Ouch! That's going to be expensive!

I tried to fit the chain links into the holes drilled in the end of the battery clamp bar and the wretched things wouldn't fit. I had to drill the holes out a bit more yet again. Then I had to paint and wait for the paint to dry.

Once dried, the whole battery clamp assembled like this. The two chain links  connect to my turnbuckles which connect to loops welded to the base of the battery compartment. The links on the other bar must have been smaller - maybe between the size that was too small and the size I have. Without looking, there's no telling. 

That's the fan I set up in the shower. I tried it again today and again it produced very little air movement. I suspect it needs to come right out of that corner and go nearer to the aisle. That would give it more air to suck.

I started by drilling a hole to install a USB power socket for my GPS devices - my GPS speedometer and any GPS navigational aid I use. The step bit that I was using was worn out in the middle and as I could not locate the replacement step bit I had to persevere. Well, that worked just fine until the battery ran out in my cordless drill. That meant I had to use my more powerful corded drill which worked better. I did get the hole big enough but then disaster struck - the drill snatched and whacked my hand against the indicator stalk, snapping it.

Removing the indicator stalk assembly was easy enough. It was held in by just two screws. So, International chassis users, it really is that easy. Feeling curious I dismantled the assembly to see what had happened. It turned out that the actual indicator stalk had snapped in two.

Fortunately on the base of the unit was a part number. I have a feeling this could be an expensive or hard to obtain part. On the other hand, it should be possible to make a similar part fit. There's no rule that says the hazard lamp switch has to be on the stalk. As a matter of fact the hazard lamp switch was constantly jamming and needed to be flicked to get it to turn off. The left turn signal liked to switch itself off too. 

Looking at the broken turn signal paddle, it's clearly broken at its weakest point. It might even have been cracked beforehand. So, it looks like I might need to get a whole new assembly.  Whether I'll be able to get an identical part remains to be seen. Thank Heavens it's an International part and not a Carpenter part.

If you recall, my horn didn't work the other day. I pulled the 10A fuse and found the fuse had blown. It was a pretty ancient looking fuse so I replaced it with a new 10A fuse. I gather most of these horns are about 5A so that'll give it plenty leeway. While I was looking at the turn signal assembly I also noticed what is probably the horn connector. As it was a little loose, I wonder whether that could be the problem with the steering wheel horn button. If it is, I will replace the connector. Similarly I noticed the connector from the console was a bit loose. I'm wondering if that and the fact that water clearly drips on it is the problem. If so, a quick wiggle will fix things when they're not working or maybe just press the pieces together and tape them with insulation tape.

Looking carefully at the console above, it's possible to see the switches I've added. On the top row from left to right I have a sockets switch that switches my three USB sockets and one 12v socket on that are mounted to the left of the panel. The switch labelled CB is pretty obvious - it powers the CB radio. The unlabeled black switch in the centre of the top row is for the new USB navigation power supply. The red switch on the far right lights up and is a reversing horn switch.  Straight under that is the horn switch - that's a momentary action switch. If I can get the main horn switch to work, that switch can go away. Moving to the far left of the bottom row, the silver switch powers my LCD screen for my backup camera. That is active only when the green switch next to it is illuminated. That is used to power the front and two rear cameras and the front and rear video recorders.

This is the new USB power connector. That allowed me to roll up the cord for my GPS speedometer so I don't have that cable dangling. When I use a GPS navigation unit I'll be able to coil that cable up so it's out of the way when I use GPS.

I ordered the new roof vent. It wasn't too bad at $25 but shipping from Ohio was $15. That'll probably take about a day to install since I'll have to clear up the mess the hillbillies left behind. I'll have to cut the rivets, scrape the nasty caulk they used and then treat rust, paint with my heat resistant paint and then install the vent. Now this vent is supposed to be white. That'll mean I won't have to paint it. On the other hand, if it was black, it would heat air and make the air rise and thus promote circulation.

Meanwhile I tried running my vents today. I timed over 5 minutes and with my 35w of panels on, the voltage dropped to 12.4 volts then rapidly rose within a further 5 minutes. I dare say that with the two 30W panels plugged in that the voltage shouldn't really drop. I'll have to see about putting the rear solar input in place.

My next trip under the bus will probably be Saturday so I'll put the battery clamp in place and might complete the second solar input and the wiring from the fuse box toward the handbasin water pump. Whether I complete that in a day remains to be seen. It could also be that on Saturday I have to run to Carolina International to pick up a new turn signal switch assembly.

When the turn signal switch broke, it wasn't exactly an almighty disaster. It was already not functioning correctly so a replacement was due. I'd already had it in mind, I'd just rather thought I might be able to get away with it as it was. That was not to be though.

My next big expense will be tyres - they're all pretty old and quite frankly I don't like remolds and I don't like that the rear tyres are over size. 6 tyres will be costly but then nothing about bus ownership is remotely cheap.