12v wiring

[DominicM]

Ok this is more of a gripe than anything else.   Decided to install a nice pretty 12v light over the stove to replace the one that is missing a cover and doesn't work anyhow.  When doing so I opened the storage area under the light to try and decipher the bundle of YELLOW wires. Yes all of the wires were yellow, mostly with splices and electrical tape. These are both the neg and positive. It took a few hour for my slightly round and large body to fit into a spot that was not designed for ME to fit in so that I can straighten some of that rats nest out.

For anyone that has decided to tackle a bus conversion please keep in mind that if your going to steal wire from work to use on your project STEAL DIFFERENT COLOR WIRES.  Another thing powering three 12v lights can be done off of 1 positive and 1 negative  and split off as needed rather than 3 sets of 10g wires. Especially if your going to run them all together into the cabinet that is too small for any normal size person to fit into then pit splices in the wires anyhow. 

Finally I understand the stove is metal and makes a great ground,  but if you already pulled a negative wire, set up a bus bar for your common wires to attach not the ONLY item in the house that is attached to the PROPANE.   Lets leave that appliance out of the electrical circuit.

I have not even tackled the MAZE of plumbing.  I think the builder got one hell of a deal on Yellow wire and PVC.

I am blaming the WIFE. She must have told him " OH baby, your doing such a great job and saving so much money doing everything your self, and stealing the supplies from work." when she should have said that doesn't look right you need to call Bob the Builder, or at least ask for help on the Bus Conversion Forum.

[Brassman]

What bus you got, or should I say what coach?

When you do your own conversion you can do whatever you want. Someone down the line might curse you out, but is that your problem, or theirs?

[richard5933]

A similar gripe of mine is wiring added with no documentation. We were lucky enough that our Custom Coach came to us from the PO with the original wiring diagrams done by Custom Coach as they did the conversion. As happens, changes were made over the years to a few systems, and of course no one bothered to make notes in the manual. Made it very confusing. At least they used red/black on mine for DC wiring - trouble was trying to figure out which red went to which fuse, etc. Not to mention trying to find the fuses, since who ever did the mods didn't think it wise to have the fuses all in one place.

As I've been going through correcting things I've done my best to document the wiring and then put new pages in the manual. Certainly this will help the next owner, but my head can't keep track of everything, so I'm sure that next year I'll have to look in the book myself to see what I did.

[brmax]

Thats a great point ya make
Any schematic even on scratch paper! Yep I agree
It would be a great addition to any coach build, remodel or any electrical R&R.
Heck many manual refferences only ever show a: description with wire number or letter. If lucky a location is real handy.



Good day

Floyd

[DominicM]

I have an OCD with wiring and plumbing. Straight lines, not tangled, marked/ color coded/ or documented, can CUT to length.  There is no need for 4 foot of wire to be ran back and forth because you cut it too long.   Cut to length put on your connections.

Final appearance tells a lot about the work.  If what is exposed looks bad, what does that tell you about what isn't exposed?

I understand that I have work to do to get it straightened out..I worry more that I will be the next one working on the couch rather than someone else and I don't want to have to sort through a rats next when I decide I want to add a light.

On a previous basement remodel, I added extra conduit and pull strings inside the walls, and above the ceiling, in the event that I would ever want to add something in the future.  

[chessie4905]

consider this a must for these kinds of issues. 95% five star rating. good addition to your tool box along with their test lights- 12 and 24 volt, and continuity, and decent volt, amp, ohm meter. take time to read reviews on it.

https://www.harborfreight.com/catalogsearch/result/index/?dir=asc&order=EAScore%2Cf%2CEAFeatured+Weight%2Cf%2CSale+Rank%2Cf&q=wiring+tracer

[TomC]

Always good to use different colored wire for DC. And unlike AC circuits, ground wire should be black. On AC circuits, common is white, ground is green. Good Luck, TomC

[Fred Mc]

I like the system that "gumpy" uses with his wiring.  He uses clear shrink wrap and inserts a label he prints on his computer before applying heat to the shrink wrap.The label is very self explainatory as to its function/origin/destination and REALLY takes the guess work away. Ive started to use that method myself but unfortunately should have started 30 years ago.

[bobofthenorth]

Always good to use different colored wire for DC. And unlike AC circuits, ground wire should be black. On AC circuits, common is white, ground is green. Good Luck, TomC

Marine custom is yellow for DC grounds.  It makes a lot of sense.  Black DC grounds running with Black AC hots leaves a lot of room for unpleasant surprises.  Even if you just use 6 inches of yellow shrink on the ends of the grounds it can make things a lot more obvious a year from now when you have forgotten what you did today.

[richard5933]

And then there the new LED lights that run on DC but use the AC color convention. Why?

[TomC]

At least on my bus, all of my 120v runs are in plastic conduit and only my 12v wires are running in the open-so the black wire difference isn't there.

[luvrbus]

The Military generators every wire is white what a treat to figure those out if the printed number is not readable,the NJT Eagles were all white wires too 

[DominicM]

I too have felt with the all white military generator wires.  It left me scratching my head and I didn't even want to touch it.

[eagle19952]

3m wire marker tapes...nest $$'s you'll ever spend in this realm.

[DominicM]

I may have to look on Amazon for a couple of those wire markers..