Aftermath of the breakdown

Well, it seems that had the first people had the time to service my bus like they were supposed to then I would not have been in the predicament I was because the leak in the transmission would likely have been spotted. It is what it is, however. When I got there I had a smoking back wheel. That was diagnosed as a sticking brake caliper which they fixed with PB Blaster 16 for which they charged $260 in total. I did buy a can of PB Blaster after for $3 in Walmart.

I broke down on the way back. To be more precise I’d found the bus was getting ever less revs out of the engine than before. That started just before I reached Orangeburg and then the revs reduced until I finally ground to a halt in St Mathews. That was 30 miles from home. I felt the tow truck took me on a slightly longer route to maximize mileage but perhaps that was the better route.

As can be seen, the route looks longer on the map but could well have been the better route. The tow truck driver on the phone wanted to know what size vehicle I had and I was afraid he was going to send a dinky little tow truck for a car. I impressed on him several times 32.5 feet long, 27,500lbs and that it was a bus. He turned up with the right tow truck though.

I had broken down just outside a church - 7615 Columbia Road to be precise. I’d been lucky in that it was possible to roll into a turn lane dedicated to the church. The steering without engine power was dreadfully heavy. I was lucky not to have air brakes as I could just keep rolling until I hit the brakes.

Anyway, I got towed to W W Williams in West Columbia. That’s not the closest repair shop but they did a good job. I could have had them fix the problem but I had them run over the whole bus diagnosing everything. It transpired I still had some fluid in the transmission - just not enough to get it to work properly. The problem was the front of the transmission had not been properly secured so the fluid had leaked out when it was under pressure. That made sense. So now I’ve had all the fluids changed and new filters in place. They didn’t do the air filter which says a lot for them. They looked and said it didn’t need doing. That’s a complete contrast to the sharks at car repair places where they tell you things need doing that do not. I didn’t know but I actually had a cabin air filter. They changed that too.

The bill came to $1,143 and change. I knew I was going to have to spend at least $700 on getting the bus serviced prior to this. It seems that the oil pan gasket probably doesn’t need changing. This is, of course, why I like to use a paid mechanic rather than a trade deal or a favor mechanic. I get a way better job done. I can honestly say I feel way happier now.

So, I spent $280 on getting the brake fixed, $525 on a tow truck, $1,143 on getting the problem solved and an overall checkover. I also spent $40 in total on Uber to get to and from my bus. Actually it wasn’t strictly Uber. It was a friend that drives for Uber and I called her and gave her money for her trouble and we didn’t put it through Uber. So, this weekend I’ve spent around $1,988 on bus related things. Now I know I’m good to go wherever. The next oil change will be September of 2019.

Having been through this I realise that these busses are built like tanks. They will take anything. The transmission was not damaged. Mind, as soon as the engine stalled and I coasted to a halt, I parked. Then I leapt out and checked under the hood. As the engine wasn’t overheating there was clearly plenty water. I checked the engine oil and that was fine. Transmission fluid - that was below the level on the dipstick. In fact I couldn’t see any so that was clearly the culprit.

I was happier to be stuck outside a church than I would have been in some areas. It was also pretty quiet and nothing much was passing on the road. If I’d been anywhere suspect, I’d have been sitting in the cab waiting for my tow with my 9mm ready to hand.

On another topic, I had an interesting query on my previous blog entry...

Enid VerdantSeptember 11, 2018 at 11:00 AMWell. I've been following you for years and never quite thought I'd see the day when you'd finally be able to take it camping. With what you know now, do you think your next project might be one your school district retires, with a known history and configuration you want (e.g. air brakes) and none of the hillbilly mess to undo

To answer that one, I don’t think I’ll be attempting another bus conversion in the foreseeable future. I learned an awful lot from doing this one and would definitely do the next one very differently. Air brakes (now that I understand them - which I didn’t before I learned to drive school busses) would definitely be something that interests me. Having said that I might instead go for a smaller bus or even a van for quick camping trips but tow it behind a bus. I’ve seen schoolbusses being delivered with a car being towed behind them. As for the school district I work for at the moment, they scrap all their retired busses. By the time they get to the end of their lives they’re mostly 30 years old and falling apart. Not all school bus drivers are as gentle on the busses as I am.

I will say right now that schoolbusses while very solid and well built have a higher operating cost:

1. My insurance is $245 every 6 months but I’m registered and insured as a private bus
2. Regular maintainance is going to be $800-$1000 a year.
3. Tyres are going to be $200 each approximately and you’ll need 6. The steer tyres you need brand new - no questions - every 7 years. The drive tyres you can get part worn but don’t get remolds. 
4. Keep sufficient in the bank in case of a breakdown. 
5. Remember diesel is cheaper than gasoline and gets you more to the gallon. Don’t faint though when you find the bus does 8-10mpg and has a 50, 75 or 100 gallon fuel tank. $20 of diesel at $3 a gallon will only get you 56 miles! 

While I was at Givhans Ferry I did have my Olympus camera with me. I didn’t stick to taking pictures with a cheap phone. I’ll now include those images.

The first adventure

I’d booked to go for 3 nights to an RV park on Edisto Island. I’d booked it months ago but on Wednesday the organizer decided to cancel and refund all monies. Thus far no refund has hit my bank account. But three of those going plus me decided to head to Givhans State Park which is about 85 miles from me.

The first port of call was a local service center to get my bus serviced only to find they had no time to do it at the time I’d booked. By then I’d noticed one of my back wheels was smoking and somewhat hot. That turned out to be a hanging brake. So, $280 later I was good to drive. Their fix, by the way, was to spray the calipers with PB Blaster 16 (which costs $3 a can from Walmart - I bought my own can later). I got home to book the camp site for Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights only to find I could not book Friday. Thus I booked for Saturday and Sunday.

On Saturday I drove down through the heat, sweating profusely. On the way I was continually passed by drivers that showed scant regard for their safety nor for the safety of other road users. On one occasion, somebody blasted past me when there was a driver coming in the opposite direction. Indeed, instead of braking and getting safely behind me, he actually forced the other driver to take avoiding action and get off the road onto the grass on the side of the road. I wish I’d had a front camera as I’d have sent a copy of that video straight to the Highway Patrol. That was beyond incompetent or arrogant driving and more into attempted vehicular homicide.

My hydraulic brakes I found are just not as good as my air brakes at work and the height of the brake pedal is a safety hazard. I’m going to have to find somebody that can do something about that for me. Thus far I’m just having the usual (for the want of a better phrase) bunch of wankers that can only order stuff off easy websites or who can’t be bothered to see the problem.

Anyway I got to the National Park and found my parking bay. Then I had a message that due to an impending hurricane one of the members of the group was unable to come. Apparently she was on Red Cross hurricane relief. The other two ladies made it safely and one brought her bus along. We had a great time examining each other’s busses.

We all sat on the picnic bench next to my bus and one of the ladies pulled out a box of wine which we all began to consume while we chatted. A couple of hours went by and we felt hungry so having a some quick foods available, I whipped up a quick meal for everybody. It wasn’t luxurious - a small pot of instant mashed potatoes and a can of sardines each. I have to say it was delicious though.

One lady had to go home to feed her husband and children so that left two of us and we chatted and chatted until about 2am by the light of a candle-powered lantern that I’d bought to compare with my LED lanterns. I have to say the LED lanterns put out far more light but the single candle put out a much more pleasant light.

The next morning the lady came round for coffee and brought some military MRE packs. I’d already eaten but it was a nice gesture. So after that we moseyed on down to the river, during which time I had to nip back to use the loo - alcohol upsets my tummy a little. On the way I noticed a sign that stated that drinking alcohol in state parks and displaying alcohol in state parks was against the law. Oops. Still, none of us got drunk and I believe the spirit of the law is that nobody does anything that impedes anybody else which is what happened often when people get drunk.

Eventually, after following the working path for about half an hour, I got down to the river and found the other lady. We spent quite a while chatting and she looked very comfortable in the water. I am though a confirmed non-swimmer. I did try to learn one time as an adult but inhaled most of the swimming pool after which I really didn’t see much point in continuing. The fear of drowning had gone and with it my need to learn to swim. I wasn’t afraid any more.

The other lady left later that day and I stayed a further night. It was a really quiet, pleasant park with trees overhanging the bus which kept temperatures down. That put me in mind of future changes that I need to effect. One of those would be to add a 5A 15v charger that I can run off the 120v plugin in order to charge the batteries so I can keep the 12v stuff running for prolonged periods.

At the park I was very surprised to find I was close to a toilet that also had showers. They were pretty clean and on the last day I met a young lad who was cleaning the toilets and showers. He was driving a 6-wheel drive vehicle called a Polaris and that intrigued me greatly. That looked a very interesting vehicle to drive.

I did come up with a list of things I’d like to work on

1.  The beaded seat cover does stop my back getting sweaty but my bum gets awful sore after 3 hours driving.
2.  I need to install traffic cameras. I had 3 jerks overtaking me across solid yellow lines including one that forced another driver off the road. If I’d had a camera recording that, I’d have handed that footage straight over to the highway patrol!
3.  Sand is a problem so my broom is very useful.
4.  Bedroom shoes would be great. I don’t mean flip flops because I never can get them to go on my feet correctly when I’m sleepy.
5.  Trash... on this trip because I’d bought a couple of things after finding out I was going to have electricity I have a bit more trash than usual. So, trash bags are needed.
6.  My two shower pump units work. The one with the broken battery compartment worked until the battery died but the duct tape had slipped so I had to keep my foot on it. The 12v pump works brilliantly though it spouts water out of one of the connections.
7.  Both my grey water tanks drip a little. As I’d forgotten to get an orange juice bottle with a wide mouth, the pee had to go in one grey tank. The result is for the next few hours the campsite will smell of pee.
8.  The campsite has toilets. Yay. It meant I didn’t have to use mine. Again, I need a bucket with a lid to put full toilet bags in. I can set that outside until I can take it to empty it. If some mo good runs off with it then that’s his problem.
9.  My digital door lock likes to beep randomly. I even tried powering it off to no avail.
10. As my site was under trees I got very little solar power. I had plenty in the battery for lighting but just not enough for ventilation etc. That’s where my window screen cane in handy.
11. I had bug spray to ward off mosquitoes. That stuff burns when applied to the skin. It probably burns the sensitivity off the skin enough that you don’t notice mosquito bites rather than repelling them!
12. Food covers are a good idea for outside as I had to dump one cup of coffee after an acorn landed in it.
13. The campsite has showers though I did not use them and they had a young lad who mopped out the bathrooms.
14. Everybody loves the look of my bus from the outside.
15. The few that have seen the inside love it too.
16. Despite being 4 years old, the oil and transmission fluid got me here. Looking at it, it’ll get me back too but after that it absolutely must be changed.

Sleeping in the bus was very comfortable. The shower was excellent. The toilet I know is excellent. The gas cooker I never used. The microwave was excellent. Washing dishes was a challenge. I can see disposables being a better choice. My bus never got too hot. It got a bit muggy at times but nothing that was too awful and I had a nice picnic bench outside.

The journey back started fine. I drove through back roads as I had on the way to Givhans Ferry. I kept to 45mph and got most of the way beck when the engine started slowing and surging. Then the revs began to drop before finally the engine cut out. I slipped the transmission into neutral and coasted to a church turn lane.

Popping the hood to find the problem I found the engine oil was fine. The water I had checked earlier in the day and that was not the problem as the engine was not overheating. Every gauge had been fine - oil pressure, fuel, battery though the battery gauge had been fluctuating. The rev counter was doing its usual thing of occasionally dropping out but had been showing me slowly reducing revs for a few minutes. I’d checked the engine oil and transmission fluid last night so they should have been fine. I checked them again anyway and found there was no transmission fluid on the dip stick.

Just then a thunderstorm started with lightning and very loud thunder. I was stopped between two churches on a road not far from home. I downloaded the Truck Down app and fairly soon a big tow truck arrived. The driver took me a circuitous route to a truck repair place that was further than I’d really have gone myself. I suspect he was maximizing his mileage. Anyway, I was dropped at a truck repair place where I asked for the full diagnostic, told them everything the bus was doing and everything that was wrong before this. Just the diagnostic is going to be $825. The towing fee was $525. I’ve already paid $260ish to get a hanging brake fixed. By the time the bus is fully operational, the costs will have exceeded $1,610.

Meanwhile there is a hurricane bearing down on us. That’s due to arrive on Thursday. I’m hoping that tomorrow the repair shop will have time to examine and repair my bus. Then, if need be, I can relocate further inland. While I was sitting at the repair shop, work rang stating that the governor had ordered all schools to be closed and all government office to be close. He had also ordered the mandatory evacuation of coastal counties.

Thinking about it, I worked out how I was going to get back home. I could not get the usual suspect to transport me as I had to transport my guns safely and the usual suspect is not permitted to be near guns. Thus I called a friend who drives Uber and gave her what she’d get from Uber but didn’t put it through Uber. We were all happy. I got home.

Now I am watching people theorizing about what’s wrong. My theory about the lack of transmission fluid is that the hillbilly that owned the bus before me had plugged a leak with chewing gum and it had just broken through. Having said that there was no fluid ever seen to be leaking. That is a mystery. Somebody was casting aspersions on my diesel because it has been in the tank for a couple of years yet it gave no issue on the way down. Had there been plenty transmission fluid I’d have had a go at restarting the engine instead of calling a tow truck.

When I called the number on the Truck Down app, I actually called for a mobile mechanic rather than a tow truck but they sent a tow truck instead. I suspect a mobile mechanic would have got me on the road faster.

And now a miscellaneous selection of images from my trip....

 That’s my bus broken down outside a church on Charleston Highway.

 That’s my breakfast on the final day - coffee and home-made muesli with almond milk.

 This is my DIY protection against falling acorns that spoilt one cup of coffee yesterday.

 That’s my on-tap water. Press the button and I get free flowing water.

 This is my 12v powered shower head. This was pretty good but would be much improved if it didn’t leak as evidenced by the photo.

 This is my battery powered shower pump. This would be better if the catch hadn’t broken. I quite like this pump as it’s 100% independent of solar power.

 This was taken on the last night. This is my candle lantern. It produces more light than it appears to from this image.

That’s the same image but with flash to show everything more clearly. Yes, that’s a bottle of real lemonade.

 That’s my tea one afternoon. Quite a nice spiced breakfast tea.

 The camp showers were very clean but I used my own shower.

 That’s some of the mown grass at the national park.

I didn’t think of photographing my lunch before I ate it. That was baked beans with weinies and a lemonade. Very nice it was too.

Down by the river. In this picture I believe you can see one of my companions for the expedition.

 I loved the scenery. The Edisto river is quite beautiful.

 Beside the river there was plenty to amuse me while my friend swam.

 When I got lost on my way to the river I took the opportunity to photograph some flowers. No idea what this yellow flower is but it’s quite nice.

 This purple flower is also quite pleasant.

 At the end of the trail which is when I knew I was barking up the wrong tree, I found the cabins for hire. They look quite luxurious and not the rustic things I was expecting.

 That’s a quick video in which the other lady’s bus appears.

 This is, of course, my bus, parked at the camp site. Getting in there I almost mowed down the power and water poles in my attempt to avoid mowing down the wooden picnic bench.

This is the sign I saw after we’d had our wine. It seems we’d been naughty but no harm done. We’ll just have to remember for next time. I had a bottle of wine in one of my drawers but ever pulled it out.

 Near my campsite were these interesting berries. Heaven knows what they are but they’re a lovely color.

 This is, of course, the bus one of the ladies brought along. She hasn’t yet decided on a paint scheme but I will say her paint looks better applied than mine.

 That’s the shower and toilet block. It was really close - possibly 200 feet from my camp site. I used that toilet rather than mine though I did pee on the bus. Speaking of which I simply poured the pee into one of my waste tanks. I did try emptying that tank when I was broken down but it made the ground nasty and smelly so I closed the outlet valve. It drips anyway but I figure what I’ll do is put some other urine collector in. I’ll keep the grey tank as a grey tank rather than turning it into a liquid black tank.

 That is the toilet in the camp.

 A view of the trees and sky above the bus. There really isn’t much space and hardly any sunlight.

Here you can see the picnic bench right beside my bus. Many people have awnings. I didn’t really see the point of an awning - so much trouble to put up and so liable to wind damage.

Thats my coffee that I had for breakfast the first day.

 Again I had muesli for breakfast. I love that stuff. I was lucky to find an 8 pack of small containers of almond milk.

 The furst thing I did was to have a pot of tea after I arrived. It was a mark of success!

The final photo - my bus parked nicely in the campsite.

Ready to roll!

Today I went to Day Star Truck and Trailer Repair in Lexington SC. I can honestly say I like this company. I went there and everybody was very helpful, friendly and polite. It is clearly a company run by devout Christians. When I got there they were short staffed and couldn’t do the service that I wanted. The oil and transmission fluid definitely need changing but will probably be OK for my forthcoming trip since they were OK for my trip to and fro from Day Star. That’s 13 miles in each direction. What they did do though was fix the hanging brake. I’d been driving along and not been getting great speed and been having sluggish acceleration. When I arrived, the back tyre was hot, the axel hub was hot too and there was smoke coming from the brakes.

It was costly but then it’s a big vehicle. The mechanic had to have help with my front door lock and a few operational features I’ve installed but only because he wasn’t used to them. I was mildly amused because he was looking for my air gauge until I told him hydraulic brakes. Then when it came time to turn the engine off, he wasn’t used to mechanical fuel cut off. It was mildly amusing to see somebody not being familiar with such an ancient machine when I get to drive ancient machines at work.

I had been going to go for a 3-day break on Edisto Island but that got cancelled by the organizer on Thursday. I was supposed to be there today in the evening and was staying until Sunday night. In the end a few of us that were going to Edisto agreen to go to a national park. I booked for Saturday and Sunday as it wasn’t possible to book for Friday when I booked (on Friday). I’d wanted to see what the truck people said. I’m pretty sure they’d have mentioned anything suspect when they were under the bus, working on the brakes.

I took some fresh photos of the inside. While I was driving (and I did go on some bumpy roads) there were a few things that fell down inside. Those were boxes piled too high and my swivel chair zoomed about. I’ll have to find some way of anchoring it in place during travel. The boxes don’t worry me as I have to go through those boxes anyway as I’m pretty sure most are full of absolute garbage. 

Here’s a nice photo of my batwing doors. Originally the plan was to have batwing doors but I just didn’t feel like going to all the effort of making them. It would have been fun but would have been an awful lot of quite challenging work when I wanted the bus done as soon as possible.

The microwave and fridge stayed in place perfectly. I’m quite impressed with how my building has stood up to bumpy roads etc. I do drive gently however. I’m also very aware that as my bus engine is a slow-revving engine I’m not likely to get any great acceleration out of it.

This is the bathroom. Just about everything one would find in a bathroom is stowed in the sink. I could have worked harder on cleaning but this is a quick camping trip that I’ve not had much time to prepare for to be honest. It was on before I completed the bus. Then it was off and now it’s back on again.

And here - you can see a freshly made bed. No pillow but I tend not to use pillows too much anyway. I always end up below the pillow when I wake up.

You’ve seen plenty pictures of the bus but this is the finalized picture of the one side and back right now. This doesn’t mean something won’t change but it’s pretty well perfect right now.

That’s the other side. They’re pretty much the same except there’s a couple of doors difference. I’m happy with what I see.

In keeping with my sick and twisted sense of humor (I watched too much Playschool when I was small), I have retained the sign I put in, months if not years ago. “Fort Leavenworth, Death Row Express”. Somebody said because I’d chosen to paint the bus grey rather than another color that it looked like a prison bus.

It was pretty hot inside the bus today but the ventilation is off an I have not opened the window to insert the window screen. When I was driving, I had the two internal driver fans going so it wasn’t that bad. I didn’t open the window which I should have. The window, to be honest, needs a squirt of WD40 anyway. Driving wasn’t too bad. It handled well and I was confident driving it. That confidence comes from driving a schoolbus every day.

Operationally I did find the hydraulic brakes aren’t as good as the air brakes at work. They’re certainly not as sensitive. I also find the too high brake pedal to be a severe inconvenience. I’m going to have to have a chat with the International dealer to see what solution they have.

Cleaning!

Today - a magical milestone. I started to clean my bus. The cockpit is now clean with the floor swept and even a beaded seat cover on the driver’s seat. I had to add some extra twine to the headrest attachments as my driver’s seat has no headrest to attach the cover to.

Why a beaded seat cover? Well it’s a vinyl seat and those vinyl seats trap sweat. I drive 3 routes in a school bus every day. I’m behind the wheel for 7.5 hours every day. During the morning run when it’s cool, my back gets hot and my clothes end up sticking to me. The same for my pants - they end up sticking to me too. A beaded cover allows some ventilation under and behind me which reduces trapped perspiration.

Wiping down the windows inside and out is the next task and wiping the mirrors too. That’s not a task for today though. That can be done on a day when I come home from work.

One of the important things was done today. I checked the fluid levels for everything - brakes, washer fluid, power steering fluid, oil and transmission fluid. The transmission fluid was a warm brown. The oil was grey - both in need of replacement. Neither was dark from use - just faded from age. The front tyres have been put on the wrong way around but at least I saw the date code. Some time in 2012. They’ll be OK for at least this year. The backs are a bit older but as they’re duals they can go on for 10 years.

I’m going to have to put some stuff in the spare trailer for the moment but I need to go through my stuff. I know I have a lot of just plain junk and a lot of clothes that don’t fit. Each time I moved house and I’ve moved house 4 times in the past decade, I’ve thrown everything in my drawers into a tote and never opened the tote again - largely because I live pretty much out of a suitcase sized quantity of stuff. I need to whittle down to the stuff I will actually use. I bet there’s a ton of garbage.

A long time ago I bought four packs of CD mailers. Over the years I have used precisely one pack. The remaining three packs have been traveling with me for the past 15 years. Occasionally one will get used and they’re invaluable then but a pain to keep carting around! I have things I use rarely and things I use frequently.

Anyway, at the end of work today (I worked yesterday too) I had most of the bus ready for use. There’s just a bit of work to do in the bedroom area. The sheets definitely need laundering. I used them (both sets) until the day I moved to where I am now and they’ve thus not been washed. They’ve been stored unwashed for the past 4 years. Given that the washing machine where I am is questionable, I might end up having to use a laundromat.

I put a pile of food in the bus ready for my forthcoming trip. I just hope I put enough! I know I need to put toiletaries and to fill up my water containers. I think this weekend looks like being interesting. The downside is according to the weather forecast it will be 84 the entire weekend and raining. That’s fine - it’ll give me some downtime to sort through my boxes and work out what I want to keep and what I want to get rid of.

I’d not really thought of rain. I have an umbrella but not a big umbrella to put up outside, I don’t have an awning either. The bus originally had an awning when it was first converted but when I had it, the awning was gone with just the hardware remaining (which I removed).

Curiouser and curiouser

I tried the lawnmower batter and while it did work, it didn’t give me much power. In fact by the time it hit 12v I had maybe 2 minutes out of my extraction fans. Thus I abandoned the lawnmower battery and went to the store for a Duracell battery. This is a 12v AGM battery and when installed it read 12.7v. I was expecting it to be fully charged and at 13.8v so after connecting it I plugged in both my extra 30w solar panels. That should boost the charge fairly swiftly though it might take a few days if the weather is not great.

I’m a little concerned about the 12.7v rating which invoked the cry of curiouser and curiouser. This battery should have a float voltage of 13.8v. There’s a year’s warranty on it so if it fails to perform then I can have a word with Batteries Plus about it. The Harbor Freight thing just didn’t have any capacity whatsoever.

For giggles when I went to get my battery I took the Harbor Freight battery. Batteries Plus put it on their big test meter and it tested just fine. The capacity however was not tested. Reading around, the only way to test capacity is to use it and see what happens. I know darned well that even using only half of 35AH I would be able to run my 3.92A draw for about 4 hours and 20 minutes. I shall test that next weekend having left the battery to charge for the entire week.

I decided to bite the bullet and take my bus for a service. The oil has been in the sump for almost 4 years. I am going to get the differential oil inspected, the transmission oil inspected, the axel and hub lubricants checked, grease applied to all the grease points and the brake line connectors checked. I don’t think much of the rusty clips that hold the brake lines together. They’ll also put the tyres on the right pressures and check them. I have checked everything and it all seems OK but the oil definitely needs to be changed. While that is being done I’ll get the sump gasket changed. The bus leaked oil when I was going to buy it and I told the guy I wanted the rotten tyres replaced and the oil leak fixed. He did replace the tyres but put coagulant in the oil rather than replacing the sump gasket. It works but it’s not what I’d call an approved method.

Immediately following the service which will be done in the morning I shall drive down to a beach location for a few days holiday. This will be my first ever overnight stay and first ever overnight trip in the bus. I’m looking forward to it but am apprehensive until I get a paid mechanic to check it out and change the suspect oil. They say oil should be changed every 3 months when its in use in small engines. In big engines once a year is fine. Kept sealed in the can oil will keep for 5 years and more as it’s really stable. Once it’s exposed to air, water begins to creep in with condensation. That dilutes the oil a little and reduces its efficacy.

I have a ton of work to do tomorrow and next weekend in order to make the bus ready for the trip the weekend after. Basically the bus is ready. It just needs construction supplies removed and a good cleaning. It also needs me to put things in drawers where they should be and put other things away safely. It’s a lot of work!

Lawnmower Man 2 - The Final Solution

Today was not a good day to be under the bus. Not because it was Friday or Friday the 13th. It was the 13th but most definitely Monday and not Friday. That being said, work under the bus was quite unpleasant as I was being attacked by full squadrons of mosquitoes.

It took quite a while but I managed to install the battery connector - the red thing. That’s two interconnecting plugs with screw holes allowing one or both to be screwed into place. Needless to say one side is bolted to my steel bracket (top of the picture). That used to be the bottom of a bus seat so it’s quite sturdy.

The battery - as can be seen is a cheap lawnmower battery. That still has plenty life left in it. Now the only thing I might redo up there is to slip some plastic sleeving over the cables from the battery to the connector. I didn’t think of it at the time. I was too keen to be out of there and away from the mosquitoes.

Drilling the four bolt holes for the bracket took forever and I had to keep switching drill bits as the drill bits heated up. That and spraying WD40 to lubricate the drill. Needless to say my front is covered with oil splatter and my back and sides are covered with sand. My skin is covered with mosquito bites so I must look quite frightful.

Having done all the connections I slipped inside the bus and switched the battery on. I had to reprogram the controller to have a maximum charge of 12.8v, a charging program for flooded batteries and a maximum discharge of 12.4v. Now I’ll have to see how long that 0.4v lasts me.

While I was down there, I noticed the welds on my battery bracket are showing signs of rust. That’s very disappointing considering there was no rust present when I welded them and that as soon as the welds had all cooled I’d slapped rust-killing primer and then when that had dried, white protective paint on top. I can only assume the rods weren’t that great. I know what you’re going to say... Harbor Freight. Yes - it’s true - my rods came from Harbor Freight. I’ve not noticed a problem with rust from rods before though. Now you see why I paint everything that I put under the bus, white!

Other than that I haven’t done anything else with the bus. I have an idea about a second solar input that’ll be capable of handling higher amperages. 30A is the limit for the charge controller which frankly is quite enough. I doubt I’ll ever be likely to need quite that much power.

Tomorrow or soon - whenever I have time - I’ll test my new (secondhand) battery. By my guesstimation, I reckon that since my Harbor Freight Deep Cycle Dodo was 35AH and many similar batteries are around 30-35AH, this battery is about the same. Assuming the lower end of 30AH and being about to take a starting battery down to 75% only then a quick back of a tax bill calculation shows that I probably have 7.5AH to play with. That means around two hours of just my extraction fans running. We shall see though. Anything over 30 minutes is better than the Harbor Freight battery. That surely has to have been leftover from April 1st!

Lawnmower Man

There once was a book by Stephen King called Lawnmower Man. I saw the film and it was OK. I tried reading another Stephen King book but it was rather a ghastly book so I never bothered with his stuff again. But... Lawnmower Man came to mind because I replaced the battery under the bus with a lawnmower battery.

 This was the original battery. As can be seen from the little blue sticker on the back left, it was manufactured in July 2017 (if it’s a genuine sticker). Actually, I wouldn’t put it past somebody buying a new battery and putting the old one in the box and transferring the date sticker. Anyway, it never had any heavy use and was installed in probably October when there was no real need for ventilation. It was kept solar charged but by March or April when ventilation was needed, it was clear that there was something amis. By May I’d decided the battery had a problem. Today I finally got around to replacing it.

The new battery is dated September 2016. It has been used in a riding lawnmower until I replaced the battery with a new battery about 3 months ago after which it sat in the wind and rain. The old battery had the wires bolted to it under the bus. The new battery I’ve put a battery connector clip. This means that connecting and disconnecting is a simple matter of pulling a plug. Then I have to release the battery from its mount and remove the battery. No bolting on connections while under the bus. So much easier. The connection can be bolted on in plain sight before the battery even goes under the bus.

As I’d not drilled the holes for the clamp that holds the battery down, I did that too. I like my simple design of battery bracket. All it is is two pieces of steel angle on each end, welded and a steel flat welded as a connector with holes drilled to attach the clamps. The clamps themselves are just turnbuckles and cable connectors.

As I now have to mount a socket under the bus I had cut some steel and drilled two holes to bolt the socket and some holes to bolt through the underbus ribs. It turned out quite well. Looking under the bus I’m going to have to be careful as to where I put the bracket and I’m probably going to have to re-route some cables. Not a huge task - just time consuming.

I’d looked at my connectors and wondered if a flat bar would be better so I could mount the battery socket horizontally. As it turned out it looks like my original angle was a far better idea. Now there’s a reason why this is painted green and not white like everything else.

I have a Nissan Xterra as my daily driver. I’ve had it for 12 years and each year I need to respray where the paint has fallen off. Nissan did a terrible job with their clearcoat and it’s a known fault. I’ve been complaining for 12 years about it but Nissan doesn’t give a rat’s arse. As soon as they have your money, they care nothing about you. So, today I went and sprayed some more bare metal where the paint, primer and clearcoat had fallen off. When I finished, the almost full paint can refused to disgorge any more white paint. The nozzle had clogged. No spare nozzle I have seemed to make it work so the clog must be inside the can. This left me with cans of various colors including green so I ended up choosing green and spraying my flat bar, green.

The battery I had saved from the lawnmower was far lighter than the battery I took out from under the bus. Checking the fluid levels, all the cells were full. I’ll have to reprogram my charge controller as this battery has a full charge of 12.8v and a 75% charge of 12.4v. I’m not supposed to go below 75% on a starting battery. This is a starting battery which to replace will cost a massive $21 from Walmart. That’s way better than that Harbor Freight $70 battery. If I have to replace it every 4 months then it’s still going to work out $7 cheaper than the Harbor Freight nightmare.

Had the Harbor Freight battery been any good, I’d have just grinned and bore it, connecting cables under the bus each time the battery needed replacement as it shouldn’t have needed to be replaced for 5 years. As I expect to have to replace the lawnmower battery perhaps every two years or maybe more frequently - depending how badly I misuse it, I needed to install battery connectors.

Today I put the battery connector on the battery and onto the underbus cables. I still have to make the connections, install the bracket and so on. I just ran out of time. I started the day not feeling too well. I’ve not felt well for quite a while. Thinking about it - as there’s a rat on the loose that just refuses to get into a nicely prepared trap, I’m wondering if my ailments are related to bugs the rat spreads around? With luck, tonight will be the night the rat decides to fall in the trap.