- First Name
- Vince
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- Hood River, OR
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- 2017 4Runner TRD Off-Road Premium; 2025 4Runner iForce MAX TRD Off-Road Premium
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- #1
I was asked over on this thread to explain how I wired up the lighting on my Sherpa Capitol rack.
My lighting setup includes a RIGID SR-Series 40" Midnight Optics light bar, four Baja Designs LED Dome scene lights, and power for my rooftop tent (with the option to wire for a solar panel in the future).
Here's a hero shot of how it looks in action:
Knowing that I wanted the option for three capable circuits on the roof, we used an insulated cable with 4 strands of 10 AWG copper for the main run from the engine bay to the roof, which enabled us to use the black wire as a common ground, and the other three strands as positive leads.
The cable runs from the engine bay up the driver's side of the windshield (directly adjacent to the rain gutter) and fits nicely under the bottom lip of the fairing.
The cable is secured using the KC Wire Hider which is fastened to the glass using 3M VBH double-sided adhesive tape. To ensure good adhesion, we thoroughly cleaned the glass and did a final wipe with isopropyl alcohol before attaching the KC Hider strip. As you can see, this 4X10AWG insulated wire is pretty thick, so the KC Hider doesn't clip closed the way it was intended, but it still has a solid hold on the wire and works great. The aesthetics are nice, too.
There is a little step where the KC Hider has to go from the surface of the windshield glass to the weatherstipping on the roof, and as you can see in this photo, we stacked little stips of 3M VBH tape to maintain continuous contact between the hider and the mounting surface. That was really the only tricky spot.
Once the 4X10 AWG cable hits the roof, it's terminated in a bulkhead connector from Deutsch, which is mounted on a custom, 3D printed bracket designed by Phil Gragg at Offroad Toy Outfitters in Vancouver, WA. Note the OTO logo on the top. After printing a few prototypes to refine the design, the final piece was printed on a Bamboo using PETG CF carbon fiber filament, and the thing is bomber!
This photo gives you a nice look at how meticulous Phil is with the adhesive-lined heat shrink tubing.
From the bulkhead connector, the wiring breaks out into three 2-wire 16 AWG runs that terminate in a location which is convenient to access from the sunroof (in case I need to change something while the rooftop tent is installed...). Here again, we're using Deutsch DT-2 type connectors, and they are weather sealed and very secure.
From there, everything just runs cleanly around the perimeter of the Sherpa rack secured to the 1X2" crossbars using Sherpa T-slot cable clips.
The Baja Designs scene lights are sequentially wired from the furthest one back to the DT-2 connector, and the cabling is spaced to match up with the handle openings on the Capitol roof rack.
The finished install and cable routing looks like this.
If you need one of these, Phil at OTO took detailed measurements and can make a custom wiring harness and ship it to you.
Can't say enough good things about working with him.
You can reach him at (360) 440-6375 or phil@otoutfitters.com
My lighting setup includes a RIGID SR-Series 40" Midnight Optics light bar, four Baja Designs LED Dome scene lights, and power for my rooftop tent (with the option to wire for a solar panel in the future).
Here's a hero shot of how it looks in action:
Knowing that I wanted the option for three capable circuits on the roof, we used an insulated cable with 4 strands of 10 AWG copper for the main run from the engine bay to the roof, which enabled us to use the black wire as a common ground, and the other three strands as positive leads.
The cable runs from the engine bay up the driver's side of the windshield (directly adjacent to the rain gutter) and fits nicely under the bottom lip of the fairing.
The cable is secured using the KC Wire Hider which is fastened to the glass using 3M VBH double-sided adhesive tape. To ensure good adhesion, we thoroughly cleaned the glass and did a final wipe with isopropyl alcohol before attaching the KC Hider strip. As you can see, this 4X10AWG insulated wire is pretty thick, so the KC Hider doesn't clip closed the way it was intended, but it still has a solid hold on the wire and works great. The aesthetics are nice, too.
There is a little step where the KC Hider has to go from the surface of the windshield glass to the weatherstipping on the roof, and as you can see in this photo, we stacked little stips of 3M VBH tape to maintain continuous contact between the hider and the mounting surface. That was really the only tricky spot.
Once the 4X10 AWG cable hits the roof, it's terminated in a bulkhead connector from Deutsch, which is mounted on a custom, 3D printed bracket designed by Phil Gragg at Offroad Toy Outfitters in Vancouver, WA. Note the OTO logo on the top. After printing a few prototypes to refine the design, the final piece was printed on a Bamboo using PETG CF carbon fiber filament, and the thing is bomber!
This photo gives you a nice look at how meticulous Phil is with the adhesive-lined heat shrink tubing.
From the bulkhead connector, the wiring breaks out into three 2-wire 16 AWG runs that terminate in a location which is convenient to access from the sunroof (in case I need to change something while the rooftop tent is installed...). Here again, we're using Deutsch DT-2 type connectors, and they are weather sealed and very secure.
From there, everything just runs cleanly around the perimeter of the Sherpa rack secured to the 1X2" crossbars using Sherpa T-slot cable clips.
The Baja Designs scene lights are sequentially wired from the furthest one back to the DT-2 connector, and the cabling is spaced to match up with the handle openings on the Capitol roof rack.
The finished install and cable routing looks like this.
If you need one of these, Phil at OTO took detailed measurements and can make a custom wiring harness and ship it to you.
Can't say enough good things about working with him.
You can reach him at (360) 440-6375 or phil@otoutfitters.com
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