a little neck bending to see what's going on. Routing the wire from where it comes through down into the bottom door channel is pretty easy as long as you aren't trying to feed one that's fire hose sized .

 

[BloggerL]

@greynolds Super helpful. Thank you! And yeah, once you've routed the Goal Zero "fire hose" with spray nozzle attached, everything else feels easy in comparison.

 

[CharlieS]

While that is the faster way, it makes a whole lot more room to work if you disconnect the battery, remove the knee airbag, and take the glove box out. I ran heavier guage wire for rear power through there and having the space was helpful. You can also do things like splice into the reverse wire trigger on the trailer reverse relay while you are in there...

 

[BloggerL]

Back of my hand today after spending hours fishing the Goal Zero power cable to the back of the rear console. Too bad the line, "But you should see the other guy" would not be a favorable statement in this case.

 

[SharpeCat]

Back of my hand today after spending hours fishing the Goal Zero power cable to the back of the rear console. Too bad the line, "But you should see the other guy" would not be a favorable statement in this case.

View attachment 2402916

Going to eventually reference the last page of posts and follow along. When my alternator finally dies (200+k) I Have been eyeing the 370 amp one. Would be nice to redirect the extra amps straight into my portable battery like you are with the Goal Zero, or redirect it to the 115V in back to increase it from 100Ws.

Any idea on how I could do a dual power source setup? So that when I transition from car on to generator power, that I don’t have to unplug my main power strip and Briefly lose power to everything plugged into that strip? It’s so I don’t lose signal/live feed when going in and out of camping mode.

Thanks for the lead on this!

 

[BloggerL]

@Dangcat I'm just attaching the cable to the battery, not the alternator. That still provides hundreds of watts of charging power, according to Goal Zero, and avoids some potential issues. I'm definitely not the right guy to advise on anything beyond this one action step right now, as I'm very new to this.

 

[SharpeCat]

@Dangcat I'm just attaching the cable to the battery, not the alternator. That still provides hundreds of watts of charging power, according to Goal Zero, and avoids some potential issues. I'm definitely not the right guy to advise on anything beyond this one action step right now, as I'm very new to this.

You and I both brother, but you are much further ahead on this front than I; Nice to have something so similar to reference. Keep up the good work and thanks again!

 

[BloggerL]

Today's update will be cut short, as a bear visited my driveway a moment ago. I think I'm going to wait until tomorrow before finishing my work.

 

[rlynch356]

Going to eventually reference the last page of posts and follow along. When my alternator finally dies (200+k) I Have been eyeing the 370 amp one. Would be nice to redirect the extra amps straight into my portable battery like you are with the Goal Zero, or redirect it to the 115V in back to increase it from 100Ws.

Any idea on how I could do a dual power source setup? So that when I transition from car on to generator power, that I don’t have to unplug my main power strip and Briefly lose power to everything plugged into that strip? It’s so I don’t lose signal/live feed when going in and out of camping mode.

Thanks for the lead on this!

The Manager30 us this along with a LiPo house battery, it manages between alt, solar, and 110v charging..
or just have an external 110v plug that is attached to the Goalzero AC power adapter if you are using it solely for the house battery.

 

[BloggerL]

Update: the black bear couldn't keep me away from the Land Cruiser! I braved my driveway long enough to finish painting some of the grill slats in bronze:

I came in a tad lighter than the wheels, but much of that seems due to how the wheels hold shadows. I'm quite happy with how this came out. I used pro paint and adhesion spray. These required me to attest to owning a respirator (which I got early on the pandemic, actually). The stuff went on very easily, thought it's still hardening. I'm hoping tomorrow it will be fully cured.

Also today I started assembling a sleeping platform/drawer system from Air Down Gear Up--their first for the Heritage Edition, I believe. I'm really impressed with how rugged and well thought-out the components are. It will be a few weeks before I can share the install, though, because I've brought the platform to an upholsterer. I'm going to have it upholstered in bluish black leather and bronze stitching that matches the rest of the interior. Combined with some brass hardware, it's going to be really beautiful, I think.

Still figuring out a lot of other things. I'm going to have cameras, but these will be larger-sensor units that feed a monitor via HDMI. I'm also going to have a thermal camera for rural and night driving, wildlife monitoring, and finding my phone in a pile of sand in the desert at 3AM (been there, done that). So I'm working on a plan for all this that can basically be summarized as "monitor management." Part of the challenge is I want the thermal camera image to be basically in front of my eyes, but I can't find an aftermarket heads-up display that will do a simple HDMI projection without a million annoyances involving unwanted cell phone use and apps. I've considered a replacement instrument cluster with a monitor built into it that comes from China, but I'm weary of the risks of installing that. I've also considered a dimmed-down, low profile monitor above the dash in my line of sight, but that's not legal everywhere. I've figured out how to get everywhere wired through the Naviplus, but I'm not sure I want the IR camera feed that far from my vision.

 

[BloggerL]

I had thought about something like a bull bar for light-duty added protection, but I'm told by the pros that this really can't be done effectively. So I'm going to skip that for now. I do want to get a set of lightweight skids in aluminum though.

I'm also working through ideas in a separate thread I started on a shower system.

Finally (well, probably not finally), I'm working on a molle window, cabin divider/protector, LED mats for interior illumination, and security.

 

[SharpeCat]

Have you considered a small touch screen tablet as a monitor? Basically similar to how I do it but with a tablet instead of a laptop. You can just use cam links like me and toggle between or view multiple feeds at once. You can also send the hdmi feed wirelessly using something like the Hollyland X (small but effective) In combination with a HDMI camlink. It’s how I turn any hdmi-output camera into essentially a webcam for stream, by using a HDMI Camlink.

 

[BloggerL]

Have you considered a small touch screen tablet as a monitor? Basically similar to how I do it but with a tablet instead of a laptop. You can just use cam links like me and toggle between or view multiple feeds at once. You can also send the hdmi feed wirelessly using something like the Hollyland X (small but effective) In combination with a HDMI camlink. It’s how I turn any hdmi-output camera into essentially a webcam for stream, by using a HDMI Camlink.

That sounds like a good system for what you're doing! In my case, I'm not doing streaming though. I'm doing recorded content. 6K anamorphic vlog cinemascope. There are only a handful of monitors that can display the image adequately. Also, everything really needs to be instant on and work with the muscle memory I've developed for my other gear. I also find wireless signals problematic--interference and signal loss are never an option for me--unless you put a full-blown cinema system on the outside of the vehicle, which is not something I'd want to do for a permanent install. Really, it just comes down to an HDMI switching mechanism and one external monitor, I think, and something separate for the thermal camera. That's more about placement than monitor ability, though I've been thinking a recording monitor in case I want to record the thermal image.

 

[SharpeCat]

That sounds like a good system for what you're doing! In my case, I'm not doing streaming though. I'm doing recorded content. 6K anamorphic vlog cinemascope. There are only a handful of monitors that can display the image adequately. Also, everything really needs to be instant on and work with the muscle memory I've developed for my other gear. I also find wireless signals problematic--interference and signal loss are never an option for me--unless you put a full-blown cinema system on the outside of the vehicle, which is not something I'd want to do for a permanent install. Really, it just comes down to an HDMI switching mechanism and one external monitor, I think, and something separate for the thermal camera. That's more about placement than monitor ability, though I've been thinking a recording monitor in case I want to record the thermal image.

Gotcha. The HDMI link is just to get your computer/tablet to be able to read hdmi cameras that aren’t webcams, and the streaming part Is separate. Cam links just turn your computer into a monitor so you can see feed from comp, and from there I have the option of recording, streaming or just viewing the feed. The HDMI transmitter is just to send the signal wirelessly; The Hollyland is designed for movie directors by the way so it is very reliable but I get what you mean with wireless connections in general.

Basically Cam links are just a way to use any tablet as a monitor without involving phone apps or unwanted cell phone use. I use it for recording as well (DSLR and action cam feeds) but finding a 6k resolution display on a tablet will be tough, but you can hook up a 6k monitor as a second monitor for tablet/any computer in car and project to that the same way. Anyways, carry on and I’m curious as to what you figure out!