Cable Entry Housing - Roof Cable Gland Box for Solar Panels

This is the box that takes your panel cable from the roof into the vehicle or building. It bonds to the surface with adhesive rather than being bolted down, which is the point of it — on an RV roof or a shingle roof you get one small sealed hole for the cable instead of a bracket with screws through the membrane.

Why this housing

• UV-resistant ABS, so it will not go chalky and brittle after a few summers on a roof.
• Two cable glands sized for 6 to 12 mm cable, which covers the usual 10 AWG and 8 AWG solar cable with the connectors removed.
• Designed to be bonded down with Sikaflex 252 or an equivalent polyurethane adhesive sealant — no fasteners through the roof for the housing itself.
• Compact at 4.7 × 3.9 × 2.0 inches, so it fits behind or beside a panel without becoming a snag point.
• Available in black or white to match the roof.

What it will not do, plainly

• Rich Solar publishes no IP rating for this housing. The page calls the glands "waterproof-rated" but gives no figure to back it. If you want a published, tested ingress rating, our Cable Entry Plates (RS-G02 and RS-G04) state IP68 and this housing does not. That is a real difference between two products that look similar, and you should know it before choosing.
• The adhesive is not supplied and it is not optional. Sikaflex 252 or an equivalent is what makes this thing watertight and holds it on. Budget for a cartridge and follow the surface preparation instructions — on a dirty or chalky roof the bond will fail.
• Check your cable diameter before ordering. The glands take 6 to 12 mm. Thin cable will not be gripped properly by a gland sized at the top of that range, and thicker cable will not fit at all. This is a cable-diameter product, not a panel-model product, whatever the compatibility claim on the manufacturer's page suggests.
• The published weight is ambiguous. Rich Solar states 7.9 oz "each component" without saying what a component is. We have listed the shipping weight against that figure; it may be light if the pack contains more than one piece.
• Adhesive-only mounting suits smooth roofs. On fibreglass, aluminium or EPDM this is the right approach. On a rough asphalt shingle roof, adhesive alone is less dependable than the manufacturer's marketing implies — talk to us about a mechanically fixed alternative if that is your situation.

Installation

• Dry-fit first and mark the position, allowing room to route the cable without a tight bend at the gland.
• Clean and abrade the surface, then prime if the adhesive manufacturer calls for it. This step is what the bond depends on.
• Drill the cable hole, deburr it, and seal the hole edge as well as the housing base.
• Leave a drip loop in the cable below the entry point so water runs off rather than tracking along the cable into the hole.

Warranty and safety

• Covered by Rich Solar's published limited warranty; terms are on the manufacturer's warranty page.
• Carries a California Proposition 65 warning for cancer risk and reproductive harm.