Mounting a digital aerial, need a better wiring path

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Mat & Kat
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Mounting a digital aerial, need a better wiring path

Post by Mat & Kat » Sat Oct 05, 2013 8:48 pm

Hi folks,
Just been tinkering to fit a digital radio receiver in the bongo. It's something I already had so didn't want to get a new radio just yet. I wanted to put the aerial on the back but this meant getting the wire out of the car somehow.
The obvious place is the rubber wiring grommet under the boot lid (top right) because it's right next to the aerial and seems to have a connected hole that's accessible from inside (ie. not covered up by the cupboards).

Trouble is, I tried for ages to get the blummin' wire from the grommet to the hole but just couldn't do it, even though I could see my pokey thing at the other end.

Any tips on getting a wire from the back into the cabin? Any other holes that might be useful? The side conversion can make things a bit tricky.

Current aerial position with nasty wiring going through the window. I want it to go through the rubber grommet shown just inside the tailgate.
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The best hole I can reach inside on the rear offside pillar, inside the cupboard.
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The digital radio receiver, not pretty but it does the job. The huge ugly jack is the extension lead with a 2.5-3.5 adaptor.
It's mounted here so we can use it from both front and rear.
Image
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g8dhe
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Re: Mounting a digital aerial, need a better wiring path

Post by g8dhe » Sat Oct 05, 2013 10:25 pm

You could of course just cut the existing Bongo aerial down to size or replace the actual external aerial section with one the correct length and plug into the existing co-ax.

Otherwise, try mounting the aerial itself on the actual rear door and bring the co-ax into the normal rubber gaiter that connects to the main chassis, this has a fairly easy path back into the inside of the van behind the trim. In my case I run across the door and into a second gaiter on the nearside in order to bring it into the van as I have already run several other cables in the original one which is now a bit full ;-)
See the small cable running in from the outside;
Image
the aerial is mounted on a standard adjustable clamp fitting (its not a DAB aerial however!);
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Geoff
2001 Aero V6, AFT, full side conversion.
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Mat & Kat
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Re: Mounting a digital aerial, need a better wiring path

Post by Mat & Kat » Sat Oct 05, 2013 10:46 pm

Thanks, yeah I considered mucking about with the standard aerial but don't know much about different aerial types.

Where can you access your cable when you feed into that gaiter?
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Northern Bongolow
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Re: Mounting a digital aerial, need a better wiring path

Post by Northern Bongolow » Sat Oct 05, 2013 11:05 pm

if you lift the roof fully up there are grommets for the roof motor wires under the rear edge near the hinges, you may be able to get a coax down there into the interior.
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Re: Mounting a digital aerial, need a better wiring path

Post by g8dhe » Sun Oct 06, 2013 11:31 am

We like you have a side conversion and I bring the co-ax out of the trim behind the conversion and then down and into one of the units running along the line of the bottom of the window. Use a bit of solid core earth wire to find a way out of the chassis and into the trim, then tie a string on to pull it back and then pull it thru, I always leave a long loop of string for future occasions as well!
Geoff
2001 Aero V6, AFT, full side conversion.
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MarcT77
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Re: Mounting a digital aerial, need a better wiring path

Post by MarcT77 » Sun Oct 06, 2013 11:48 am

My DAB aerial is just thrown up at the front of the AFT lying on its side...works well
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Mat & Kat
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Re: Mounting a digital aerial, need a better wiring path

Post by Mat & Kat » Sun Oct 06, 2013 7:38 pm

Thanks folks, I'll keep trying with those tips in mind. I think perseverance is key to getting it through to the interior!

Mat
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