Today wasn’t a long bus work session. I’d have liked it to be but a long-time friend of mine had just been laid off and thus gave me the opportunity to meet with her and get her to be my reference for a job I want to apply for. Needless to say as I went to meet her in my working on the bus clothes (read not suitable to be seen in), I couldn’t then rush off to drop off the application.
Returning home, I did work on the bus a bit. Connecting my light to the existing fuse box for illumination, I worked on the fuse box and installed all the existing wiring. I didn’t install the wire for the second bedroom light nor for the back light. The back light I need both a switch and a bulb holder in order to install.
The power is connected and all the current circuits are connected though as yet there are no fuses in place. I’ll probably have to order a ton of 1A and 3A fuses. Those little multi packs of fuses and even the bigger multi packs contain massive fuses but it’s very hard to obtain the lower amperage fuses. I’ve connected 5 circuits. Those are, in order, the shower, the spare light, the second galley light, the galley USB charger and the code-lock for the front door.
I’ve installed the 12V socket that I got in one of the car parts stores a week or two back. The black (earth) wire is connected to the bolt on the other side that’s bolted through the seat rail. The bus body is my earth. I have yet to run a wire from the socket to the wire entering the bus. I had to switch out the connectors on the wires as they were totally unsuitable.
As it was raining hard, I had to spray the bracket for the bedroom light, inside the bus. I found a nice piece of plastic packaging that worked well to shield everything else from my spray paint. I’ll have to respray tomorrow (and I hope it’ll be dry tomorrow). Actually, tomorrow I’ll have to squeeze in a quick trip to the place to drop off the application I need to make. If I get that job, I’ll be paid more than I was paid in my last job for doing pretty much the same thing but working for a different district.
As a trial, I put the switches in my new switch box. I’m not really happy with it but I’ll have to see how it all goes. I do need a pushbutton switch on the voltmeter. I might just switch out and get a totally different box. That box wasn’t cheap but it has features that I’m not happy with. It’s also way too big. I’ll do my best though. I think one of my drilled switch holes might have shifted to an awkward position while I was drilling but I’ll see. I find project boxes are very hit and miss. Sometimes things go in them just fine. Other times they’re way too small or way too big (This one is way too big) and then it’s a 50% chance that the drill will skip when I’m making the switch holes.
Given that I want to install an extra light in the back of the bus, it would make sense to get a smaller box just for the USB charger and the voltmeter. Then get two extra switches to use for the lights. Those switches I bought are not cheap but they feel really solid. They feel like they’re going to last and keep on going. The dinky little Radio Shack switch I bought in their closing sale works but does not have a satisfying solid feel, feeling fragile. It’s like the difference between a meat cleaver and a toothpick!
Tomorrow, if I have time, I will install the wire for my shower and might install the second bedroom light. Given some decent weather, I might even look at the door code lock. Particularly I might look toward mounting it and passing the wires back into the cockpit.
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