TheCrabsHomestead

Stage 14: Bus Electrical AKA Spaghetti

Let me start by saying, I am not an electrician. My husband is not an electrician. We have some electrical experience, but never on a bus. We just never had the confidence because it was a new skill to learn more about. If we are going to have an even more amazing homestead one day, I need to know how electricity works on my temporary home. Old Chitty Bang lost about 30 pounds in unnecessary electrical wire! Thanks to a new and very knowledgeable friend, he got us squared away with removing things I didn’t have a clue what they were for. Thanks Robbie. You are the best….Around…and no one’s ever gonna keep you down…;)

Front flasher area Exposed
Front flasher area Exposed
Front Wires Exposed
Front Wires Exposed
Lots of wires to figure out
Lots of wires to figure out
All that wire!
All that wire!
Yup, this more organized too :)
Yup, this is more organized too, actually.
This is more organized too...I know it doesn't look like it though!
This is more organized too…I know it doesn’t look like it though!
Now more clean!
Now more clean!
Even this wiring is cleaned up a lot! Don't look at the dirty floor! lol.
Even this wiring is cleaned up a lot! Don’t look at the dirty floor! lol.

And, of course, Murphy’s Law will always come into play…especially when you have no idea what you are doing. We broke the solenoid in the breaker panel that controls the side yellow lights (clip lights I believe is what they are called), and some other stuff (I told you I don’t know what we did in this process, lol. I just absorbed it). So we found one on ebay for $20 and got a new one. I do want to buy another for our “On the Road Equipment” box we want to make. Two is one and one is none…

Old Solenoid. Notice the little wire exposed at the top...a nut of a sort is supposed to go on that. Crab totally ripped that little B off.
Old Solenoid. Notice the little wire exposed at the top…a nut of a sort is supposed to go on that. Crab totally ripped that little B off.
And here is the brand spanking new one:) Pretty!
And here is the brand spanking new one:) Pretty!
Side by Side
A Solenoid Side by Side

We steadily worked on cleaning up the wiring and re-taping and re-looming everything…

Front Panel above driver cleaned up
Front Panel above driver cleaned up
The before and after of the mass part of the mess
The before and after of the mass part of the mess
A cleaned up breaker panel! I did not take a picture of the before, but if you ever have seen a bus panel...you would agree that this looks way better :)
A cleaned up breaker panel! I did not take a picture of the before, but if you ever have seen a bus panel…you would agree that this looks way better 🙂

I am so happy to say that this part is over. Although, we will be revisiting the electrical for the house part, I am happy to be past this specific part. Why? Because now that we finished that, we were able to move on to running the wires for the speakers, the radio, amp, back up camera and screen, and some LED lights for the exterior! Yay progress!!

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