Surface wiring pros and cons

[TrishaU]

Is surface wiring a possibility in a van conversion? For instance, install the insulation and paneling to walls and ceiling and then add the electrical wiring circuits in flat raceway (available at most home improvement centers or online).

Advantages: Install, add and subtract electrical wiring without disturbing the walls and ceiling. Access to wiring. Ability to strip and rebuild van layout and rewire as needed.
Hide raceway beneath upper cabinets, shelves and ledges. Hide raceway inside upper cabinets and lower cabinets and other structures. Hide raceway behind crown molding and other trim. Paint and decorate exposed raceway to match furnishings, cover multiple adjacent raceways with removable panels.

Disadvantages -- safety: 
Is the electrical wiring more susceptible to damage inside a plastic or metal raceway instead of inside the walls? Would crushing or fraying be likely via objects stored in the cabinets during transit?
Is the electrical wiring more susceptible to damage from moisture? Would humidity inside the van enter the raceway and destroy the wiring?
Is the electrical wiring more susceptible to damage from dust and dirt? Are insects and rodents more likely to access the raceway and destroy the wiring?
Would the electrical wiring constitute a shock hazard or a fire hazard?

Disadvantages -- function:
Does the currently available stock work for vans and RVs? Is the stock flimsy, hard to work with, or become brittle over time? Does it stay in place?
Can it accommodate thicker wires, including turns and angles? Can multiple wires use the same raceways? Can permanent connection methods be used inside boxes, or must wire nuts be used? Do currently available stock include outlets for AC, DC, USB charging ports, etc?

Disadvantages -- appeal:
Is there a way to make the exposed raceways across the walls and ceiling aesthetically appealing, or is that asking too much?

Bottom line: Has anyone used this and found it to be an acceptable method for wiring a van?

 

[B and C]

Do not mix AC and DC in the same raceway. They make metal raceways and boxes that would be more robust than plastic.

 

[squire]

Most (if not all) surface wiring can be hidden and IMHO is the smart way to build. Easy to trouble shoot and change.

 

[Lowdesertpatrol]

Doing so robs you of the joie de vivre of exposed hanging wires resembling quaint christmas lighting. Is it really van living without?!

 

[maki2]

I used surface wiring channels for my build in many of the areas. One thing to be careful of is not putting so many wires inside a tight raceway that they become prone to overheating. The same thing can happen if you bundle a lot of wires together. My electrical wiring is still in progress, it would have been finished a month ago if I had not broken my wrist.

I do have more than the average amount of wiring as my travel trailer doubles as a workshop space at home base and on the road.
 I have two types of raceways as in some areas on my travel trailer I have quite a few wires transitioning across a more confined  space such as over the wheel wells.  My travel trailer has various steps in the walls over that area so it was easier to run the wires in a different type of channel in that section. Plus above that area is where I have a panel with plugs for USB, 12v socket as well as 110v outlets so some wires run vertically up the wall to that panel while others continue on further on the horizontal to other devices.

One type is the PVC raceway from the Home Depot. I have that on the walls under my bed area and in the cabinet under my kitchen. I do that so nothing can get snagged on the wires when I store things in those cabinet. I will be putting labels on the exterior of those raceway channels Identifying what is in them. The wires inside also have labels on them that match a diagram. Under the bed as I had lots of wall space I was able to put multiple PVC channels for various types of wires and sizes of wires, separating them into different channels kept the heat build up reduce and makes it easier to identify what wires are in which channel. Of course that did add to the cost of the wiring project but I already had some of the channels on hand.
Here is a photo of the area under my bed framing. If you look closely you can see the white PVC wire channel raceway against the white walls under that bed frame. You will notice that in the corner the wires are exposed, I don't have square corners because those walls are sloped at an angle so the corner pieces that work with that type of channeling won't fit in my corners.

The other type of raceway is called "open slot wiring raceway or sometimes called "wire duct" . It does come with a snap on cover. The wires can be loose laid inside of it which keeps the heat build up reduced.  The finger openings allow wires to be directed out of the raceway for various devices. One thing you should not do inside of the raceways or channels or even in bundles is have any spices on wires if you have both 110v and 12v wires inside of that same raceway. I share space with an automated machine designer so I have access to his leftovers such as the raceway materials. But you can buy them online or from electrical supply houses. He is also the person who gave me that no adjacent splices of 12V and 110v wires. I do have both types in the open slot raceway but my 110v wires only get spliced inside of the electrical outlet/junction box. The area shown in the photo below is inside a cabinet, my portable fridge is on a roll out tray in front of this wall. So I needed plugs to power that fridge. Plus there is nothing else in that area of the cabinet that can snag any wires. Not finished hooking all the wires up in there, I can't do the crimping work with a broken wrist. As I am not yet done I don't have a cover on the 110v outlet box or all the covers on the open slot wire ducts.

Do not use wire nuts in your build, only use insulated wire crimps of the correct size for your wires. You need connections that can't come loose from vibration. Also do not solder your 12v wires to connect them, just use electrical crimps. They are not difficult to do, watch some videos and do same practice pieces. The cheap crimpers from the hardware store can be very frustrating, invest in a decent pair that has a ratcheting action that can be set to apply the right amount of pressure for the various sizes of crimps. Once again do go to youtube and watch a video on how to use them, it will reduce your frustration and you won't waste any crimp fittings that you had to cut off for a do-over. Good tools make a lot of difference when you do wiring. Good cutters, good wire strippers and good crimpers too. You can always resell them on ebay or to other van builders if you need to recapture some of that investment money.

 

[MrNoodly]

Most of my wiring runs just under the edges of either existing interior pieces or the paneling I installed. Six+ years and no electrical problems.

 

[Giuseppe Hardblast]

We call it wire mold in my area. It's used when you cannot run wires in a wall such as an existing concrete wall.

Consider using it in my van if I need to run a circuit with some kind of obstacle in the way. I also will be installing an Aranizer. Where I want to mount it I might use some wire mold to hide the cord.

The wire is safe. It's kind of armored.its not much for aesthetics. That's why it used as a last resort in case it cant be run in the walls. I'm not sure about DC but they definitely accommodate A.C. terminals.

 

[DLTooley]

Hidden junctions for wiring can be hard to find if problematic. In household wiring standard practice is to run serially, if there is a problem the location will be obvious.

I’d be very careful running any 120v wiring in a build due vibration issues. 12v is generally much safer.

Cost is a factor for wire mold, but for a van those runs are shorter.

Think through your wiring as an integral part of your build including serial runs for receptacles and the decision should be easy. It’s probably best to overdo it a bit.

If you are phasing construction molding is a great option.