How surprising was that?

Today started with little enthusiasm. It is, after all, Sunday and I went out yesterday. It’s also an overcast day which is never good for my mood. I do suffer from seasonal depression which is exactly why I prefer life in the USA to life in the UK, however accidental my arrival in the USA might have been. In fact, had I not been to the USA, I’d probably have ended up in Russia but that’s another story entirely.

Although I have plenty work to do underneath the bus, I worked more on the solar power and fans etc. Although it doesn’t look much and to be honest I haven’t worked very hard all weekend. I’ve spent more time chatting to long time friends online than actually doing anything than I really should have in order to achieve anything.

The sum total of today’s work is that both of my extraction fans work and work well via my timer which I worked on to give the fans 10 minutes on the hour every hour between 10am and 5pm. My next thing with the fans will be to put a mosquito mesh ball on the inside of each fan unit and to replace the external mesh and mushroom dome with a louvered vent. That will allow far more air to exit which should also have the effect of reducing fan noise and power consumption.

As can be seen from the two photos, progress has been pretty good. I left the solar controller where it is for the moment and mounted stuff around the access hatch I’d made some months or a year ago into the rear bulkhead. Both fans now work from the timer and the timer cuts off before the battery runs low. The charge controller is set to stop the power before the battery goes critical.

The tape visible is up there solely while the silicone sealant used to secure the wires to the bodywork sets. When that’s done, I’ll simply remove the tape, applying more seal as required. I could have used glue but that would have made it harder to change the wiring and if anything, I’ve discovered I do change things a lot. This is the 4th iteration of my ventilation system. If you remember...

• V1 used solar panels powering CPU fans directly to blow air out of the bus.
• V2 used a 5AH battery and solar panels plus a charge controller and two CPU fans.
• V3 used a 10AH battery and solar panels plus a charge controller and a single bilge fan.
• V4 uses a 10AH battery and solar panels plus a charge controller and two bilge fans.

The next edit to the system will be when I complete the underbus wiring for the front to back wiring. That will put the power of three solar panels and almost double the generating capacity. Indeed when I put the edit after that into the system, I’ll be able to put an external 50W solar panel that I can just place where needed and carry with me. That and I’ll be installing a 35AH battery with greater amperage output than my single 10AH battery is capable of. That battery will have a 30A resetting breaker that should ensure I won’t overload it or my underbus cabling.

While working on the system, I was greatly surprised. The negative of the supply to the battery is already connected to the bus body. I discovered that putting the positive to the fuse box and the positive of the charge controller, my fans sprang into life. What was more surprising was that I had not completed the negative connection from the charge controller to the devices being powered. OK. That sounds confusing so let me show you a photo.

As can be seen, I have a positive and a negative going to the solar panel. Then a positive and a negative to the battery (where the negative is the bus body). Then I have a positive going to the device power supply but no negative. I was greatly surprised to see power reaching my devices with just the positive wire. I’d grounded all my fans to the body more in hope than anticipation but it seems to have worked.

A further surprise awaited me when I did connect a cable from the negative to the body from the device outlet on the charge controller - the light on my fan timer dimmed. Clearly that wasn’t welcome so I left the extra negative out of the system for the moment. I’ll have to see what happens now. I had been going to use some fairly hefty twin cable to run from the battery to my charge controller. Having seen that I now need solely a positive cable, I’ll get myself a hefty single cable and keep the double for something else. This makes life a little easier.

While I was by the back door, I saw my door alarm - the one I paid next to nothing for in a dollar store. The tape had fallen off the bus but not off the unit. I simply glued it to the bus. That’ll be challenging to remove later but at least I now have a functioning rear door alarm - it’ll just remind me when I have the door open so I won’t drive off with it open as has happened in the past.

Not feeling as though I’d yet done a good day’s work, I set to on my idea for domed air inlets. These, being domed, will allow more air in than a flat inlet, once mosquito mesh is applied. I’d say the mesh blocks 50% of the incoming air so increasing the amount of mesh by more than double will render the reducing effect of the mesh to zero. As usual, my pipe glue had dried up. I really don’t see why they don’t supply that stuff in smaller quantities and preferably in tubes. The standard size just dries up before it gets used.

Meanwhile, I happened to be in my bus when the fans came on. Thus I whipped out my Harbor Freight infrared thermometer and raced around measuring temperatures. Everything was a nice standard temperature with a difference of maybe 2 degrees Fahrenheit which could well be the inaccuracy of the equipment. None of my wiring was getting warm. It didn’t feel warm when I checked earlier and the thermometer confirmed this. Even the fans stayed at a reasonably cool temperature. The duty cycle of those bilge fans according to the manufacturer is 8 hours. 10 minutes an hour is hardly going to exceed that!

Making my domed inlets was pretty straightforward. I just recycled some of the stuff I’d used for the previous iteration of my ventilation system. Yes, the cutting is rough and I did burn the plastic a bit when I softened it with my blowtorch but it has worked and will work better when I get some non-dried glue. I’ll probably spray paint it white to cover up the ugly burn marks before I glue mosquito mesh over it. I’d say I’ll have several times the surface area of a simple 3 inch diameter tube even allowing for the 50% reduction caused by mosquito mesh. Given that these are rather reminiscent of the onion domes of Russian Orthodox catherdrals, I could give them a Russianesque name but honestly I can’t be bothered. I’ll just call them intake caps.

Although I have not done everything I wanted to, this weekend has been productive. If I’d done everything I’d wanted to then I’d have been beyond a Superman and I’d have completed my bus conversion by my initial projected date of January 2015. Were it not for having to gut the interior of somebody else’s conversion and fix their disasters then I’d probably have done it far sooner.

Next weekend I’ll be busy doing various non bus related things. It looks like the fall colors are coming and Ceasers Head might be at its peak so I might just take my car and camera and spend a day at Ceasers Head or I might just go to Table Rock which is closer. My next planned bus project will be to complete the underbus wiring for the front to back wires and if there’s time, install the middle to back wiring in its entirety. I rather suspect I’ll need to pay another visit to Harbor Freight for more cable clamps though.

One of my big things on this bus project is that the bus should be usable and livable whether or not I’m hooked up at a campsite. This and the fact that one day I might need to sell my bus is why I’m doing all the work myself and designing so much myself. I’ve seen too many people sink too much money into busses that are literally not worth the money sunk in them. This is a $4,200 bus. I’m not going to put fancy air conditioners nor hugely expensive solar arrays nor huge battery packs etc, I’m not even going to waste the money on buying a generator. If somebody bought it as a completed motorhome conversion then the best I could hope to get would be maybe a thousand on top of what I paid for the bare bus. It’s well known for people to get back pennies on the dollar. In fact an old workmate had an MCI that hadn’t been driven in 8 years. Somebody had stolen the air conditioner coil which would cost $8,000 to replace. Doubtless the tyres also needed replacing at a cost of $2000 approx so there’s $10,000 for a bus that probably could be replaced for $5,000 if one was prepared to do as I have and do all the work themselves.

I’ve looked into plumbed-in toilets. They just seem terribly costly. Sure - I can weld together a black tank out of free sheet steel and paint the heck out of it and hope it’ll last a couple of years. That’s not an issue. The problem is the actual throne itself. Those are extremely costly. Thus, for the moment my solution of a throne containing a bucket and cast lit which cost me the princely sum of $50 to build seems pretty good.

Just as I was about to pack up, I discovered a snag with my electrical system. It seems that the switching for the solar controller is done on the negative side so my system remains powered whether the charge controller should cut it off or not. That’s unwelcome but not unexpected to be honest. As normal, I have a solution. Now, of course, you see the wisdom of fastening my power cables with removable silicone sealant? A few days ago, forseeing this potential issue, I ordered some relays. One is a solid-state relay which should use considerably less power than a mechanical relay. I can simply connect the control side to my charge controller and just switch power straight from the battery to the fuse box. Needless to say I do need to put a master fuse before the relay close to the battery In addition to my 30A self-resetting breaker.

So, not only did I order some relays a few days ago but I also ordered some lower amperage ATO fuses. My current lowest is 5A which is way too big for many of my circuits. One of those relays is destined for use with my digital door lock. I decided to keep the main door lock powered by my AA NiMh batteries. Let’s face it - I charged them so long ago that I really can’t remember charging them. I want to say I charged them in March (8 months ago). I know I was using them all summer for my door lock as I still am. So, anyway, I’ll have three ways of effecting entry. The standard way with my key and electric door lock. An emergency key and the back door or side door. Then if all else fails - for example if I locked my keys in the bus, with the pushbutton lock powered from my solar battery. As that’s an important lock, I might just bypass the charge controller, power it directly from the battery (with a fuse) and hope for the best. Alternatively, I could run it through everything else as normal and hope all the ducks line up when needed.

Meanwhile, more news on my rogue car mechanic. It seems that the dire warnings about my tyres were as nonsensical as I’d thought. I measured the tread at a good 1/8th inch on both front tyres. The backs I didn’t bother but there’s plenty tread. Buying a digital tyre pressure gauge the other day I found today that my front tyres are 35.5PSI which is 0.5PSI high. The backs are 29.5PSI and 26.5PSI. Both of those are low. I thought one looked a little squishy! I wouldn’t mind betting they didn’t put the valve cores in properly. I’ll have to find my valve core tool. Anyway the moral of the story is mechanics are on the money making side and that’s not always your side.