Battery Disconnect Switches?

[destinysternod]

Hello fellow skoolies!

I am trying to determine if my skoolie has a battery disconnect switch. She's a 2000 Blue Bird mini bus. I've read of others having such a switch but I'm not exactly sure where it would be located. There isn't a switch located in the compartment where the batteries are so I figure there isn't one, but it would be good to know for sure!

We are in the process of disconnecting the wires to the speakers and possibly the emergency exits and emergency hatch due to the risk of them draining the battery, and they're just rather annoying. But I am just a little worried about cutting wires while the battery is connected. I know it is very unlikely to get shocked and whatnot but after losing a family member to being electrocuted, I'd rather just play it safe. So, it would be nice to locate the switch (if I have one) instead of having to disconnect the actual batteries!

Any advice would be most appreciated!

[nat_ster]

Follow the battery cables.

If your bus has a second battery underneath, it may not have a disconnect.
Many of them POS short one ton van buses here don't have a disconnect.

Nat

[destinysternod]

Thanks natster! I'm positive now that we indeed do not have one! We ended up just disconnecting everything. I was going to just disconnect the negative end but after having a spark from the wheelchair lift thingy we decided to disconnect everything.

Now I'm trying to figure out the whole wheelchair lift thing that's by the batteries. The previous owner removed the actual lift but something is still being connected to the batteries. Here's where it connects to the batteries.



I followed the wire the best I could from the batteries, and found that it led to either here:


or here?


I am pretty sure that it's the first one, as it's in the same casing as the wire I was following before I lost sight of it above the gas tank. I know I am not the smartest when it comes to electrical, as my gpa proves after a year of physics, BUT I don't understand why it would lead to here? It looks like it's just a ground but that makes no sense as it should have been what was powering the previous wheelchair lift.

Does anyone have any experience/knowledge/advice???

[nat_ster]

The first pic will be the ground wire.

The second pic is a hose going into a tank. Looks like a air hose.

Nat

[somewhereinusa]

The top two pictures are a circuit breaker, what Nat said on the third and forth.

[destinysternod]

Thanks nat and somewhereinusa!

I'm also just wondering if I can disconnect that circuit breaker and remove it since the wheelchair lift has already been removed? I wasn't sure when I saw that what it led to was just a ground.

[cowlitzcoach]

The red cable is a hot lead either coming directly from the batteries or going directly to the lift.

The lift motor, for all practiacl purposes, is no different from an electric starter. It runs the pump for the lift hydraulics.

Because it is such a power hog it needs a good power source. On most newer buses the lift has an on/off switch on the dash that operates a relay to send power to the lift. That way very little power has to go through the switch up front.

As far as battery disconnect switches go, if it had one it would be near to where the batteries are located. Not all buses came from the factory with them, regardless of the size of the bus. Be aware that not everything is shut off on some of the newer buses. Some of the computers need to keep power on in order to remember what they are supposed to be doing.

Some buses instead of a master disconnect have a relay that powers up the accessory panel so that things like heaters and lifts will only work when the ignition is in the run position.

[somewhereinusa]

You can take it out, just be sure you get that red wire that is hooked to the circuit breaker unhooked from where ever it is hooked to a battery.