Cable run for battery charging

[Ken Timbers]

I was having charging problems with my RC400, ending up having several AA jump starts. The AA suggested using their solar charger, and I tried that. It certainly registered a charging current, but it transpired that I had a duff Battery. By that point I'd lost faith in the car's reliability and returned it to Lexus, buying the SC430 to replace it.

I've had such good advice on aspects of owning a SC430 from many of you that I'm going to ask whether anyone here  has experience of getting a charging cable through the bulkhead to the driving compartment? I was surprised to be told by Lexus Sidcup that they couldn't do it for me—apparently they have no one with any knowledge of how to do it! I was advised to find a third party specialist. Helpful advice would be appreciated.

[Herbie]

I think whoever told you that needs to give their head a wobble.

Simply locate the interior fuse box and follow the wiring harness up. You'll find a big rubber grommet that takes the harness through the bulkhead, so you just need to make a small hole in that to push a pair of wires through. You may even be able to put a bit of lubricant on the new wires and push them through the existing hole with the rest of them.

It's not quite the same thing but have a look at the topic below to see how I fitted a jump start socket in my 3RX:

 

 

[Ken Timbers]

1 hour ago, Herbie said:

Simply locate the interior fuse box and follow the wiring harness up. You'll find a big rubber grommet that takes the harness through the bulkhead, so you just need to make a small hole in that to push a pair of wires through. You may even be able to put a bit of lubricant on the new wires and push them through the existing hole with the rest of them.

Thanks, Herbie—That makes a lot more sense than the reaction I got from Lexus! Given the amount of electrical gubbins on show in the driver's compartment, there had to be a route through the bulkhead. Not yet having the car in my hands (delivery on Monday I hope), I couldn't look for myself.

[Neil E]

There is a nice big grommet below the Battery tray. 

Remove the Battery, remove the Battery tray, remove the glove compartment and simply thread it through. 

The big adsog build thread has gone with the website it was on but there is a mini version with some pics here on page 3.

SC430 Build thread

[Glyn Jennings]

There’s also another hole that you can pass cables through to the right of the large wiring grommet on the steering wheel side. I used that one to pass my front parking sensor wiring through to under the dash and then sealed the hole with silicone.

[Ken Timbers]

This week Lexus Sidcup collected my car from Bromley Audio, where it was fitted with a reversing camera and had a tracker installed. I had also asked for a means of connecting my AA solar charger—hence the question about establishing a cable run from the Battery to inside the cabin, where the charger would have to be. That work had not been done, but Lexus looked at the question again in the light of the connections provided by the AA pack. Since the pack contains a plug that will fit in the socket for the cigarette lighter, they have now advised that I use that as the route for charging the Battery. I haven't tried doing that yet, but if their technician says it should work, I'll give it a go when the weather calms down—it's far too hot to be thinking of a solar charger going full blast in a hot car.

I'll comment elsewhere on the reversing camera and tracker.

[scudney]

Doesn't your AA solar charger come with a obd plug/socket? and then all you do is just plug it into the obd port, that's how I use mine 

[Bluemarlin]

2 hours ago, Ken Timbers said:

Since the pack contains a plug that will fit in the socket for the cigarette lighter, they have now advised that I use that as the route for charging the battery. I haven't tried doing that yet, but if their technician says it should work, I'll give it a go when the weather calms down—it's far too hot to be thinking of a solar charger going full blast in a hot car.

You might find that the cigarette lighter socket is disabled when the car is off.

As above, my AA solar charger also came with an OBD plug, so you just have to plug that into the port. No additional wiring necessary.

[Ken Timbers]

1 hour ago, Bluemarlin said:

As above, my AA solar charger also came with an OBD plug, so you just have to plug that into the port. No additional wiring necessary.

Thanks for your comment, Bill. I know this charger works with cars like the 2020 RC300 I had, and presumably with your RX450H, but it remains to be seen whether it works with a car like my 15 year old SC430. There's a port in the lower armrest compartment, but the manual does specifically say that it's not live when the ignition is off.

Lexus said it should work via the cigarette lighter socket, but if that socket is also disabled when the ignition is off, I may still need a cable run through the bulkhead.

[Ken Timbers]

4 hours ago, scudney said:

Doesn't your AA solar charger come with a obd plug/socket? and then all you do is just plug it into the obd port, that's how I use mine 

I have the obd plug, but I'm not yet sure whether either of the two sockets in my SC430 is rated as an obd socket. Does anyone know?