Bits and bobs weekend.

It was another of those weekends - the kind of weekend other weekends deny knowing and about which regular days deny knowledge. It rained a lot. In fact more than a lot. It rained very heavily - the kind of torrential downpour that caused Noah to build his ark. Between rainstorms I went to the bus and found most of the rain had stayed out of the bus. I still saw a few drips but I think those might have come from the side vent. I'll still probably replace the vent with the vent I bought as it doesn't look that great.

A few days ago a little 12v to 3v voltage regulator arrived. I'd ordered that after finding the 12v CPU fan I'd been using was not that great. I'd had an idea that I might use the cheap D cell powered desk fan I have lying around as a replacement for the shower fan. Meanwhile of course, I have another smaller CPU fan on the way. I could probably use either but I'd rather use the CPU fan as it's quieter and likely more reliable.

Originally I'd put a cigarette lighter socket as my 12v power inlet for the bus. That was so I could plug solar panels in while leaving them in an ideal outdoor location in order to get the most sun. The cigarette socket and plug proved quite problematic. The plugs are very flimsy and poorly made while the sockets are pretty good and almost indestructible. They also tend to have a problem with water penetration.

My solar panels had come with MC4 connectors. Those are pretty good but have a huge flaw in that they're very difficult to separate when required. I was also less than keen on the fact the cables were separate and not a figure 8 or dual cable. Given that I know these panels to work and the warranty has probably expired I had no qualms about snipping the cables short and replacing them with dual cables ending in Anderson two pin connectors.

This is one of the panels - it's possible to see that the cables are cut to different lengths. This is so that in the unlikely event that the solder connections fail (even in their shrink wrapped insulation), the two conductors should not be able to touch.

One of the other issues with the existing cables was that they were too short. They were something like two feet long which might be ideal for some situations but which were not for mine. My new cables are both four feet long which is ideal inside the windshield of the bus. If I need them further from the bus than four feet I can use an extender. That is not a problem.

That's what the back of the bus is looking like now. Some of the wires could go into cable wrap. I'll probably do that just to make it look tidier. The rest will just have to stay as they are. It looks complicated and it is complicated as it's a system that has grown organically.

The box mounted to the ceiling to the right of the light switch and lamp assembly is a half-wave bridge rectifier. That takes input from an as yet to be installed solar input on the side of the bus at the back. When the wires are installed, they will go to the new bridge rectifier below.

The black box in the center at the bottom is new. That's a half-wave bridge rectifier. I don't actually need a rectifier there but for the fact it adds excellent anchor points for my connectors. There are three solar sources combining into one via that little box. Before that was installed I had a couple of diodes between contact strips. That had worked excellently for years but now I need more wires so it needed updating.

The plan is to get the solar inputs combined and then to tap into the solar input to give an alternate power supply for the ventilation fans. If you remember, I bought a voltage regulator a while ago and the plan is to use that so that the fans take their power from the combined solar panels when there's enough power.

Just so you know - that's the power regulator. It's set to turn off the power at 11.5v and back on at 12.5v. This is basically so that the fans are not supplied a low voltage - too low to turn the fan but which will heat up the wiring and end up burning the internal fan wiring out. It'll be a fair bit of work but I think it'll be worthwhile.

Currently things remaining to do on the bus...

• Replace the broken turn signal switch. Thus far I've contacted four places. NAPA who have not responded to the order I put in on their website for instore delivery. It doesn't look like they're going to either so scrub NAPA. Carolina International doesn't seem to bother with their website which really doesn't surprise me. I find many companies throw websites up then ignore them which of course backs up my view of the internet as being a waste of time. W.W.Williams can get me the part but it's going to be $140. One of the online school bus suppliers wanted $117 but weren't quite sure about whether it would fit. It's looking a lot like going local is going to be the answer.
• Completing the wiring to the battery compartment so that I can solar charge the driving batteries or at least keep them topped up. That's a very short job.
• Running the wires through the floor and under the bus to the handbasin and through the floor by the handbasin. That's probably going to take the longest as it's a long stretch and I'm going to have to work around the rear differential - which is massive.
• Running wires to and installing the rear solar input Anderson connector. That's not going to take too long but must be done in combination with the handbasin wire. 
• Replacing the roof vent. I have a roof vent and just need to get the old vent off and the new vent in place. Complicating matters, the new vent has a flat base and the roof is slightly curved. I'll probably have to use some Bondo before crimping my rivets but after the Bondo has cured.
• Install my new fuse box inside the control console.

I have a plan to resurrect the non-functioning horn button in the steering wheel. That came about because I noticed that the connections are loose on the yellow wire coming from presumably the horn button. It's not high priority but it would be nice to do.

A week or two back I looked at getting a louder horn. In the end I wasn't greatly impressed by what I saw and decided not to bother. The number of times I use a horn are minimal. It will be interesting to see whether I can achieve my goal. I might have to add extra wires and connections but it'd be nice to get things working properly. The fact that the speedometer and rev counter stop working makes me suspect a loose connection and I do see a connector swinging below the instrument panel. I'm thinking that water dripping on it could be the problem.

Lots left to do but I'm getting there. Once all that lot is done I might think about newer tyres. The rear tyres are not as essential as the fronts as it's perfectly possible to drive with a flat back tyre. I drove an entire morning bus route driving a schoolbus with a flat tyre on one of my duals - with the agreement of the work mechanic. I can't wait to go on another trip in the bus.