Drilling hole in roof of Lance 1181

Kayteg1 wrote:
The spot you mark 99% will go between the lumber, so you have aluminium roof with 1/4" plywood to drill, than Styrofoam and inside paneling to drill thru.
Again, with small wire size, I don't see any problem drilling at any spot.
My 20 yo Lance had some water penetration under the awnings screws (put with no sealer by factory) but roof was perfectly solid.
Hope you have it solid as well.
For sealing the wires, I would make a loop going slightly above the roof level and use lot of polyurethane sealant.
Seems all joints at low level, where the water might stay is a trouble waiting to happen.

Thank you !!!

The spot you mark 99% will go between the lumber, so you have aluminium roof with 1/4" plywood to drill, than Styrofoam and inside paneling to drill thru.
Again, with small wire size, I don't see any problem drilling at any spot.
My 20 yo Lance had some water penetration under the awnings screws (put with no sealer by factory) but roof was perfectly solid.
Hope you have it solid as well.
For sealing the wires, I would make a loop going slightly above the roof level and use lot of polyurethane sealant.
Seems all joints at low level, where the water might stay is a trouble waiting to happen.

My 1181 (2007 model) is prewired for solar. The extrernal connectioln is on the roof just forward of the slide out.
Rick

Kayteg1 wrote:
Lance bailed out when I asked them about help with 16 yo camper. Not only parts were not available, but no blueprints available. At the end I bought emergency skylight cover at Walmart (!)
Lance changed ownership since, so maybe new owners take better care?
I parted out my Lance 1161 and since I was reusing interior for other project, I actually took each screw out and disassembled it as much I could without cutting.
So if you post me a picture of the area, I can make pretty educated guess where the frame might be.
On other hand, what size wire? Drilling small hole even in 2" wide frame should not be a big deal.

Will try contacting Lance and seeing what help I can get but in the mean time, the picture below is taken from a perspective of above and from the rear. (sorry for the blurriness - it is getting dark here)

The black blob on the left is the rear left luggage rack rail mount. The brown blob is a leaf on the roof. My red X is approximately where the inside corner is. The rear of the camper has an overhang outside approx 6 inches wide with lights on it.I doubt there is anything where I am planning on drilling, but I would rather take the time to check than tear something up.

To answer your question - about hole size- (2) 10 gauge wires.

I plan on using a product like this to pass the wires through (although there is a dual connector model that I will use. I have used this in the past with great success.)

More details:
I am going to get (2) 12v 200 watt panels - wire them in series for 24 volts. Given the specifications of the panels I should get a max of 10 amps with the panels in series. Using a wire size calculator (http://www.freesunpower.com/wire_calc.php) recommends #13 guage wire (based on a guestimate of 20 feet total wire length) so I am going for between #10 - #12 guage wire. (I found some nice pre-terminated cables on amazon that might be my best selection)

I am looking at a couple of 24 volt in - 12 volt out charge controllers in the 30 Amp and higher range, as I have ideas for future expansion.

thank you for your assistance!

smarty wrote:
Have never done this myself but have read a few posts about folks running wires down their bathroom vent

Bathroom vent is a good idea - but it is on the front right side. Opposite corner from where I need to be.

Lance bailed out when I asked them about help with 16 yo camper. Not only parts were not available, but no blueprints available. At the end I bought emergency skylight cover at Walmart (!)
Lance changed ownership since, so maybe new owners take better care?
I parted out my Lance 1161 and since I was reusing interior for other project, I actually took each screw out and disassembled it as much I could without cutting.
So if you post me a picture of the area, I can make pretty educated guess where the frame might be.
On other hand, what size wire? Drilling small hole even in 2" wide frame should not be a big deal.

Contact Lance. They are very helpful when it comes to problems like this and will even provide technical drawings.

Have never done this myself but have read a few posts about folks running wires down their bathroom vent