Adding aux power to inside rear of vehicle?

[Medic531]

So it looks like the shop im talking to has been lacking in communication with me for five weeks and I have almost lost all confidence in them. I will likely attempt this on my own but need some suggestions or guidance.

I have a 2019 ford explorer xlt and need to bring power from the battery to the rear of the vehicle. I do not want to mess with a tiny pass thru hole in the firewall behind the glove box. My last explorer the shop went from the battery thru the engine compartment and under the vehicle then drilled thru the floor into the vehicle. I am needing at least two lead wires to go from the +batt terminal to under the third row seating area. Everything else should be easy to do but never drilled thru a vehicles floor before. Suggestions? Tools? Types of metals I would be drilling thru?

Thanks for the help !
Kenny

 

[peterk9]

The 2011 XLT had a rear power point. Surprised that the 2019 doesn't.

Peter

 

[BKennedy]

There has to be power to the rear. I would run wiring from the nearest DC power plug and add a new plug wherever needed. I did that with my 1994 Explorer in the cargo area. It works best because its already fused and you don't have to drill any new holes through the firewall.

If you are committed to running a separate wire from the battery to the rear, then..

Why do you need two wires from the + side of the battery? Just run one heavier gauge wire to the back and split it to what you need.

Need to fuse or put in a relay near the battery, depending upon your expected amp draw.

What are you planning on powering up with the wiring?

What kind of amp draw are you expecting?

I would always chose to run a wire through the firewall and down an existing wiring harness to the rear. Its easier, the wire is less likely to sustain damage, and you don't have to figure out how to run it around all the stuff under there that melts wiring. ​

 

[Medic531]

There has to be power to the rear. I would run wiring from the nearest DC power plug and add a new plug wherever needed. I did that with my 1994 Explorer in the cargo area. It works best because its already fused and you don't have to drill any new holes through the firewall.

If you are committed to running a separate wire from the battery to the rear, then..

Why do you need two wires from the + side of the battery? Just run one heavier gauge wire to the back and split it to what you need.

Need to fuse or put in a relay near the battery, depending upon your expected amp draw.

What are you planning on powering up with the wiring?

What kind of amp draw are you expecting?

I would always chose to run a wire through the firewall and down an existing wiring harness to the rear. Its easier, the wire is less likely to sustain damage, and you don't have to figure out how to run it around all the stuff under there that melts wiring. ​

I will likely use one wire going from the battery to a terminal ill put in the back then hook everything else up to that terminal. I need to power inverter, communications equipment and switch box.

I dont think power from a 12v cig lighter will work. I need heavy gauge wire.

I have zero ideas on how to get thru the firewall on these newer vehicles. From what I understand its next to impossible to get thru using existing wiring as they are apparently all heavily sealed up as they should be. My 2015 explorer had to be done with the wiring under the vehicle and thru the floor for this reason.

 

[Medic531]

Thinking of mounting something like this in the rear of the vehicle that the heavy gauge wire will go to the run all my power from this.

129-FB7-D3-A69-A-4-A81-A2-E0-6-A96628-C71-A2

 

[ltdan84]

Hey old thread, you've probably already driller your holes, but just in case you haven't...
Use an appropriate sized grommet to prevent chaffing of the wire insulation, and then seal the wire with silicone if going through the floor to make sure you don't have any exhaust fumes seep through. You could also drill a hole through the firewall and seal it the same way, then run the wire under the trim. What are you adding that needs so much power, an audio amp?

 

[ElectronFlow]

@Medic351
How did your project turn out ?

Itdan84,
He wanted to run a power inverter at the third row seating.

 

[Bobs2018ExplorerSport]

Good luck finding any way to easily do a wire passing through the firewall!

I needed a heavy-gauge hot lead coming straight from the battery, to the midsection of my XLT, to run a 100-watt 2-way radio, and for the life of me, I could not find any reasonable way (safe or otherwise) to get that lead from the floor trough up and through the firewall. Too much stuff, too close to the firewall, esepcially when it comes to the transverse-mounted V6's. (I also had this very same problem with my 2015 Edge).

The best I could do was to run the wire from the midsection along the driver's-side wiring trough; then run it down through a hole in the trough underneath the LF scuff plate area, then run it up inside the space between the plastic wheelwell cover and the body sheet metal, and then over to the battery (where it is also fused, of course). The entire cable run is in convoluted tubing, to prevent chafing.

I even poked around under the footboard and firewall areas to see if I could find any existing items passing-thru (speedo cable, etc.) that might also accomodate another wire passing through next to it, but to no avail. Ford likes to use specially-designed (and fully-sealing) rubber grommets on anything that dares to pass-thru that firewall!

Of course, it would have been handy if Ford had used the same firewall stampings that they use on the PIU's, thereby allowing at least one point for running any kind of auxilary cabling into the engine compartment!

 

[peterk9]

Some members routed wire, I believe, through a grommet behind the glove box. I believe there are a couple threads on routing wires from the engine compartment but the 'Search' feature is still not working 100% since the recovery from the site outage.

Peter