Bulkhead Style Plugs and Sockets??

[nfpgasmask]

Hi folks, so I am doing a complete restoration and rebuild of my expedition vehicle, and I am looking for a solution for roof-top wiring. On top of my Truck, I will have 4 Hella Ralleye 4000 driving lights, as well as 2 smaller Hella light on the back of my roof rack for reverse driving at night. I also have a CB Antenna. So I have need to run several wires into the cabin of my truck. The quick and dirty way I ran this setup before was via a simple hole I drilled into the roof with a grommet (there is no headliner in my vehicle) and passed the wires through inside a piece of conduit. This worked fine, but during heavy rains it would seep and drip water, and when I took my roof rack off I still had a huge run of wiring on top of my truck.

So, what I want to do this time around, is install a "control box" if you will, or a small bulk head that I can run plugs and sockets in. Basically, I will cut a small rectangular hole in the roof of my truck, and weld in a box that will connect the wires inside the cabin to the outside via plugs and sockets.

So far I have seen some decent looking options from Hella and a few marine style plug and socket varieties, but I can't get over the fact that these plugs typically cost around $40 each for a 4-pin. I am willing to spend the money, but I cannot seem to understand why these are so expensive when all it is doing is connecting wires like a WeatherPack connector, but with something you can mount to a hole.

Anyone have any suggestions here?

Thanks.

 

[damienperu]

i wouldn't use sockets on the exterior. if your box will protrude above the horizontal roofline, I'd leave all connections inside and instead of grommets, feed the wires out of the vertical faces on the box through "plastic cable glands" (google that for images if you haven't used them before). they are cheap, waterproof and you can open/seal them as many times as you like without them degrading. In fact you could even avoid cutting the hole for the box altogether and just use right-angle cable glands.

 

[nfpgasmask]

Thanks, I will look for the cable-glands.

Bart

 

[jp0863]

http://www.alliedelec.com/circular-connectors/circular-connectors/

Try this out..

 

[Vegas_Nick]

I have used this product and swear by it:

http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wc...01_-1____ProductDisplayErrorView#.UBQeXmHt-So

Cable Clam from Blue Sea products.

 

[nfpgasmask]

Excellent! Thanks for the posts guys!! When I am done, I will post up a picture of how I did it!

Bart