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Old 05-02-2018, 04:26 PM   #121
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Originally Posted by EastCoastCB View Post
Very cool. Love the idea for the location in the rear for the mini splits!
Cool? Yes. But it will certainly make it difficult to knock the A/C's off the roof with a tree limb.

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Old 05-02-2018, 04:30 PM   #122
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Very cool. Love the idea for the location in the rear for the mini splits!
I thought so.

They will be 8"-12" inboard from the sides of the bus with the tops about even with the raised portion of the bus. I am also considering a roof deck that will extend over them.

The should have plenty of clean airflow and some protection from hazards.
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Old 05-02-2018, 07:18 PM   #123
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Vandal Lock Update:

As careful as I have tried to be with the emergency exit interlocks I screwed something up and wound up with the dreaded "no start". Frustrating as I really tried to take it one step, test, next step etc.

I pulled a bunch of unrelated wiring that ran along with the interlocks and must have knocked something loose.

I proceeded to pull the access panel behind the drivers side wiper, locate & pull the VandalLock relay then put a jumper between pins 1&3. Problem solved.

I then cut all of the associated wiring and the bus still starts
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Old 05-02-2018, 08:16 PM   #124
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Originally Posted by PNW_Steve View Post
Vandal Lock Update:

As careful as I have tried to be with the emergency exit interlocks I screwed something up and wound up with the dreaded "no start". Frustrating as I really tried to take it one step, test, next step etc.

I pulled a bunch of unrelated wiring that ran along with the interlocks and must have knocked something loose.

I proceeded to pull the access panel behind the drivers side wiper, locate & pull the VandalLock relay then put a jumper between pins 1&3. Problem solved.

I then cut all of the associated wiring and the bus still starts
Good to hear it was a relatively easy fix! Don’t forget sawzall blades...
Can’t wait to see this thing go up. 🎉🎊
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Old 05-02-2018, 10:07 PM   #125
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Got the blades.
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Old 05-03-2018, 05:23 PM   #126
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Can’t wait to see this executed!
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Old 05-05-2018, 07:07 PM   #127
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Here we go!

With the jacks welded in and the C channel made up we are ready to rock. The weather turned out good. A little wind but it turned out not to be a problem.

I had concerns that when we cut all of the hat channels between the windows that "stuff" would move significantly. It didn't

I was concerned that as we raised we would have to tweak and manipulate the roof to keep it positioned properly. We didn't.

We got all of the hat channel cut and started turning the nuts on the two front jacks then moved to the back two and did the same. We started out moving in smaller increments and as we got a little confidence we moved to 2" steps.

I was amazed at how quickly we had it up 10". It went very smoothly.

Regarding the C channel; I wanted it to be 1-3/16" wide and 1-1/2" tall. the gent at the fabrication shop told me that he didn't think think that he could make it taller than it was wide. I was ok with that. He quoted me $185 for 22 pieces.

When we picket them up they were 1-3/16" wide and 1-3/16" tall on one side and 1" tall on the other. The bill was $360..... I questioned why it was so much more than the estimate and was told that "it took longer than expected". I have missed the mark on a few bids in my time but never by that margin. He offered to knock an hours shop time off and we wound up at $255. I can live with that.

They fit perfectly. they were snug enough that it took a little persuasion with the C clamps to get them in the hat channel.

We used 4 C clamps to clamp each piece in and tack welded it. Removed the clamps and finished the weld.

We did get slowed down a fair bit because the little Lincoln welder could not keep up. The duty cycle on these is not sufficient to go nonstop on a project like this. Today we got gas for the second welder and Kent would weld with one until is started to get hot then switch to the other and so on. Things went much faster.

We still have a couple left to weld and we have to figure out what we are going to do with the 4 hat channels under the front cap. We cut high enough and didn't remove the exterior sheet metal covering them so we cannot treat them the same as the others.

All in all a very rewarding two days.

And now..... Pictures:
Attached Thumbnails
2018-04-28-3.jpg   2018-04-28-2.jpg   2018-05-04-5.jpg   2018-05-04-1.jpg   small Roof raise pt 2 001.jpg  

small Roof raise pt 2 003.jpg   Roof raise pt 2 004.jpg   Roof raise pt 2 005.jpg  
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Old 05-05-2018, 07:10 PM   #128
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And more pics:
Attached Thumbnails
small Roof raise pt 2 006.jpg   small Roof raise pt 2 008.jpg   small Roof raise pt 2 017.jpg   small Roof raise pt 2 021.jpg  
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Old 05-05-2018, 07:15 PM   #129
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I did a bunch of cleanup on the wiring and bypassed the emergency exit interlock system earlier in the week.

My next wiring task is getting rid of the Light Monitor. Has anyone here dealt with that?

If so, could you share with us how you did it?

Thanks.

S.
Attached Thumbnails
Light Monitor 1 small.jpg   Light monitor 2 small.jpg  
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Old 05-05-2018, 07:20 PM   #130
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Don't know why we don't see more roof raises done this way. Did the front cap just unbutton?
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Old 05-05-2018, 07:30 PM   #131
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Don't know why we don't see more roof raises done this way. Did the front cap just unbutton?
No. We cut the front cap just above the rivet line in a manner similar to what Elliott tid on Millicent.
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Roof raise small 008.jpg   Roof raisesmall 009.jpg  
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Old 05-05-2018, 07:37 PM   #132
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And your plan is to overlap the old rivets and put new rivets in between the old one
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Old 05-05-2018, 07:45 PM   #133
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And your plan is to overlap the old rivets and put new rivets in between the old one
That is the plan.
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Old 05-05-2018, 10:02 PM   #134
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BEAUTIFUL!

looks so familiar! IMO a ten inch raise is the best balance of styling and improved roominess.
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Old 05-05-2018, 10:25 PM   #135
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Very nicely done. Looks great.
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Old 05-06-2018, 06:56 AM   #136
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Steve,

That looks awesome! Things are coming together so nicely!
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Old 05-21-2018, 12:12 PM   #137
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Quote:
Originally Posted by PNW_Steve View Post
I did a bunch of cleanup on the wiring and bypassed the emergency exit interlock system earlier in the week.

My next wiring task is getting rid of the Light Monitor. Has anyone here dealt with that?

If so, could you share with us how you did it?

Thanks.

S.
Life has thrown up some speed bumps that have gotten in the way of bus progress. I am finally back at it today.

I need to get this mess out of the way.

Anyone here have any experience with these?

Thanks


Edit: Oops. I thought the pictures would follow the quote. Pics of the light indicator gizmo that I am trying to remove are one page back.
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Old 05-21-2018, 01:02 PM   #138
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Is your goal to delete the monitor and abandon the wires in place (or re-purpose them), or to remove the surplus wire too?

As I recall there's a flasher module down in the electrical panel that does the switching, then the signals come up through the monitor and from there fan out to the 8-way flashers. No matter what the final plan for the wires I'd start by following the wires from the front 8-way lamps back to the monitor. With those removed the clutter will be improved. You may then be able to make an informed guess as to which wires go to the rear 8-ways and disconnect those too, as well as figure out which wires go down to the flasher module.

With all the wires from the 8-ways pared back it'll be much easier to see what needs to be done about the brake, turn, clearance, and reverse wires.
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Old 05-21-2018, 02:00 PM   #139
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Thanks for the info.

My goal is to delete the monitor panel.

It appears to me that the source for each light comes into the panel, passes through a coil and then leaves the panel headed for the individual light. There is a reed switch inside each coil that switches the LEDs on the display.

If I am understanding correctly, I should find the two wires that connect to each coil, remove them from the circuit board and connect them together.

Am I on the right track?

Thanks
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Old 05-21-2018, 03:18 PM   #140
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Well you've now looked at the monitor circuit more closely than I have! Is that switch-in-coil lamp outage monitor circuit used for all the lights on the monitor, or only for the 8-way flashers? It seems like a source of trouble if the multi-lamp circuits (clearance, brake, etc) went through in the same way.

Yes I think your approach for bypassing/deleting the monitor sounds fine.
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