Luxury Electrical Restored

As I work through the interior of the 1972 bus, I am learning that there are many layers to the electrical re-visit. I posted about the re-wire of the ceiling circuits (see Ceiling Wiring Rough-In). Today, I go over some of the other modifications I have been doing in the electrical space. I had the interior torn apart, so it seemed like a good opportunity to get after things before I put it all back together again. For example, the cushions have been removed from the rock-n-roll bed, and the cabinets have been emptied. 

Changing Tack

I am absolutely feeling time pressure, as the days get longer and camping season looms. So, I am shifting to getting things good 'nuf for Summer. What does that mean? I am setting aside the headliner. I am setting aside the carpet and the door card stuff. Instead, I am going to focus on getting Hapy operational enough for us to enjoy the Summer. The new reduced scope for the Spring includes the finish electrical (this post), completing the sound deadening (slider door and a few little bits here and there) and getting everything else that was pulled apart put back together. If I have any time opportunities pop up, I will do a little thing here or there so long as it doesn't impact our ability to take Hapy out for a spin or a camping trip.

Furnace Control Moved

Afterburner control

Recall the diesel furnace I added a couple years ago. When I did it, I added a custom computer-based thermostat, called Afterburner, hand-built by a guy in Australia. I had mounted the control unit to the side wall about where the 1979 Westfalia control panel traditionally sat. I decided that I did not need to see the thermostat all the time, and would prefer the less-cluttered look. Also, the LED panel glows whenever there is power (it doesn't have a sleep concept), so at night, it acts like a potentially unwelcome nightlight. I moved that control panel right next to that 1979 control panel: inside the rear cabinet. The wiring was readily available, and simply required another hole to be bored in the wood panel. The temperature probe, of course, needs to be in open space. I had previously routed it up along the C-pillar (between the mid-window and the rear window) and set it sort of hanging on the window frame. Obviously, that was temporary. I am not sure where I will put it now, but according to Ray, Mr. Afterburner, the sensor wire can be extended with CAT5 cable. The extension should work, but if I can avoid adding another variable, I will. Ultimately, I will solve this later. I did, however, run a CAT5 cable from the bottom of the B-pillar back to the furnace control so I could make the modification later, if I so choose.

I discovered during testing, however, that a couple of things are not working properly with the furnace. First, it test-fired okay, and it really pulled the voltage down on the luxury battery. I had forgotten about that, and the fact that I cut off the furnace wire back to the drive battery during the interior tear-out. I will need to upgrade the wiring to thicker gauge to see if that stops the heavy voltage drop, and then maybe re-plumb the wiring to the drive battery. Second, during the test run, it became obvious that the exhaust had become disconnected as exhaust started to appear inside the bus. That's bad. I will need to completely exhume the furnace and re-do the install to make sure there are no leaks. Last, there is something not right with the Afterburner controller. It no longer supports a web access point. So, it has all the other great stuff, but I can't start it remotely. In the end, the furnace will sit unused until I fix the exhaust... and the voltage drop. Maybe I'll figure out what's up with the Afterburner access point after that. Of course, it may be next spring by then.

New Fuse Box

new fuse box

I had been wrestling with a decision about the luxury fuse box for a while. I had been using a spare bay window bus fuse box. It worked well enough, but it was not perfect. It lacked a common positive post, some of the fuses had a common supply side and others did not, and there was a whole relay section that I didn't use. The fuses were the old-style fuses, not the newer bladed ones, and those old-style ones are becoming harder to source, and more expensive. Last, it is kind of big, almost 50 years old and the way I was using it was a hack that would fail. So, I bought a smaller 12-slot fuse box and a master circuit breaker / switch to put between the battery and the fuse box. Since many of the wires were being replaced, and the remaining were going to get at least touched as part of the routing, changing the fuse box was a small incremental increase in scope. I needed to remove the prior box for the noise contain efforts anyway, so I was halfway there already.

Doing the Doing

wire up in process

In the Ceiling Wiring Rough-In post, I described what color wire was going to be used for what. I ran or strung the wires to their destinations, and routed the other end down the driver-side (left) B-pillar, along the front edge of the middle window, under that window around the fridge-cabinet and left things pretty much in a heap right there. I started by completing the routing of the wires along the route that the solar collector wiring ran (See Hapy Gets Solar). I zip-tied the wires together and against the side of the bus and then solar wiring inside the fridge cabinet to hold them secure. Once I determined which fuse spots were to be used for which wire (see below), I mounted the new fuse-box onto the top of the wood box under the rock-n-roll bed which covers the old Westy rectifier.... basically in the same spot as the old one was before.

With the fuse-box in a fixed location, I could determine wire lengths and mount them up. In an ideal world, I would have used ring terminal wire-connectors on the wires. I could not find enough of them on hand, so I just used the bare wires. In classic Paulie Axiom form (See Light a Cigarette, Attract a Bus), I found them after I did this work so I will be slowly retrofitting them onto the wires. Anyway, once the wires were routed, trimmed and connected, I wrapped the bundle in one of those plastic wire tube things.

Fuse Layout

fuse	wire color	purpose
1	Grey	Cab 12V Accessory Plug
2	Purple	Cab Dome Light
3	Yellow	Stereo
4	White	3-switch Dome Light
5	Pink	PopTop Light / 1-switch Dome Light
6	Blue	3-position Westy Light
7	Yellow	Furnace
8	Green	Rock-n-Roll 12V Accessory Plug
9	Green	Sleeping Area Dome Light
10	Orange	Sleeping Area USB Chargers
11	OPEN	OPEN
12	OPEN	OPEN

 

Wait a Second...

wired up

The keen eye will notice that circuit #3 is wired up in the picture on the right, but isn't in the picture above it. Fuse #3 is the stereo. This is interesting only because of the gymnastics I executed to get it there. Before I started the noise project, the power lead for the stereo ran on the floor under the carpet. Yeah, that was not ideal, but it worked short-term. I ran a new power lead behind the dash and through the original wiring harness pass-thru hole in front of the accelerator pedal. From there, it runs along the inner edge of the passenger side frame rail and passes up under the rock-n-roll bed through what looks like a factory drain hole. A closer look at the rear edge of the wood floor will show the yellow wire running along behind / underneath. I didn't stop there, but that's another post I'll write up and post later.

Battery and Ground

Finishing up the circuit, I first confirmed that none of the wires I just hooked up to the fuse-box effectively ran to ground with the multi-meter. I returned the luxury battery to it's old location, and hooked up the ground cable to the same grounding bolt near the fridge cabinet under the seat. With the sound killer installed, it was a little harder to find.

ugly (for now) but functional

My last step was connecting the B+ or positive side. My old set up had many smaller gauge wires all wound together at the battery post. I used a very short stretch of 8 or 10ga wire to bridge from the positive post to a master switch, and then some more of it to bridge from the switch to the fuse-box. The wire was the thickest I had around. I will mind the overall amp usage, but this should not be an issue except for when the furnace first starts up. Even then, I do not expect much system stress. The master switch is a battery/fire-saver, basically, that will prevent more than 100A draw. I don't see this switch ever popping, but it is better to be safe than on fire. Based on the length of the wire, and my uncertainty about it's thickness, it is very possible that the wire will fail before the switch pops. Ultimately, I would need to have every circuit in use and have the furnace kick on to get close to even 50A. So, the switch becomes little more than a means to turn the whole system off.

Completing the Circuits

I had very little in terms of electricity consumers actually connected at this point. So, my ability to test was fairly limited and I only put fuses in the circuits as they were completed. Still, I was able to turn on the light by the front seats, and test the accessory plugs up front and by the rock-n-roll bed. All good. I checked continuity on the circuits which did not yet have a consumer, but I did not really expect any negative findings, and didn't have any. So, I started down the path of hooking up lights.

not as ugly. functional

I started with the light fixture over the sleeping area (pictured above). I used the mounting bolt for my ground, attaching a ring connector to the white wire, and leaving it inside the fixture. To the black and red wires, I connected female wire connectors. My method has been that the power-supply side wire would get a male connector, and continued that throughout. To the green (to fuse 8) and white (to the switch over the slider) supply-side wires I attached male wire connectors. I discovered, as I attempted to install the light fixture, that that 1/2" thick Mega Zorbe sound absorber was too thick for my bolts to reach the riv-nuts. I considered finding longer bolts, but concluded that the heat produced by the light fixture could have a negative impact on the foam, and chose instead to remove the foam where the fixture went. The fixture effectively recessed into the foam, which, I think will actually look better once the headliner goes in. It admittedly looks pretty trash right now. Once the fixture was mounted, I plugged in the wires, and Immediately, the red LED on the fuse-box next to fuse holder 8 lit. This told me that the circuit was good, and just needed a fuse. I popped in the fuse, and the light came on. Sweetness.

so many lighting choices

I followed this same path for the 3-position light over the window behind the driver seat (pictured above)... mounting bolt for ground, male female orientation, even plugging it all in to see the red LED. I needed to add a mounting plate behind the Mega Zorbe, but that was barely post-worthy. I cut out a small section, cut a rectangle of HVAC and screwed it to the bus. I set the fixture where I wanted it, marked and bored the holes. Easy-peasy.

I verified the pop top light at this point, and then shifted to the modified dome light (See Dome Light Mod to Trigger Other Lights). I had tried to mount this light earlier, and the mod wire broke off. I mentioned that in a comment on that original post, but I simply duplicated the effort with a thinner multi-stranded wire. On my repair version, I super glued the wire end down like before, but also added a 1-inch long stretch of superglue to adhere the insulation to the light housing. That bugger was not moving. I wrapped every bit of exposed metal (chair adapters, bits of relay, etc) with electrical tape so nothing would short out after I popped a couple of fuses. Once they were wrapped, and I could get the relay tucked in deep enough, I was able to settle the light fixture into place.

Testing the Lights

Once all of these circuits were completed, I cleaned up Hapy's interior and then hit it with the shop vac. Clean, and de-cluttered, Boo and I tested / played with the lights. The lights up front will work for checking a map or even reading a book. The original dome light, when turned on as a single creates plenty of light in the main cabin to see things on the floor, and even on top of the fridge cabinet. When the modified light circuit is turned on, the entire bus is well lit, from dash to tail gate. Since the rock-n-roll bed is not together, we could not test the reading lights for reading, but that test/play will be very soon.

With the new plan of just getting Hapy ready for the road, I do not feel the same pressure I did before. The lighting is functional, and I learned along the way that I needed to make modifications which would have been unpleasant after the headliner went in. Removing these fixtures for the headliner install will not be difficult either.

Thanks, as always, for following along-