running overhead lights with engine off

[druidwood]

I had read that one of the electrical panels (thing that wires connect to) was for things that need the bus to be running and other for things that don't require it, however nothing works on my bus without it running. SO does one need to add a new panel and connect it directly to the battery in order to get say the overhead lights to work with the engine off? I have two, huge batteries and with LED lights assume I could run the lights a lot without impacting the batteries. Thanks.

[BlackJohn]

What position was the ignition key in when you tried this?

John

[druidwood]

Yes, still no lights unfortunately, just screaming air brake warning sound. Hoping to have lights with no key (or alarms) required.

[bluebird90]

Many buses use an ignition triggered solenoid to operate other power needs. It reduces the power that the switch needs to carry. Find that solenoid and
disconnect the wires that you don't want going thru the ignition. Run those straight to battery

[BlackJohn]

Originally Posted by druidwood

Yes, still no lights unfortunately, just screaming air brake warning sound. Hoping to have lights with no key (or alarms) required.

You never came close to answering about the key? Do you need help or not?

John

[druidwood]

Sorry John, kept losing my messages, the answer is yes I did try with the key in the ignition in the on, but not start position and the lights still did not work.

[druidwood]

Thanks for info. Do you know if there are usually any connectors already coming right off the battery in the panel box? Or are all those connections in the panel box running from the engine's power and have nothing to do with the battery?

[BlackJohn]

Does your ignition have an accessory position? Try that first. They do come on when the engine is running?

John

[cadillackid]

inside the electrical panel of my bus are 3 power bars.. each power bar has a row of silver circuit breakers.. most all of them are 20 amps.. one row is BAT+. meaning it has power at all times...(this is where you wire in things you want to be always powered.. ie charge port for phones, maybe a light?, clock, etc) one row is energized by a solenoid for when the key is on the ACC (accessory) position.. and the last row is for items that operate when the key in the 'RUN' position..it is also a solenoid to turn this on. (items on the ACC bar will operate when key is in Run). so you connect to whichever bar you like..

my solenoids have 2 Big wires on them and 2 little wires.. One big wire goes to the Battery.. this wire should have power all the time.. its easy to spot as fro mthe solenoid it appears to go down into the body..

the other Big wire goes to the bar with all of the circuits on it... this Onlty has power when the solenoid is energized...

one little wire is connected to the bus body.. (ground)... the other little wire goesoff into the harness.. if you turn your key to run, you should be able to measure voltage across both little wires with a meter.. and you should be able to measure voltage from your circuit bar to ground.. if you have power across the little wires but only on one Big wire then the solenoid is bad.. the solenoid will likely be a round "can" about 2 " in diameter by maybe 2" tall . they make a definite "snap" sound when you turn on the power.

-Christopher

[Mountain Gnome]

You will not need a new "panel," but you will need someone who understands wiring to help you, or you will need a crash-course to learn yourself.

You should start with finding the wiring diagrams for your bus. you can find links on this website to locate them. Even if you don't understand them, the person(s) who help you will benefit from them.

If your panel is like mine, there will be "hot" terminals on it that feed power to all the different systems. You will need to rewire the leads for the lights from these terminals.

without actually being there, it will be hard for anyone to give you any real assistance on what exactly to do, unless you have Google Glasses.

[Mountain Gnome]

And I like your bus. I think it is a TC1000, according to Wikipedia. I love the emergency door behind the driver's seat, and the greater clearance underneath with taller tires, compared to mine. This was the bus that got me into buses. The one I wanted was $6000, and sold. I saw another for $10,000 on craigslist. I heckled the guy and sent him links to newer similar-sized buses all over the country at half the price, but he was like "too bad: it's $10,000 because it is here, not there." Didn't make sense to me.

Nice you have a Cummings. The two I saw had Cats.

[Twigg]

Originally Posted by Mountain Gnome

And I like your bus. I think it is a TC1000, according to Wikipedia. I love the emergency door behind the driver's seat, and the greater clearance underneath with taller tires, compared to mine. This was the bus that got me into buses. The one I wanted was $6000, and sold. I saw another for $10,000 on craigslist. I heckled the guy and sent him links to newer similar-sized buses all over the country at half the price, but he was like "too bad: it's $10,000 because it is here, not there." Didn't make sense to me.

Nice you have a Cummings. The two I saw had Cats.

To the price of a local bus you have to add $500 for every 1000 miles it is away from you. That's the rough cost of getting it home.

That's probably what he meant, but it sounds like even doing that he was too high. It's also why you will likely lose an auction to a local bidder ... they can afford to go higher and still get a good price.

[druidwood]

Thank you all for the info. It gives me a bit of an understanding and a place to start as I am not sure I can find anyone to work on the bus electronics. I searched everywhere for a schematic of the electrical system to no avail and was told they are all slightly different anyway. I will just use the programming method of trying to do one step at a time and carefully marking the wires as I go. I think my ignition just has accessory and start (not 3 positions like my car) and accessory sets the low air alarm for the brakes and door alarms if open, so is not a user friendly position for running lights.

[druidwood]

Yes lights work when engine is running, only seem to have 2 positions on my ignition and lights won't work in accessory position, though sadly all the alarms do. My bus seems to be extra kid proofed with air brake bleeds, battery turn off, and nothing that can run when bus not running. Will try the advice about tracing the solenoid wires. Thanks.

[Brad_SwiftFur]

On my bus, I have the IH installed factory systems - the headlights, turn signals, gauges and such. The Bluebird installed turn signals, brake lights and such usually run off the IH provided wiring harness. My marker and clearance lights run off a separate switch on the BB control panel, as I expect the interior lights would (I'd have to check to make sure). There's a large relay in the BB control panel that turns on with the ignition switch and most of the BB installed items do nothing without that relay engaged.

[Rusty]

Originally Posted by druidwood

I had read that one of the electrical panels (thing that wires connect to) was for things that need the bus to be running and other for things that don't require it, however nothing works on my bus without it running. SO does one need to add a new panel and connect it directly to the battery in order to get say the overhead lights to work with the engine off? I have two, huge batteries and with LED lights assume I could run the lights a lot without impacting the batteries. Thanks.

I'm installing my LED lights and needed to energize that circuit without leaving the key on also. My lights are split in 2 circuits. All the lights on the roof- 5 in front, 5 in back and 2 side markers are run off of 1 circuit in my bus. The lower half of the bus is lit on another circuit. The redundancy is for safety- if one blows a fuse, the other still is lit and keeps you visible.

So I just back-fed one of the lights +12V and it lights-up the entire circuit without buzzers and key. I like the idea of being able to do this with a switch, but the ability to accidentally drain the batteries is real. Something like Priority Start ! would prevent dead battery ruining your trip. ~$100

[dan-fox]

That's an interesting looking piece of kit! Have you had personal experience with it?

[Robin97396]

I have the harbor freight version of a battery booster which serves as my house battery for my water pump or whatever needs 12v power. Much safer than sipping power from the start batteries.