What's her first name? Quickly. CRINDY!

[weboughtabus]

Originally Posted by jjhwick119

What are you doing about the wall below chair rail? That's the main thing I wanted to see in framing. I was going to use 2x3 going vertical above the chair rail, and then a horizontal one at the very bottom at the floor allowing me to run electrical and plumbing between chair rail and lower 2x3 and still attach a wall peice that goes to the floor and covers chair rail so you dont see it

That's probably a good way of handling it. If you have access to a table saw with a dado head, that'd be pretty easy to manage. Set it up once, cut all your 2x3's. Another option would be to clamp them all together with some pipe/bar clamps and then do some overlapping passes with a circular saw. It might not end up being the prettiest carpentry you've ever done, but it'll be the backside of something tucked into the wall.

[consti2tion]

I haven’t even decided if I will do anything about it honestly. Our bus is so small that none of it will be exposed realistically. If you are going to do it that way I would stick some pvc pipe in the walls for future wiring, so it will act as a conduit. Most of my wiring will be ran under the bus in weather tight conduit. Less stuff to try to hide inside of the bus.

[jjhwick119]

I thought I read somewhere on here not to run the wiring through a conduit due to heat buildup? Am I mistaken

[consti2tion]

Oh I’m not sure. I have not read that nor does not make a lot of sense to me as commercial buildings have electrical ran through conduit, in hot ass false ceilings and attics.

[Twigg]

Originally Posted by jjhwick119

I thought I read somewhere on here not to run the wiring through a conduit due to heat buildup? Am I mistaken

You are not mistaken.

Electrical codes for buildings specify the rules for wiring in conduit. They are to do with the temp capacity of the wire covering, and the conductor size, especially if the wires will run close to capacity.

Mostly we are covered by RV rules, and there aren't that many. Oversize the wires and you will normally be just fine, especially as the wire runs for 120V are really quite short.

12V is not covered by building codes, but 12V is going to give you more to think about than 120V. With 12V I would always calculate the maximum amperage for a 3% drop, then go up 2 sizes on the wiring.

This is more difficult for the heavy-gauge wires ... between the batteries and Inverter, for example. In that case I would use the heaviest I could get and keep the run as short as possible.

[consti2tion]

Very interesting! So just out of curiosity I shouldn’t have any issues running 12g electrical through flexible weather tight conduit? I imagine my longest run would be 10-12 feet.

[PNW_Steve]

Conduit fill table :

Conduit Fill Table - Electrical References - Elliott Electric Supply

[consti2tion]

Originally Posted by PNW_Steve

Conduit fill table :

Conduit Fill Table - Electrical References - Elliott Electric Supply

Awesome! Thank you very much

[cadillackid]

one thing to think about in regards to wiring.. is I run my Lowest voltage the Shortest distance.. ultimately the low voltage wiring will take bigger wire per watt than high voltage..

if you think about wire sizing in amps (as mostly thats how its listed..).. 1200 watts at 12 volts is 100 amps.. 1200 watts at 120 volts is 10 amps... 1200 watts at 12 volts needs a LOT bigger wire than 1200 watts at 120 volts!! so I try and have my inverter closer to my batteries and then my high voltage loads farther away
-Christopher

[consti2tion]

I see what you mean for sure. Say that I am going to put my house batteries on the passenger side of the bus, I will have an isolated tied in between the house batteries and the starting batteries. Do I need to run the 2/0 wire from the starting batteries to the isolator/house batteries? I know the alternator isn’t made to charge 6 batteries but for the sake of using a few electronics while in transit I figured the 220 amp alternator would be okay. Even considering just buying a spare alternator to keep in the bus for longer trips just in case.
Thanks for all of your help everyone!

[PNW_Steve]

Wire size calculator:

https://www.wirebarn.com/Wire-Calculator-_ep_41.html

[Rovobay]

nice bus. that is pretty much what I am looking for.

[jjhwick119]

Hows the build coming along?

[consti2tion]

It’s kind of at a pause for the past few weeks, unfortunately I still have to maintain my damn house haha. But I did get the futon/couch built for my wife to sit on while we are traveling. Took it for a small road trip to Weatherford and back last weekend, helped me to realize there are a few things I need to address for my own comfort ha. Hopefully will be prepping it for paint next week and then painting next Sunday/Monday.

I’ll try to upload some pictures soon.

I need to check out your build!

[jjhwick119]

Originally Posted by consti2tion

It’s kind of at a pause for the past few weeks, unfortunately I still have to maintain my damn house haha. But I did get the futon/couch built for my wife to sit on while we are traveling. Took it for a small road trip to Weatherford and back last weekend, helped me to realize there are a few things I need to address for my own comfort ha. Hopefully will be prepping it for paint next week and then painting next Sunday/Monday.

I’ll try to upload some pictures soon.

I need to check out your build!

Whenever i get all legal and can drive it around, I may have to make a trip out your way and come visit and talk bus if there's somewhere i can park it and get to easily. I mailed off my vermont registration a week ago and am waiting to hear back.

[consti2tion]

Haven't posted in awhile. But been doing some work on the bus with the wife. She's the creative one with the paints and colors. Hung a small window unit out of the emergency escape windows.

We've got the grey water tank hung up, plumbed to the tub, and stubbed out for the sink drain. Hung the black water tank for now, need to plumb in the toilet. Picked up an RV Propane tank for 80 bucks, it's even 3/4 full score! Got the slide out futon finished and stained. Boxed in the wheel wells and put a couple of small cabinets in and painted. Tinted the front windshield with an "eyebrow", working on the side windows, about 2/3rds of the way done. Installed a head unit and a couple of speakers. Need to install the trim work for the step-well.

Next on the list will be getting a fresh water tank, some pex, water pump, etc. Need to finally decide where to install the batteries and where I will put the electrical panel and all of that nonsense. Also need to hang the propane tank and get that all plumbed in. Going to most likely put a mini split unit in toward the end of the year will be ran off of shore power or generator power. Have to build a little rack of some sort or put deeper skirts on the bus and install on the side?

Too many decisions.. Anyway here are some pictures, not in any particular order.. haha

[consti2tion]

Installed 3 108 AH Deka gel cell batteries. 3000 Watt Xantrex Inverter, not a pure sine wave but it was cheap. 55 amp smart charger installed

Also picked up 2 Champion 2000 watt inverted generators, needed the carbs gone through nothing major. Got the pair 200 dollars with a parallel cable. What a deal, they’re older but they looked brand new inside, previous owner did not use them much. They retail for around 500 a piece.

Also got our 12k BTU Mini split! Installed the condenser last night. Will install the evaporator this weekend.

Edit can’t get the damn image host to work tonight. Will post from computer tomorrow.

[TeacherJoe]

That looks like a great bus, very close to what I may want. What’s the overall and ‘living space’ length? I could go to Texas for one of those...
Joe

[consti2tion]

Living space length is 16’ behind the drivers seat. I think the bus is around 26’ never officially measured the bumper to bumper length.

The website I bought it off of was renebates.com they almost always have some buses for auction.

[consti2tion]

So the she is almost done as far as the interior build goes, at least until we decide what else we want to add.

Have her at a shop right now, fixing some important things so we can get a trip in here soon. The steering was having a habit of driving it's self, turns on the leaf spring pin bushings were all but gone, shocks are shot(Knew that for sure haha), replacing all the pads, and fixing an oil leak that was progressively worsening.