240V sockets inside the Bongo

[thedogsbollox]

I have just been helping a mate to ply out the inside of his VW T4 and he fitted a 240V double socket(outside use with breaker inside). He ran the cable round the inside of the panneling and into the rear bumper. There was a false light in the bumper that pops out to reveal the end of the cable with hookup plug. I thought that was the dogs ok.
He gave me a length of the armoured cable he used and that got me looking in the Bongo for a suitable place to put a socket. Somewhere i could use it when the seats were up or down.
I used his double socket and found that i could probably fit two of them on the window sill of the window behind the driver's seat.
Has anyone had that panel off that could tell me if there is room to fit this?
I wouldn't need the metal box that you would install in a wall or the like, i would just surface mount it.
Where would be the best place to run the cable to the outside world without having to cut or drill the bodywork?
Is there anywhere to stash the end of the cable and plug till needed?

Tony

[daveblueozzie]

why not fit it under the bonnet, and run the cable through the big grommet in the bulkhead behind the battery.

[mikexgough]

There are some photos and information from our Japanese friends.......... Here that may inspire you

[dave_aber]

Has anyone had that panel off that could tell me if there is room to fit this?

Here's a photo of what's behind that panel. There will be a big open space - the insulation in the photo was added by me.



There will be plenty of space for a mains socket. If you are not goint to use a patress box bear in mind that there will be exposed live terminals on the back of the socket. Shouldn't really be an issue as you can't get your hand in there unless you pull the panel off. Another thing to remember when positioning the socket is that whatever you plug into it will need to have space for the cable to run down from the socket, so do some trial fits with a cable plugged in to get a feel for where the wire will go.

To remove that panel, you need to just pull it off. Removing the tray with the heater controls can help, but isn't essential. There will be wiring for the heater and blinds (if you havd electrical ones) and the wee green light. The clips are a bit of a swine, and tend to either ping off (and will fall down into the inner wing void!), or they stay in the body and can break the plastic lug holding them. There are body panel tools you can get, basically a flat bar with a square notch at the end, which are helpful.