Wiring spaghetti vomit hell

[Joe45]

OK, so this may be a silly question...


There are two ridiculous masses of wire running down the inside of this bus: one on each side, with the driver side one having another in a "T" coming down just behind the driver seat.



Over head there's this box with an image of the rear of the bus on one side-with little LED lights that don't work-and wires on the other.


Today I sat down and identified the wires for the brake lights, turn signal, and backup lights. I don't see a flasher button-probably because originally the bus had all those flashing lights.


Is it a good idea to trace those wires I identified and remove the others? To be safe, I would I.D. tag each wire I remove and leave a few inches to splice back on if necessary.


The other concern is none of the flashers seem to work, so is there a way to install some kind of regular flashing system? I guess I could always install amber flashing LEDs.

[Joe45]

A thought:


Maybe I can splice the identified wires together apart from the harness, then I can disconnect the harness and see that everything runs fine?

[bigskypc50]

What is year is your bus? Might be posable to find a service manual for it. On a side note I don't know why everyone wants to tare into the factory wiring and remove it rewire it etc. I am always the school of thought let the bus be a bus, and your conversion around the factory wiring

[Drew Bru]

Originally Posted by bigskypc50

On a side note I don't know why everyone wants to tare into the factory wiring and remove it rewire it etc. I am always the school of thought let the bus be a bus, and your conversion around the factory wiring

That's the road that we took. We've got the same wiring and light monitor that are in the pictures, but I've seen enough posts here about people trying to troubleshoot electrical problems after having removed their spaghetti vomit wiring that I decided to work around it. It's not all that intrusive in our build anyway.

OP: Make sure you really understand what all of those wires are for before you go cutting. Also wondering, has anyone used this light monitor wiring to connect, say, the upper red or amber lights to their brake or turn signal flashers so as to have higher brake and turn signal lights?

[Rivetboy]

Originally Posted by bigskypc50

What is year is your bus? Might be posable to find a service manual for it. On a side note I don't know why everyone wants to tare into the factory wiring and remove it rewire it etc. I am always the school of thought let the bus be a bus, and your conversion around the factory wiring

Because the factory wiring in many instances is not robust enough to do what our modificatons require. I do believe adamantly if you are not using a conductor , ring it out ,label both ends and coil it up for a spare. Especially bus wiring, that is stranded copper not copper plated aluminum crap.

[brokedown]

I removed half of the wiring from my bus while I had it torn down. Really cleaned up my looms and electrical panel.

[Rivetboy]

Originally Posted by brokedown

I removed half of the wiring from my bus while I had it torn down. Really cleaned up my looms and electrical panel.

I removed everything from the 2 multi pin connectors behind the drivers seat forward. Also planning on adding doors out of a w900 freightliner and that is why the electrical distribution panel was removed and relocated.The harness going to the rear stayed intact and spares were labeled.

[TheHubbardBus]

Originally Posted by bigskypc50

On a side note I don't know why everyone wants to tare into the factory wiring and remove it rewire it etc. I am always the school of thought let the bus be a bus, and your conversion around the factory wiring

Add me to the growing list of people who don't see the point in it. Plus, It's literally a factory-built stub-out to any DC accessories you may end up adding in the future.

[rffffffff]

I removed the wires and relocated the switches that were up top to the lower switch panel left of the driver. It cleaned a lot up and made room for my bookshelf over the whole front of the bus.

I added a couple of relays so you can turn the front four schoolbus lights on with a switch and changed them to reverse lights so I can have outdoor lighting if I need it in front of the bus, and I used a relay to make the back bus lights additional brake lights. That was a bad plan, because it blinds anyone behind me, so I’m going to disconnect them at some point and do something else, maybe more white reverse lights on a switch.

The wiring up into the front upper compartment contained the warning system for the lights, but also the mirror controls, the stereo, the five front marker lights, additional exterior speaker and all of the switches up there.

Once I got it all apart I just carefully brought the wires down to the other switch panel or got rid of them, mostly at the source if I could as I didn’t want to leave any hot wires tied up in a bundle, and it all worked out okay. The warning system needs to be bypassed carefully because if you just unplug it a lot of your lights just won’t work, maybe even brake lights and reverse lights. I had to trace the wires to the lights themselves and find the hot coming off the appropriate switch (or terminal block for the lights and reverse lights) and complete the circuits one by one as I cut out the monitor system and the flasher system. It wasn’t terribly hard, you just have to stay organized and test as you go so you don’t end up with six things not working at once.

The only thing I forgot was my passenger mirror adjuster but it didn’t work anyway so I haven’t gone back to fix it!

If you’re looking to make modifications to the bus lights where you turn on all four at once just be mindful of the current draw. I wasn’t comfortable with all four being turned on with one 12 or 14 awg wire so the relay was necessary.

If anyone needs to know how to wire the relay to accomplish that let me know and I can make a little picture or describe further... it’s easy and inexpensive, but ultimately of limited value thus far for me.

[Rivetboy]

Originally Posted by TheHubbardBus

Add me to the growing list of people who don't see the point in it. Plus, It's literally a factory-built stub-out to any DC accessories you may end up adding in the future.

My feelings on why people rip it out, in many circumstances,is that their is not a cohesive knowledge of how DC distribution systems in general function. That is why so many posts on this site are from clueless people who cut out wiring and then are in a panic why their bus will not start. A cheap HF meter and learning the difference between volts, ohms and amps goes a long way in troubleshooting, modifying and removing excess or unused wiring and labeling the rest for future use.

[TheHubbardBus]

True that. If you have the time, skills, and incentive, go for it.


Can I ask you, Rivet... what were your reasons for removing it?

[Rivetboy]

If you are really serious about ringing wires out purchase a telephone toner. It is a small 9 volt baterry powered tone generator with two leads and alligator clips. One lead to ground and the other lead to the cable you are trying to locate the other end of. Then, you take the toner, which is an inductive speaker, and run its metal tip in the vicinty of the cable and you will start hearing the tone. Then puting the toner tip on each wire you will know the right one as the toner will be loud and clear. This is a lot easier than tring to do it with a meter and by yourself.

[Rivetboy]

Originally Posted by TheHubbardBus

True that. If you have the time, skills, and incentive, go for it.


Can I ask you, Rivet... what were your reasons for removing it?

"Also planning on adding doors out of a w900 freightliner and that is why the electrical distribution panel was removed and relocated."

[TheHubbardBus]

That's a compelling reason

[BlackJohn]

Originally Posted by Rivetboy

If you are really serious about ringing wires out purchase a telephone toner. It is a small 9 volt baterry powered tone generator with two leads and alligator clips. One lead to ground and the other lead to the cable you are trying to locate the other end of. Then, you take the toner, which is an inductive speaker, and run its metal tip in the vicinty of the cable and you will start hearing the tone. Then puting the toner tip on each wire you will know the right one as the toner will be loud and clear. This is a lot easier than tring to do it with a meter and by yourself.

Great advice there Rivet! Did you get that from the doctor on site of all things electrical?


John

[Rivetboy]

Originally Posted by BlackJohn

Great advice there Rivet! Did you get that from the doctor on site of all things electrical?


John

No, that is an original from someone that has 2 or 3 of them in a drawer behind him and at last count 5 Fluke 87DMM in various stages of worn outedness Have never been to that site zero need.

[musigenesis]

Originally Posted by Rivetboy

I removed everything from the 2 multi pin connectors behind the drivers seat forward. Also planning on adding doors out of a w900 freightliner and that is why the electrical distribution panel was removed and relocated.The harness going to the rear stayed intact and spares were labeled.

Man, when I first looked at your post the two pics looked like a single pic, and I couldn't figure out where you found this mutant bus with a huge fuse panel door and a tiny little wheel well.

[musigenesis]

Originally Posted by bigskypc50

On a side note I don't know why everyone wants to tare into the factory wiring and remove it rewire it etc.

I keep cutting through my factory wires accidentally when demoing, so it's kinda been forced on me. Today I actually hit a bundle with my flap disc which was a nice change of pace. Flap discs just take the insulation off so it's an easy tape fix.

Also, as a software engineer who has taken over many projects written by other programmers, there's no joy quite like ripping out useless, overcomplicated stuff and replacing it with something simple and straightforward.

[Rivetboy]

Originally Posted by musigenesis

Man, when I first looked at your post the two pics looked like a single pic, and I couldn't figure out where you found this mutant bus with a huge fuse panel door and a tiny little wheel well.

The Mutant bus booooaahhhaaaahhhaaa coming to a parking lot near you!!! Actually, no

[Rivetboy]

Originally Posted by BlackJohn

Great advice there Rivet! Did you get that from the doctor on site of all things electrical?


John

Now that The context is understood My personal belifs and feelings would move the response level required in this incident to approximatelly chortle, your response may vary.