Wiring Options into Dash?

[alias23]

What are my options for wiring my SmartyCam and channel expander (futureproofing for sensors) through the centre console and up into the front dash?

Ive made a start lol

[Mark030358]

@MrP_ is the man you need here, Pauls an expert on fitting things in and around the dash 👍👍 given his previous excellent posts on sound equipment.

What I didn’t realise with Aim is that you will also need the Data Hub and the Sensor expander when fitting the Smarty cam as there is only one connection on the unit. This means the hub being in cabin, probably in the dash or under it. The sensor expander can live in the engine bay.

cheers

Mark

ps how big of a job was that to remove all the trim ?

[MrP_]

2 hours ago, alias23 said:

What are my options for wiring my SmartyCam and channel expander (futureproofing for sensors) through the centre console and up into the front dash?

Ive made a start lol

As Mark has said I presume you would fit the hub under the dash so you are only routing a single cable? Easiest way is to route around one of the side vents and then under the dash to the central spine in the footwell.

An alternative would be to pull the antenna cable back through, and go through that grommet - its a bugger to get to though, but as could pull an 8ga cable through then pass whatever cable you need back and forth. Downside of this the hole is tiny so presume you want to keep the connector terminated and you can't remove and determinate? But this is the main route for the harness into the dash

There also an option to go down the same route as the HVAC and drill out the back of the shelf pass directly to the centre line.

Do you know what diameter cables, how many and their allowable bend radius (presume you can go pretty tight)?

[MrP_]

On 16/12/2019 at 22:26, Mark030358 said:

@MrP_ is the man you need here, Pauls an expert on fitting things in and around the dash 👍👍 given his previous excellent posts on sound equipment.

What I didn’t realise with Aim is that you will also need the Data Hub and the Sensor expander when fitting the Smarty cam as there is only one connection on the unit. This means the hub being in cabin, probably in the dash or under it. The sensor expander can live in the engine bay.

cheers

Mark

ps how big of a job was that to remove all the trim ?

Its not that big, well it looks big but not too hard. Disconnect battery to make airbag safe, wait a bit it all to power down and capacitors to discharge.

Remove start button and blanking panels, remove some hidden screws, heat side sills, persuade the back end up, pull out sills and vent panels (I vend it easier with them still together rather than trying to wiggle them out).

Remove steering wheel surround, remove binnacle surround, unscrew clocks, remove clocks from mount. 

Lever the airbag cover off (requires breaking tabs). Remove stereo, remove stereo cage. Unsccrew HVAC centre vents, pull free.

Remove 4 or 5 screws on dash leading edge, lift dash up, disconnect front speakers. Lift dash free. Its easier if you remove the wheel, but you don't have to.

Thats it from memory, sure there are one or two steps skipped over. If you know what you are doing its an hour or two.

Happy to help as its simple one you've done it before  - hopefully we can get a time when we're not both travelling!

[alias23]

On 16/12/2019 at 23:30, MrP_ said:

As Mark has said I presume you would fit the hub under the dash so you are only routing a single cable? Easiest way is to route around one of the side vents and then under the dash to the central spine in the footwell.

An alternative would be to pull the antenna cable back through, and go through that grommet - its a bugger to get to though, but as could pull an 8ga cable through then pass whatever cable you need back and forth. Downside of this the hole is tiny so presume you want to keep the connector terminated and you can't remove and determinate? But this is the main route for the harness into the dash

There also an option to go down the same route as the HVAC and drill out the back of the shelf pass directly to the centre line.

Do you know what diameter cables, how many and their allowable bend radius (presume you can go pretty tight)?

Thank You!

Firstly I have no Scooby Doo what you mean by "you want to keep the connector terminated and you can't remove and determinate?"

lol so for sure your guidance much appreciated

There will be two cables (SmartyCam and Channel Expander) which will be fed from behind the centre of the seats. Each cable is circa 4mm but has a connector which I would say is around 8mm the cables are quite flexible and the cable length is around 2m.

The data hub (which the SmartyCam and Channel Expander connects to) will be inside the dash ideally near the binnacle, the channel expander hub would be behind the seats to give access to the sensors that will live in the engine bay.

When you say via the HVAC are you saying something under the area highlighted in green? There is a whole shelf it seems (purple/pink highlight) which would be perfect for routing cables through but it doesn't seem accessible. There does seem to be a gap to route the cable up through the area of the steering wheel - Is this an option? You're quite right in that the grommet for the main harness into the dash is very very difficult to get to but also very tight so unsure if I'd want to start cutting it larger as I can see a risk of cutting a wire by mistake! Im going to now go search for your stereo thread to see what you did @MrP_


 

[Mark030358]

9 hours ago, MrP_ said:

Its not that big, well it looks big but not too hard. Disconnect battery to make airbag safe, wait a bit it all to power down and capacitors to discharge.

Remove start button and blanking panels, remove some hidden screws, heat side sills, persuade the back end up, pull out sills and vent panels (I vend it easier with them still together rather than trying to wiggle them out).

Remove steering wheel surround, remove binnacle surround, unscrew clocks, remove clocks from mount. 

Lever the airbag cover off (requires breaking tabs). Remove stereo, remove stereo cage. Unsccrew HVAC centre vents, pull free.

Remove 4 or 5 screws on dash leading edge, lift dash up, disconnect front speakers. Lift dash free. Its easier if you remove the wheel, but you don't have to.

Thats it from memory, sure there are one or two steps skipped over. If you know what you are doing its an hour or two.

Happy to help as its simple one you've done it before  - hopefully we can get a time when we're not both travelling!

In Algeria for Xmas and New Year

 

But I'll take you up on that offer

[MrP_]

7 hours ago, alias23 said:

Thank You!

Firstly I have no Scooby Doo what you mean by "you want to keep the connector terminated and you can't remove and determinate?"

 

Haha - not helped by autocorrect there! Can you cut the cable a re-terminate the connector basically - they answer is yes from what I have seen 

It will make life much simpler for routing, though you will have to solder some plugs, which I doubt you will struggle with

So I've tried to work it out for when I do it, you've probably already fixed these problems and will probably want to do it a different way, but the though process may help.

The dash uses 712 5 Pin connectors for the data, so you can simply make up an extension cable - but importantly by being able to terminate in the car, you can get through a smaller hole, install the cable and then terminate. If you don't mind soldering, that's what I would do.

The connectors you need are, 712 5  Pin male into the dash (https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/industrial-automation-circular-connectors/1902447/😞

And then at the other end a 712 5 pin female (https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/industrial-automation-circular-connectors/1152944/

Then you can make a simple extension cable with a 5 strand wire whatever the length you want, can place the boxes where you want and all that jazz.

Now placement options are opened up would actually located the boxes a little differently, bear with me...

So by the method you said you would have hidden or on the dash:

• Dash
• GPS 
• Datahub

Two cables from datahub out of the dash, connecting to:

• SmartyCam
• Channel Expander

Which then connect to sensor in the engine bay:

• Oil Pressure
• Oil Temp
• Gerbox temp etc

Obviously this all works, but it would leave two ports on the data hub 'stranded' and if you want to add a lambda you are back doing this all again to route them in, and you'd also be pushing more cables out from the cabin to engine bay. So as an alternative:

Hidden or on the dash:

• Dash
• GPS 

Two cables through the dash connecting the Dash Data Port and the GPS to:

• Datahub, which connect to the SmartyCam in the cabin

Then a second cable going from data hub through to the engine bay, which connects to the Channel Expender on to

• Oil Pressure
• Oil Temp
• Gerbox temp etc

So the second method means you have no spare ports trapped behind the dash, two cables going through the dash as before, and a single cable to the engine bay, it would look like this:

 

 

So for the routing, I would go either two cable round the air vent panel like this (its passenger side but you get the idea, just swap it for drivers side):

OR

There is a small cap circled in red that will get you through and then loop back into the clocks, there are other gaps there but many look too close to the steering column for my liking and I wouldn't want the column to get caught on a cable

OR

You can go through the look into the HVAC controls circled in yours in green, just remove that plastic shelf:

the front view here:

Then drill out the back to get to the footwell (my least preferred option)

Then route to the drivers foot rest and follow this path with both cables:

Then mount the data hub somewhere here:

Run a cable to the Smartycam (I presume you are bolting to your harness bar), then another cable back down to the bottom of the rear wall behind the handbrake, follow the handbrake cable out and you are under the fuel talk. Its this hole here, red wire in there to make it more obvious:

From there mount the Channel Expander in the engine bay and plug your sensors in there. You can also run a couple of spares to go back to the data hub, so you can add another data hub in the engine bay in the future or directly to the internal hub - I believe the lambda sensors need to go to the data hub not expander.

Thats how I would do it anyway, keeps ports accessible for the future and would be easiest to run. As an alternative you can remove the bulkhead cover and go via the main loom, your panel should be much easier to remove then mine as we have have different harness bars and mine makes remove quite a mission!

If you want a rear view cam for reversing you will have to go direct into the dash, but you may be able to add another smartycam to the data hub - instructions aren't clear

Hope that all makes sense! 

[Mark030358]

@MrP_ dogs bollocks of a write up. Exactly what I would do.... 👍👍👍👍

 

[alias23]

@MrP_ when can I drop my car off and just pay you? Thanks for the information I'll try and condense and figure it all out! 

[Mark030358]

1 hour ago, alias23 said:

@MrP_ when can I drop my car off and just pay you? Thanks for the information I'll try and condense and figure it all out! 

I got in there first, wait your turn 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣......

Told you he was the man 👍👍

[550superfast]

Just to add - the standard cable lengths are:

GPS - 500mm

Data Hub 1500mm

Smarty Cam 4000mm

Channel Expansion 1500mm

AIM can also provide extension and custom cables

[MrP_]

20 hours ago, alias23 said:

@MrP_ when can I drop my car off and just pay you? Thanks for the information I'll try and condense and figure it all out! 

Happy to help if we can make logistics work, or if you need any more explanation as it was a bit of a brain dump

If Aim make up the extension cables, then a 1m, 1.5m, and 3m and that would do the wiring for above, maybe add 30cm or so for a bit of a safety net - then you don't have to solder it even

[geartox]

@alias23 do you plan to install a rear camera provided by AIM ?

it seems that the dash is able to connect two rear cameras :

 

https://www.aim-sportline.com/download/doc/eng/rear_camera/Rear_camera_user_guide_101_eng.pdf

 

 

 

[alias23]

@geartox no I won't be installing a rear camera at this time.

[geartox]

@alias23regarding the cabling of your smartycam, it should be quite flexible in my opinion. Maybe one day you want to install it on the harness bar, maybe another day you want to get another view angle and move the camera to the windscreen.

 

[geartox]

@alias23 did you finish the wiring ? 

[alias23]

5 hours ago, geartox said:

@alias23 did you finish the wiring ? 

Yes but only the camera at this time

[notabene]

Did anyone succesfuly added oil temp or oil pressure? 

[Seriouslylotus]

4 hours ago, notabene said:

Did anyone succesfuly added oil temp or oil pressure? 

I have added oil temp and pressure to mine.

[notabene]

22 minutes ago, Seriouslylotus said:

I have added oil temp and pressure to mine.

Thanks Dave. What is needed? I dont have baffled sump, I dont track my car very much. 

[Seriouslylotus]

4 hours ago, notabene said:

Thanks Dave. What is needed? I dont have baffled sump, I dont track my car very much. 

You will need

Aim CAN expander, Aim channel expander, Pressure and temp sensors, suitable aim cables for the sensors, Boss welding into the sump (or a baffled sump with boss already fitted) I also always mount the pressure sensor at the end of a braided hose, We found the vibrations from the engine destroys sensors, T piece for the oil sensor.

I would ask why do you need oil pressure and temp sensors if you dont go on track very much?

Edited April 28, 2020 by Seriouslylotus

[notabene]

13 hours ago, Seriouslylotus said:

You will need

Aim CAN expander, Aim channel expander, Pressure and temp sensors, suitable aim cables for the sensors, Boss welding into the sump (or a baffled sump with boss already fitted) I also always mount the pressure sensor at the end of a braided hose, We found the vibrations from the engine destroys sensors, T piece for the oil sensor.

I would ask why do you need oil pressure and temp sensors if you dont go on track very much?

Thanks for reply. 

Well I have oil temp sensors on all of my cars. I usually go to alps, and I really like to monitor the oil temp, so I can only push the car when the oil is in its operating temperature, also in very hot summer I would like to see possible too much high temp and slow down for a while.. So oil temp is essential to me. I was in hope there is easier place to mount oil temp sensor. (T at the filter etc.)