Rebuild progress - just hired an electrician . . .

[dukegrad98]

Haven't had time to post much lately.  My minor remodel of an existing coach has turned into a full-on outsourced rebuild.  The interior cabinetry and wood build-out is nearly complete, and all looks great in cherry hardwood.  Two of the three mini-split units are installed and running (just lacking the bedroom).  The old gasoline generator has been yanked out, and I have almost completed a diesel unit to replace it -- new radiator comes tomorrow and then I can button it up and slide it in.  New kitchen appliances are all in, and I am waiting on the granite countertop people to come and template it out.  The entire subfloor has been replaced and reinforced. 

My general contractor basically ran out of time and skills on the wiring, so today I made the call on bringing in a professional electrician.  Some of the original 12V wiring had overheated badly enough to melt bundles of itself together with the insulation/sheathing.  The idea of an electrical fire scares me pretty good, so I figure it's smart money to bring in a pro and get it right from the start.  I've got a mix of 12V and 24V DC LED lighting (ordered a ton of LED stuff, should be here any day), plus some 110V AC sockets here and there in the bus and to the appliances, and finally some 240V runs to the mini split units.  The panel will be set up for a power pole input or the generator input.  At some future point I might do an inverter and battery bank, but right now I think I'll just run the genset while I travel. 

I had hoped to be done with this thing before now, but I had no idea how much work was going to be required when I bought it and started.  Still, I'm looking forward to sharing some photos with you guys once she's done.  I'd like to predict a timeline on that, but it's like a budget -- I'll just miss it if I do! 

Cheers, John

[Oonrahnjay]

(snip)  I had hoped to be done with this thing before now, but I had no idea how much work was going to be required when I bought it and started. 

     John, those are words that we all live by!  It sounds as if you're making a lot of good progress -- and, as most of us, going forward means running into issues and problems that you didn't even know you had.  And those issues and problems slow the project down.  But you're doing well so keep it up and keep moving!
     Best wishes,  BH  NC   USA

[Low Class]

Is this Bob G's previous bus?  If it is, nice!

[robertglines1]

It was mine.new owner decided to make it over. wish him the best. He has basically started from scratch. have offered him support if he wants. dealing with 12    24    120   and 220   in one coach is difficult.    Best of luck and make it your own!!   Bob Glines. 

[dukegrad98]

Is this Bob G's previous bus?  If it is, nice!

Yep, that's the one!  Bob's right that we got DEEP into it; and wound up starting basically from the shell like so many other folks here.  Hindsight's 20/20, right?!  I'd probably be done with it except for the slides, which add a lot of space and complexity -- but the slides were why I ponied up for his old coach.  I wanted the extra room and was willing to deal with the hassle of designing around it. 

I just responded to Bob's PM about wiring.  120/240 is easy, since the genset is providing 240 to the panel -- just split out the legs and go from there.  The LED lighting for the entire bus is only something like 50W -- that's about 18 feet of rigid strip lighting (kitchen, bathroom, bedroom areas) and then 40 or so recessed puck lights.  I'm just installing a 120AC-12DC converter and a 120AC-24DC converter in the wiring closet to handle that.  I've got another separate 12DC converter to run all of the flexible LED tape ambient lighting (about 20m worth).  For such low demand, there just wasn't any point in trying to get wiring down to the batteries, vanner, etc.  Converters are cheap and good enough for this use.  AC and microwave are probably my biggest electrical loads, with occasional use of the hot water heater.  The oven/stove unit is propane. 

The rest of my generator parts (radiator replacement) came in today, so I'm pretty well on my way to having that done.  Maybe I can find a couple hours to weld a new skid for it this weekend, then get it into one of the vented bays. 

Onward!!
Cheers, John