Electrical assistance: Midwest (Illinois)
Hi Everyone! Happy to be here! I recently purchased a partially converted 2002 Chevy Collins 4-window short bus. I am recently made my first post and with the help of an awesome member here- I realized my existing electrical system built when I purchased is not "great" -not awful, but not great. I got the bus for a steal and can afford to take the time to learn some of the electrical, but if possible for the right price and distance would prefer to pay to have the entire electrical system completed professionally. The setup isn't needing immediate dire redesign, but the parts are high quality and installed perfectly - it can be much more efficient and more importantly safer. The advice I was given was to post the setup here and get some more opinions (I will post readflags I was made aware of in previous post below as well) on what to do from here. I am going to want to add solar and there are only 3 USB ports installed currently and would like some ac/dc outlets, so guessing will also need to add an inverter to system as system is all DC currently- the original builder wired a lot throughout the bus in DC and I have no knowledge other than what I've learned so far for electrical- but If I want a power strip in a cabinet and a couple of outlets throughout the bus- not sure how DIYable for me that is.
I will post all the pictures below of the setup and can post more if anyone needs better pics of specific areas. Any advice or noticeable red flags are greatly appreciated!
A previous post I was given some great advice, here it is: "There are some issues I see, which leads me to believe there are probably some issues I haven't yet seen, or am missing.
A) No fuse off the battery. You should have a fast-blow current limiting fuse w/in a few inches from the positive terminal, then (ideally) to a rated cut-off switch, and finally to a bus-bar, post, or distibution panel.
B) The battery doesn't appear to be secured from movement. If this is correct, it needs to be.
C) If the breaker (yellow/black box) at the input of the DC-DC charger is the overcurrent protection for that circuit, it's in the wrong place. It should be at the source, which is back where this cable connects to your battery. It may be that you do have a fuse there, in which case this wouldn't (necessarily) be a problem. You probably would like to have one way to switch it on/off, which this allows.
D) Going from that DC breaker (the black/yellow switch) into that thin-gauge wire to feed the two fuse boxes... that's not at all right. Multiple issues. That needs to be redone.
E) Is that combined bundle of wires/cabling running through a rough hole/penetration in wood? It looks like it is, and if it is, that's wrong. All your wiring needs to be protected from rubbing / chaffing anywhere it penetrates areas like this.
F) One of those lugs look like it was clamped on with someone's teeth. Probably nit-picky, but I'd want at least that one redone, and all heat-shrunk. That being said they appear like they're likely making good contact. But I'm not sure they were installed w/ an appropriate tool (could be just the pic, though. It's hard to tell).
G) I can't tell from the pictures, but it looks like all the wires coming off the fuse boxes are the same size, but the fuses are different values? If this is the case, that's not right. And using red wires to the ground blocks? That's bad practice. I hope they're actually connected to ground.
FYI none of these problems are an electrocution hazard (it's all 12VDC), but they could potentially lead to over-heating, which could - in a worst-case scenario - potentially lead to a fire. Do I see that as a likelihood? Probably not. But I don't think electrical is anything you should cut corners on, regardless of the chances of something going wrong. There's right, and there's wrong, with zero in-between (to me)."
Any input, guidance, references, and opinion is much appreciated.
TLDR; Partial build purchased- looking to fix and complete existing electrical set up. seeking possible consultation/professional to complete, give advice, note any concerns, pictures below- NEWBIE-. More information on bus in previous post and more posts to come! Thank you!
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