Rewire bus electric panel HELP!!

Dpwhitlock · 05-20-2021, 12:12 PM

So, we purchased a 2004 e450 Ford micro bird. One day my other half decided to take the WHOLE electric panel box and dismantle it in ways I do not understand. Well, apparently we needed some of the wires and what nots so our bus has been sitting, getting started and moved periodically. Unfortunately the break lights, tail lights, turn signals reverse lights and clearance lights, heated mirrors, aux fan... no longer were connected.

Well, now that I have the time, I am trying to reconnect everything... with no electrical experience... eeeeek! Thankfully I have gotten most of the issues solved with the schematics, but my clearance lights are stumping me. Pretty much I’m trying to just reconnect EVERYTHING..

When I fixed the rear lights, reverse tail brakes, I didn’t have everything hooked up just the wires.. but with other things not working I tried to connect the solenoid.. first it sparked.. tried again.. now it clicks. And all of my dashboard starts going crazy! Somethings not right obviously..

Then I have this panel... hmm relays .. for what? I don’t think anything I need has a relay.. but maybe the clearance do but if so I have nothing that would hook up to it?

So questions... since my bus ran without the solenoid and this lil relay panel... can I get rid of them? Maybe connect the clearance lights with a fuse tap into my ford fuse for the headlamp switch? Do the same thing for the aux fan And heated mirrors?

Or can anyone tell me if somethings missing on my lil “make shift” panel??

Mountain Gnome · 05-20-2021, 12:21 PM

.................

ewo1 · 05-20-2021, 01:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dpwhitlock

So, we purchased a 2004 e450 Ford micro bird. One day my other half decided to take the WHOLE electric panel box and dismantle it in ways I do not understand. Well, apparently we needed some of the wires and what nots so our bus has been sitting, getting started and moved periodically. Unfortunately the break lights, tail lights, turn signals reverse lights and clearance lights, heated mirrors, aux fan... no longer were connected.

Well, now that I have the time, I am trying to reconnect everything... with no electrical experience... eeeeek! Thankfully I have gotten most of the issues solved with the schematics, but my clearance lights are stumping me. Pretty much I’m trying to just reconnect EVERYTHING..

When I fixed the rear lights, reverse tail brakes, I didn’t have everything hooked up just the wires.. but with other things not working I tried to connect the solenoid.. first it sparked.. tried again.. now it clicks. And all of my dashboard starts going crazy! Somethings not right obviously..

Then I have this panel... hmm relays .. for what? I don’t think anything I need has a relay.. but maybe the clearance do but if so I have nothing that would hook up to it?

So questions... since my bus ran without the solenoid and this lil relay panel... can I get rid of them? Maybe connect the clearance lights with a fuse tap into my ford fuse for the headlamp switch? Do the same thing for the aux fan And heated mirrors?

Or can anyone tell me if somethings missing on my lil “make shift” panel??

Is Micro Bird a Bluebird body ???

If so, try looking here for some more BB info.
https://vantage.blue-bird.com/Portal/Vantage-Home.aspx

Dpwhitlock · 05-20-2021, 02:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ewo1

Is Micro Bird a Bluebird body ???

If so, try looking here for some more BB info.
https://vantage.blue-bird.com/Portal/Vantage-Home.aspx

That is where I got the schematics to get done what I did. Thanks tho!

Simplicity · 05-20-2021, 04:07 PM

I disconnected a bunch of my wires for my 8 way lights and such. I labeled each end before disconnecting.

I then moved switches and such around and reconnected the ones I needed.

The ones that are left over are bundled and hanging on a hook. I'm using the bus for a while before permanently removing them. I will also document what I removed, colors, what they were for.

So, while I don't have a full answer for you, I just wanted to let you know I too am discontinuing some wiring. As long as everything else is working and things are well labeled, I think it's okay to remove them.

ewo1 · 05-20-2021, 05:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dpwhitlock

When I fixed the rear lights, reverse tail brakes, I didn’t have everything hooked up just the wires.. but with other things not working I tried to connect the solenoid.. first it sparked.. tried again.. now it clicks. And all of my dashboard starts going crazy! Somethings not right obviously..

Disconnect the solenoid and see if everything goes back to normal with the dash, and bus starts. If so then leave it alone.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dpwhitlock

Then I have this panel... hmm relays .. for what? I don’t think anything I need has a relay.. but maybe the clearance do but if so I have nothing that would hook up to it?

Quite simply the relays might be there just to carry a higher current load that the "Switches" or "ford chassis wires" might be able to handle.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dpwhitlock

So questions... since my bus ran without the solenoid and this lil relay panel... can I get rid of them? Maybe connect the clearance lights with a fuse tap into my ford fuse for the headlamp switch? Do the same thing for the aux fan And heated mirrors?

I wouldn't go out of my way to remove them. trace the wires and if they do go to your clearance lamps or other high current load, just put it back to work the way it was designed to do so. If you try tapping your clearance lamps top your light switch, it could be quite possible that the switch could overheat and wear out prematurely.
My best guess would be that Bluebird used those relays as an interface point to the Ford chassis wiring. So if it aint broke, don't fix it!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dpwhitlock

Or can anyone tell me if somethings missing on my lil “make shift” panel??

impossible to answer this question.

Dpwhitlock · 05-20-2021, 06:05 PM

First, thanks for your time

Well see, it was already removed (Idiotically) , so I’m trying to hook it back up. And I can’t get my clearance lights (most important) to come back on. I was thinking that it was because the relays and solenoid wasn’t connected. So I am not able to figure out how to correctly hook everything back up, and I can’t trace my wires properly. Or it could (maybe?) be that I don’t have bulbs in all of the lamps.
I think this shows that it’s hooked to a relay, but if so I don’t know how to tell which.
Maybe I could tap into a different fuse (Something I don’t use/need) and keep the switch that it is already installed to?

I’m going from all possibilities .. even if not logical.. cuz I dunno what I’m doing 🤷🏻*♀️ Trying to learn

ewo1 · 05-20-2021, 07:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dpwhitlock

First, thanks for your time

Well see, it was already removed (Idiotically) , so I’m trying to hook it back up. And I can’t get my clearance lights (most important) to come back on. I was thinking that it was because the relays and solenoid wasn’t connected. So I am not able to figure out how to correctly hook everything back up, and I can’t trace my wires properly. Or it could (maybe?) be that I don’t have bulbs in all of the lamps.
I think this shows that it’s hooked to a relay, but if so I don’t know how to tell which.
Maybe I could tap into a different fuse (Something I don’t use/need) and keep the switch that it is already installed to?

I’m going from all possibilities .. even if not logical.. cuz I dunno what I’m doing ��*♀️ Trying to learn

Speaking only about the wiring diagram....

The relay is K1. It is a single pole, double throw relay.
With a voltmeter you should see 12 v on position # 30 of the rrelay. The relay on the diagram is wired as a normally open circuit.

TS-2; position # 7; when the tail lights are turned on, 12 volts should appear here. This 12v signal activates the relay on position # 86 and you should also see 12 v here when the tail lights are on.

The relay will then close the contacts, shorting/ bridging position 30 and 87.
This send the 12 volts from position 30/87 to position 13 of the ts-2.

This turns on the clearance lamps of the bus body.

Easy way to find the right wire, open up a clearance lamp, remove the bulb. Find out which side is ground and on the other side, apply 12 volts to it.

Leave the tail lights/ headlight switch off.

Then go to each relay, and look for 12 volts on position 87 on each of the relays.

All the relays are numbered the same so don’t worry, just find the 12 volts on position 87.

If you pull out one of the relays you should see the position numbers where the wires go.

Once you identified the correct relay, verify the feed voltages.

Let us know if this works or not.

musigenesis · 05-20-2021, 07:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dpwhitlock

I can’t get my clearance lights (most important) to come back on.

My clearance lights/identification lamps have their own switch on the side to turn them on and off. Maybe you have a switch for this as well and you just turned it off accidentally?

Simplicity · 05-20-2021, 08:38 PM

On my work school bus, a cutaway van (I'm assuming that's what the OP owns), the clearance lights are part of the headlights. They won't come on with the headlight switch in Auto, I have to manually turn the headlights on for the clearance lights to come on.

I'm not sure if that's the way the OP bus, but might be.

Here's the tracing tool I use. It is a great way to find where wires route and terminate.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Fluke-Netwo...B&gclsrc=aw.ds

Also, I'd call the body manufacturer and see if they can shed any light on the matter. I've heard other posters have had some success with this. Probably depends on the person answering the phones.

Dpwhitlock · 05-21-2021, 07:46 PM

I can’t figure out how to quote On this thing, sorry for that.

Yeah, the clearance lights are hooked to a switch , not directly a relay. But the schematics that shows a relay doesn’t have a switch. And the one that shows the switch doesn’t show the relay .. hmmm

I disconnected the switch and connected directly to the relay (that I found not connected to that panel thanks to ewo1 thanks!!) unfortunately that didnt solve my problem.

I feel like something is missing connecting the solenoid because the bus won’t start, but the flickering on my dash is now not as strong after moving my clearance lights to the relay instead of the switch. Maybe I need them both but I have nothing showing me how that connects or any extra wires that it would need to be...

If I were to remove my solenoid (since most things worked without it) I don’t know how I would have my circuit breaker hooked up (which I need 10a for my lights)

I do drive a school bus for a living so I do know about all the switches and what not. I actually spoke with the mechanic who told me my best bet was to hook everything back up that would be needed... so here I am

Woulda been nice if things hadn’t been disconnected.. but it is what it is. Thanks for all of y’alls help!

kcblkeeley · 05-23-2021, 02:19 PM

I wish I could really help but your best shot is get a 12v buzzer, hook it to a bulb socket or whatever you are tracing and send 12v to each wire until it buzzes. When it does, label it and move on to the next issue. As far as your ignition, it could be something as simple as a door or roof safety switch preventing it from turning over. Best of luck.

You may also like: