Lighting wiring from exterior roof top to interior best practices

[JB3]

I have a rhino rack now installed on my JLUR and I'm mounting rear and side facing KC lights to the rack. I'm struggling with how to route the wiring harness. I've seen reference to people using a grommet like this one https://scanstrut.com/products/off-road/electrical-accessories/ds30-p-blk-cable-seal-black-detail# but this is designed more for an install with a solid material being available for the screws to hold. I'm thinking about using the same setup but swapping the screws for small stainless steel bolts with a lock and flat washer on the interior of the JL roof. Of course, not drilling more holes would be great but I can't see how to avoid it unless i route wiring through the rubber seal at the rear window or through the freedom panels.

Either way I hold, drilling holes or direct routing a quick disconnect option would be great for those times when I want to remove the roof (including the roof rack and lights). I've seen mention of these quick disconnects, http://cnlinko.com/Products/65_9.html.

Any suggestions on hole drilling vs not, if drilling what location (i'm thinking passenger side just after the freedom panel join points and under the front of the rhino rack pioneer platform), and if drilling grommet and/or quick connect usage.

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[James_a]

I'm planning on doing the exact same thing. I also have the rhino rack and will be adding side and back lighting. My plan so far is to use a similar cable clam https://www.bluesea.com/products/category/23/Cable_Clams but with either a small center hole or no hole in the rubber (if you by the clam with 3 seals one has no hole so you can make your own for a tight fit) for the wires so the rubber will make a compression seal so that RTV sealant would not be necessary.

If I can get away without adding RTV sealant to the rubber I'm going to add bullet connectors to the wiring by the roll bar so I can make the smallest hole possible and allow me to disconnect the wires and pass them back through the hardtop. This way I'm thinking it would be easy to run without the top or with the top off and the rack on.

So far I'm only in the planning stage but the cable clam is coming in the mail today from Amazon.