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sparr2015/08/05 Unpacking, packing, air conditioner
Today I got a bunch of stuff unpacked and somewhat sorted into the cabinets and drawers of the ambulance. I can actually find pens, toiletries, bedding, and tools now. This also involved sorting out a bin of things that aren't coming on the trip, and more efficiently packing one bin each of clothes and rope. This put me within striking distance of my goal of having just four bins, which is the right number to go under and support the bed. I got to lay the bed down for the first time, and the space was still navigable. The bench and bins have a small height difference, which I hope to resolve by making padded inserts for the bin lids, to support the bed when we're sleeping and to act as benches or end tables otherwise.
I pulled the box "air conditioner" out as far as I could to try to figure some things out about it. It looks like it's just a simple heat exchanger, an "AC Industries EM-21". I ran the vehicle A/C and noted that one of the pressure hoses coming into the coils in the heat exchanger becomes quite cold. The return hose on that side does not cool down, so maybe there's a blockage? I lubed up the "Heat" knob and cable and valve, so now it can turn, and the valve is on one of a different pair of incoming hoses. Maybe those hoses carry heated engine coolant? The fan seems completely siezed, or otherwise dead. I was unable to figure out how to remove the fan without removing the whole unit from the wall, and that will require disconnecting the refrigerant and coolant lines. I'm putting that off for a day of much messier work, or until I have some inspiration about how to take apart just the front of the unit. Until then, I'll continue aiming for a swamp cooler for hot days (especially at Burning Man) and plenty of blankets for cold nights.
2015/08/06 Wiring diagrams
Today I started making wiring diagrams. Which is to say, I sketched and documented all of the wires attached to hardware that I could get to. I didn't follow any of the wires, so all of the sketches are disconnected for now. Fortunately the folks who made the ambulance put numbers on the end of every wire, and most of those have survived, so if I can find both ends of a wire I usually know it. I've noted that the ambulance has 40 separate lights on the outside, all of which I've found and/or activated wires to, some of which I need/plan to rewire. I think that I've figured out the pinout and behavior of the solenoids and relays in the main wiring panels, and I've positively identified the breakers (not fuses, thankfully) on the various circuits. While trying to document the wiring around the battery isolators, I also found new breakers and terminal blocks that I had not previously noticed.
I am concentrating my efforts on the power in and around the box portion of the vehicle (the "module", as it's labeled on existing documentation). That's a much more straightforward task than trying to follow the wiring in the vehicle portion, most of which has at least half its terminating ends under the hood in hard to reach places, and some of which involves components I cannot fathom the purpose of and that are either unlabeled or labeled with information 20-30 years out of date. The box, however, is mostly just a lot of wiring, switches, and relays, with terminal blocks and circuit breakers along the way. Armed with additional information on this front, I will be able to make progress with rewiring and adding new outlets and such in the back soon.
2015/08/07 Goo-gone, unnecessary wiring, lighting mistakes, and ordered parts
I tried to goo-gone the adhesive residue and dirt that still spells out "ROCKFORD" "POLICE" "SWAT" "EMERGENCY 911" "175" and stripes all over the vehicle. I went through a whole bottle and removed maybe 1/4 of the lettering, and virtually none of the stripes. I discovered that the adhesive is thick enough to require multiple applications, so I went around spraying, soaking, scraping, and repeating. Removing all the dirt and adhesive left the lettering spelled out much more faintly in clean paint than it was previously in dirt. It still needs a paint job eventually, or graffiti at Burning Man, but once I get the rest of the adhesive off then I won't be too worried about getting pulled over or ticketed for having illegal wording on the vehicle.
I followed almost all of the wires in the box that were added by the people who retrofit the ambulance as a SWAT vehicle. After determining that most of them were entirely superfluous, I removed them. This leaves all of the "after market" relays in the main power panel entirely unused. I ended up cutting or disconnecting three wires that I am not sure of the purpose of, but that were definitely connected to the SWAT gun racks on one end, so I'm not very worried about where the other end goes for now. Removing that wiring left the power panel in an even cleaner state than it was before.
I mapped out all of the connections involved in running the lighting in the box, including two solenoids (where I thought there was just one) and a couple of extra switches. Additionally, I scoured the internet to determine that my dome lights do not actually have bayonet BA15D bases but instead bayonet BAY15D bases. The visible difference is that the wrong bulbs have the bayonet lock pins at the same depth, while the right bulbs have them offset (which makes the socket mechanically polarized). The much more important invisible difference is that the wrong bulbs have + and - on the bottom, while the right bulbs have two separate + on the bottom (for bright and dim modes) and - on the socket. This explains a lot of the strange behavior I've seen. I'm probably still going to need an incandescent bulb or a load resistor, but at least now I know why the two switches in the back exhibit most of their odd behavior with the various bulbs. After figuring all of this out, I've ordered the correct type of LED bulbs.
Since ordering the stuff that arrived early last week, I've added a lot more stuff to my shopping list. Here's what I've gone shopping for, or has arrived lately, or is on the way: Dash cam and rear view / back-up cam. Many parts for a bucket swamp cooler. Motion sensors to turn the flood lights into anti-intruder lights when we're sleeping. A lot more Goo-gone. A 12V-powered AA/AAA/18650/etc charger. An opaque 7gal water container with a spigot. Foam pads for the bin tops / bed supports.
Next on the agenda, designing additional shelves/cabinets, for the "kitchen" stuff, appliances, electronics, clothes, etc. This will all go in the space previously occupied by the gun racks.
Today I got a bunch of stuff unpacked and somewhat sorted into the cabinets and drawers of the ambulance. I can actually find pens, toiletries, bedding, and tools now. This also involved sorting out a bin of things that aren't coming on the trip, and more efficiently packing one bin each of clothes and rope. This put me within striking distance of my goal of having just four bins, which is the right number to go under and support the bed. I got to lay the bed down for the first time, and the space was still navigable. The bench and bins have a small height difference, which I hope to resolve by making padded inserts for the bin lids, to support the bed when we're sleeping and to act as benches or end tables otherwise.
I pulled the box "air conditioner" out as far as I could to try to figure some things out about it. It looks like it's just a simple heat exchanger, an "AC Industries EM-21". I ran the vehicle A/C and noted that one of the pressure hoses coming into the coils in the heat exchanger becomes quite cold. The return hose on that side does not cool down, so maybe there's a blockage? I lubed up the "Heat" knob and cable and valve, so now it can turn, and the valve is on one of a different pair of incoming hoses. Maybe those hoses carry heated engine coolant? The fan seems completely siezed, or otherwise dead. I was unable to figure out how to remove the fan without removing the whole unit from the wall, and that will require disconnecting the refrigerant and coolant lines. I'm putting that off for a day of much messier work, or until I have some inspiration about how to take apart just the front of the unit. Until then, I'll continue aiming for a swamp cooler for hot days (especially at Burning Man) and plenty of blankets for cold nights.
2015/08/06 Wiring diagrams
Today I started making wiring diagrams. Which is to say, I sketched and documented all of the wires attached to hardware that I could get to. I didn't follow any of the wires, so all of the sketches are disconnected for now. Fortunately the folks who made the ambulance put numbers on the end of every wire, and most of those have survived, so if I can find both ends of a wire I usually know it. I've noted that the ambulance has 40 separate lights on the outside, all of which I've found and/or activated wires to, some of which I need/plan to rewire. I think that I've figured out the pinout and behavior of the solenoids and relays in the main wiring panels, and I've positively identified the breakers (not fuses, thankfully) on the various circuits. While trying to document the wiring around the battery isolators, I also found new breakers and terminal blocks that I had not previously noticed.
I am concentrating my efforts on the power in and around the box portion of the vehicle (the "module", as it's labeled on existing documentation). That's a much more straightforward task than trying to follow the wiring in the vehicle portion, most of which has at least half its terminating ends under the hood in hard to reach places, and some of which involves components I cannot fathom the purpose of and that are either unlabeled or labeled with information 20-30 years out of date. The box, however, is mostly just a lot of wiring, switches, and relays, with terminal blocks and circuit breakers along the way. Armed with additional information on this front, I will be able to make progress with rewiring and adding new outlets and such in the back soon.
2015/08/07 Goo-gone, unnecessary wiring, lighting mistakes, and ordered parts
I tried to goo-gone the adhesive residue and dirt that still spells out "ROCKFORD" "POLICE" "SWAT" "EMERGENCY 911" "175" and stripes all over the vehicle. I went through a whole bottle and removed maybe 1/4 of the lettering, and virtually none of the stripes. I discovered that the adhesive is thick enough to require multiple applications, so I went around spraying, soaking, scraping, and repeating. Removing all the dirt and adhesive left the lettering spelled out much more faintly in clean paint than it was previously in dirt. It still needs a paint job eventually, or graffiti at Burning Man, but once I get the rest of the adhesive off then I won't be too worried about getting pulled over or ticketed for having illegal wording on the vehicle.
I followed almost all of the wires in the box that were added by the people who retrofit the ambulance as a SWAT vehicle. After determining that most of them were entirely superfluous, I removed them. This leaves all of the "after market" relays in the main power panel entirely unused. I ended up cutting or disconnecting three wires that I am not sure of the purpose of, but that were definitely connected to the SWAT gun racks on one end, so I'm not very worried about where the other end goes for now. Removing that wiring left the power panel in an even cleaner state than it was before.
I mapped out all of the connections involved in running the lighting in the box, including two solenoids (where I thought there was just one) and a couple of extra switches. Additionally, I scoured the internet to determine that my dome lights do not actually have bayonet BA15D bases but instead bayonet BAY15D bases. The visible difference is that the wrong bulbs have the bayonet lock pins at the same depth, while the right bulbs have them offset (which makes the socket mechanically polarized). The much more important invisible difference is that the wrong bulbs have + and - on the bottom, while the right bulbs have two separate + on the bottom (for bright and dim modes) and - on the socket. This explains a lot of the strange behavior I've seen. I'm probably still going to need an incandescent bulb or a load resistor, but at least now I know why the two switches in the back exhibit most of their odd behavior with the various bulbs. After figuring all of this out, I've ordered the correct type of LED bulbs.
Since ordering the stuff that arrived early last week, I've added a lot more stuff to my shopping list. Here's what I've gone shopping for, or has arrived lately, or is on the way: Dash cam and rear view / back-up cam. Many parts for a bucket swamp cooler. Motion sensors to turn the flood lights into anti-intruder lights when we're sleeping. A lot more Goo-gone. A 12V-powered AA/AAA/18650/etc charger. An opaque 7gal water container with a spigot. Foam pads for the bin tops / bed supports.
Next on the agenda, designing additional shelves/cabinets, for the "kitchen" stuff, appliances, electronics, clothes, etc. This will all go in the space previously occupied by the gun racks.