It's getting really horny now!

Today, after work, I paused at Radio Shack for a few components for my bus door unlocker. Then I paused at the big biker store at the flea market. I'd expected to find bike parts but sadly all that I'd heard turned out to be baloney. The store sold solely bikers leathers.

I sat in 100F, dripping in sweat and installed my momentary lever switch purchased from Radio Shack s few days ago. Oddly, when I looked, there were no switches so I asked the manager. None were listed as in stock then he found one just lying close to the cash register. How fortuitous! It took several trips out to the bus before I did start but the switch was installed safely.

After finishing the wiring, I tested my creation by pressing the lever. There was a loud horn noise. Clearly my horn switch works. Better than that even, it's in a far better, far more reachable place.

Looking at the switches on the console, the three I installed are unlabeled. Some of the labels are coming off the original switches. I'll have to think more about getting one of those Dymo label machines and making some labels. I had one back in the 1970s. The labels always fell off which was not encouraging. Maybe the labels are better now.

I sat in the bus considering several different ways of attacking the door unlocker control system, considering all the options. In the end I decided I was going to try to use a pair of PP3 batteries. I cut a circuit board to fit my Radio Shack circuit box and popped a pair of DPDT relays onto the board. My plan is to keep the batteries, relays and control buttons in the circuit box. The control wires and wires to the linear actuator will be attached with 1/4 inch jacks for want of anything better from my local Radio Shack.

One thing concerns me and that is what happens if the power dies when the actuator is fully extended.  The answer I came up with was to continue using the zip ties and simply cut them if needed. That's probably the best solution.

In the biker store, I'd hoped to find a cover for my bike ignition switch. Having said that, I could use an electric socket cover as I used on my electrical inlet. It would disguise the switch a lot more as well as keeping the rain out.