Big changes

This week has been one of major changes. It started off with me resigning from my school bus driving position on Monday morning. That was driven by many issues involving both the safety of the bus, the safety of the children and my general unhappiness to continue working at a toxic workplace. Then I came down with something akin to the flu.

So far, nothing major has been achieved on the bus - it’s all little bits of things. The blue zip tie broke on my door opener last week so on a whim yesterday I pulled out my welder and made a steel replacement that can be bolted or pinned into place. That should never break. The plastic zip tie did rather well, breaking after 18 months of use. The steel replacement will likely last longer than the linear actuator!

I started the plumbing for the water inlet though I am missing one very important component. That’s the 3/4 hosepipe adaptor. I’m also missing some 3 inch brackets and jubilee clips with which to attach the piping to the skirt. I’ve put a few components together and shortened the tubing so that I can have a short downpipe. That will need an adaptor glued to it in order to clamp it onto the floor thoroughly. I’ll probably secure the tubing on the inside of the bus with a jubilee clip and a bracket.

Turning the ventilation system on for the first time since I combined the output of all the panels, I’ve been watching the voltage carefully. At 5 minutes on, on the hour, I seem to be putting back what I’ve used. Using the USB charger in the bedroom to charge my tablet and having my circulation fun running might use a bit too much power. I’m not certain yet. Having said that, one of my future steps will be to install an input at the front of the bus that will allow me to put an extra solar panel into the system. I can simply stand that panel on the ground, aimed directly at the sun. That doesn’t have to be any more than 50W to be honest.

Needless to say, at some point the 5A fuse on my ventilation circuit blew. Both motors are rated at 2.5A for a combined 5A. My guess is that the starting current may be a little higher hence I’ve replaced that fuse with a 7.5A fuse. That seems to be just fine at the moment. If that blows over the next few days then I’ll probably have to go to a 10A fuse.

I tried my new zip tie replacement gizmo that I welded the other day. It didn’t quite fit so I ended up locking myself out of the bus and having to use the rear entrance. That’s always pretty uncomfortable! Fully painted, it looked quite pretty!

The problem was that the chain didn’t reach far enough to meet the spike and the link I had spare was a shade too long to use as a link replacement. Thus the latch didn’t lift far enough. Harbor Freight came to my rescue though.

Looking at the problem, one of the Harbor Freight cable clamps with the rubber gasket removed fitted perfectly. All I need to do is to put a proper nut and bolt through and I should have a perfectly opening and closing door latch with none of the limited lifespan of plastic zip ties. I ended up taking a small piece out of the edge with my angle grinder to make it all fit but now fit it does. The bolts that kept snapping on me that I bought cheap from Festenal did me proud too. One of those shortened with the same angle grinder made the whole thing work.

So, looks like I wended my little cap thingy for nothing but I’ve ended up with a better system for the front door lock so it’s all good.

I had ideas today about going under the bus to install my extra cabling and my water inlet. The cabling I just never got to. I’m feeling a lot icky with this flue-like bug. The water piping can’t be done for probably another 36 hours or until the soft-setting glue I put on the threads has cured. I wish I’d just gone with a slip joint that just glued together.

Tomorrow, if I’m feeling better, I’ll head out and get some supplies as well as visiting the one coach company and one trucking company I left my details with the other day. Maybe they’ll have work for me? In any case, it’ll take a few days before I can get either the plumbing or the cabling completed.

The ventilation seems to be working though I do need to get on and install a flapper valve into my ducting. I’ll also have to get and install a louvered vent on the outside. Meanwhile I glued one of my mushroom vent covers together. I’d glued one before but as the glue was a bit old, it hadn’t stuck. This time I primed as well as gluing so that should be that. I’ll have to locate my mosquito mesh too, in order to complete that mushroom vent. Neither the flapper valve nor the louvered vent will be 100% insect proof hence the need for a mosquito mesh. Currently there’s a mesh on the outside under my steel mushroom vents. That’s slowing airflow considerably hence the need to replace it.

As far as charging my tablet while the ventilation is powered, it’s definitely more than the sunlight provided will stand in terms of battery charge. I need to put that external solar input and get that portable 50W panel. Mind, removing the mosquito mesh blockage in the ventilation system will improve matters tremendously.

As of right now the stuff I want to do fairly urgently is...

• Install the plumbing inlet.
• Install the solar inlet. While I’m at that, I might also install extra wires to the battery compartment so that I can solar-charge the driving batteries or at least keep them topped up.
• Install the latest underbus cabling.

Less urgent is to work on the ventilation system. To be done as and when will be to complete the internal wiring connected to the latest cable. 

As and when, the other things that should be done are to install a lock on the fuel door and a lock on the battery door. Then there’s also an investigation needed of the transmission bulge in the cockpit to see if the stray white cable that’s dangling under the bus is actually connected to the speed sensor. As the acellerater and rev counter drop out from time to time I’m assuming there’s a loose wire. It would not surprise me to discover that all of these things are related to the hillbilly previous owners.