Almost running water

As I'm feeling quite yucky from a kiddie bug (my day job is kiddie transport), I didn't get too adventurous with the bus. Actually on some projects I'm on stop unless I go underneath and others I'm on stop until the bits arrive while others I have to seek out the bits locally.

Over the week some bits arrived and I've also decided to ditch the MR4 connectors for solar and go with a straightforward Anderson 2 pole connector. This is because the Anderson is the easiest to separate and because I could only get inlets for Anderson connectors - not for MR4 connectors. Interestingly, I tried separating some of my MR4 connectors and they wouldn't come apart. That's not too promising!

I ordered a 12v waterpump from China via eBay out of interest. It arrived with a piece of 1/4' hose and was a massive $8 or thereabouts. Having played with it, it shifts a decent quantity of water just plugged up to 12v of AA batteries. It even seems to work well off an exhausted 9V battery.

There are two things I need for the water pump. The first is some kind of filtration unit to stop the pump from getting jammed with gunk. Looking around I see plenty online and they seem to be called sprayer/pump strainers. The trick seems to be finding one with a 1/4" barb that doesn't cost the earth or simply getting a bigger one and a barb adaptor. The second is a push-button switch to operate the thing. I spent ages on eBay looking at various different things using a variety of keywords before the ideal switch came to mind - the humble doorbell pusher. I'm pretty sure I can find all that in Lowes (hiss, spit). I looked yesterday but didn't see anything and - as normal - the staff were so discrete they were nowhere to be seen. I bet I could have walked out with half the store under my arm and nobody would have noticed.

In my toolbox I found two battery holders that take four AA batteries each. I screwed them into the bulkhead, ready to use. If you remember, my 8AA battery holder died when the contact broke off the top last week. I am in the process of tidying the cables - even if it doesn't look like it. I'm on pause there as the liquid insulation I painted on the newly soldered connections needs some time to set.

It was very fortunate that I happened to find a pair of four AA battery holders in that toolbox as I'd accidentally ordered a 10AA battery holder. That'd be 15V not 12V. I could have wired the switch into the solar battery but honestly I like having the solar side separated so I have three totally independent ways of entering the bus.

I bought some ring connectors in Walmart. These are needed to complete the underbus battery installation. I thought it looked like the holes in the rings were oversized. This must have been a purchasing error by Walmart as well as by me. I'll have to head to the car parts store to get some. I might also find my hose barb filter there as well as some more 1/4" hose.

Speaking of quarter inch hose, I'll probably put up a faucet spout on my handbasin now. Looking around though, there doesn't seem to be anything truly good for such a small water flow. I could thus get a piece of quarter inch copper tube and bend it. Bending copper tube is easy. There's either a bending tool or you can fill the tube with sand and do it by hand. I'll probably do the latter. The next issue is the base of the tube. It might be possible to solder the tube into a threaded collar and tighten the collar into place with nuts above and below where the tube and collar passes through a hole in the handbasin surround.

I did have a look at replacing the existing cigarette-lighter socket under the bus but didn't really feel a whole lot like crawling under there. I suspect I can do it without crawling under but the way these things seem to work out, I'll end up under there anyway. I passed on that today. As I said I have a kiddie bug so I'm doing as little as possible this weekend.

My work week is quite busy and quite exhausting. I have to drive from 5:30am til 8:15am taking special needs children to two elementary schools and one high school. Then I have a 10:30am-12:00pm taking a single child from their home to yet another elementary school. I return to the bus yard where my partner tucks and rolls before speeding onwards to a highschool where I pick up a single child and take them to their home, returning to the bus yard at 1:15pm. That gives me 30 minutes for lunch. Then I'm off on the afternoon run from 1:45pm until 5:00pm. During a typical day I drive around 180 miles. That's 9 1/4 hours of driving a day and driving is exhausting. Thus not only is my body tired from fighting this kiddie bug but fatigued from driving close to 1,000 miles a week. Much of that driving is on roads in poor condition and choked with traffic. Worse than that even - drivers that got their driving license from the back of a cereal packet!

The water pump will probably initially be powered by batteries. Given that it's intended use is for rinsing my hands, a PP3 battery would probably be sufficient though I'd love for everything to run from AA batteries or even D cells. I might even hook it up to the 12v solar supply. That would be pretty good. I did run a spare line to the other side of the bathroom, intending to put in a fan that
could blow on clothes hanging from a drying rack in the shower. Without too much difficulty I could tap into that line though I hate tapping in and putting two devices off one circuit. The alternative would be putting another cable into a secured cable-wrap or even adding an extra cable wrap running from the fuse box to the shower. Thinking about that though - the ideal time would be when I put the rear solar input in place. Then I'll be running a cable wrap so it wouldn't be that much extra work.

Meanwhile, I mentioned my brief time for a work lunch. I don't have much time for anything so it's either a quick run to Walmart for a stale sub or an equally stale salad. I swear Walmart must import its salads and subs from Australia judging from their sorry-looking state or to one of the fast food joints for a tasteless burger and tasteless fries all dripping with grease. The alternative is a can of beans or whatever. I choose the latter as it's healthier by far. I have been ill after Walmart's stale subs. The bonus - cans of beans last forever.