Black Friday Ambo

[flightcancled]

Replaced the starting batteries this morning. Noticeable improvement in cranking, but starts are still rough. I still have the low amps light even if I turn off the engine and go to restart.

Started relocating my marine batteries into the box. These will become my house batteries for now.

Basically useless rear compartment...

Rejigged into a more usable space with the house setup in place and ganged.

Now to pull power to the rear...

Side note: If I were to do it again my first purchase would be that dewalt impact driver. The amount of time and aggravation it has saved me since picking it up a few weeks ago makes me wonder how much further I could have gotten this winter.




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[flightcancled]

Starting problems solved!!

Switching to starting batteries got me spinning faster and more consistently, but I was really just not getting what I should be to the starter.

After removing the isolator and directly connecting the starting batteries I was still not there, so I re configured things under the hood.

Instantly I had full power to the starter and she fired up perfectly. I'm guessing she hasn't started this well since she was stock. Power was going from the batteries, through the isolator (for no reason!), back to this bus where it hit a bottleneck trying to get to the starter. I'm sure this was also a limiting factor for getting a good charge from the alternator.

Moving forward, I got the ACR in place and set up. Tomorrow I'll grab a hole attachment and then I will be able to run power to the battery bank an make the final connections.

I got half way through moving the power inverter into a compartment as well an then turned back for sake of simplicity. I'll leave it until I have the luxury of being bored enough to move it.

With that the rig is finally ready to get on the road. Time to have the first drink on the roof!

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[flightcancled]

Now to start installing the welding cable connections for the house battery system I took from the donor ambo.

This was surprisingly easy. A hole saw cut through the rear compartment, and the cables were run above the frame and up under the seat. All the cables are labeled and current is diagramed for future reference. Finally everything was sealed inside and out with silicone.

I still have to see if I can work backwards to find the start signal wire for the ACR start isolator, but otherwise everything is working great!

I will be going back and color coding the heads up display as:

Green- Starting batteries (Battery 1)
Yellow- ACR status (isolated, charging, etc)
Red- House batteries (Battery 2)


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[patoz]

Looks like you're made a lot of progress in the last couple of weeks, and it's all looking good!

I would have commented sooner, but I just discovered I haven't been getting notifications of post on threads I'm subscribed to. Apparently, you don't get notifications unless you're logged in. I did some work on my computer, including cleaning the cache and deleting temporary files, which logged me out and I forgot to log back in.

I'm glad you're finally getting your starting problems solved. Even with a dual battery system, it's hard to go out to a remote spot to camp and enjoy yourself, not knowing if your rig is going to start when it's time to go.

 

[flightcancled]

Pat I have seriously been waiting for someone to double check my work. Thanks!

Not going to lie, I learned the hard way to tape EVERYTHING when making the final connections. I ark-welded a few connectors out of existence, and disintegrated the end of my socket wrench before taping off any possible ground.

I've been moving along the truck tweaking the outside door latches. In the process I noticed just how badly they are insulated. So far this is by far the best:

I'm thinking either cramming a few layers of thin R-10 sheet foam in there or maybe trying to spray foam them. Its a problem trying to make them warm without messing up the mechanism.

I've also been looking at my towing mirrors. I have f-series mirror envy. Heat and running lights would be awesome. Power trim would be awesome too since my mirrors like to wander a lot! Makes driving long distances a pain.


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[flightcancled]

Does anyone know what this set of wires in the standard e-series towing mirrors are for?

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[cjken]

Glad you are up and running!!

The inside of my door are the exact same. (Block of foam)

It took some messing around to get my mirrors wired correctly.
They are now adjustable on the fly, but no heat. The mirrors that were on there had heat.
No idea of the color coding of those wires.

 

[patoz]

My doors are the same also. But instead of rods connecting the handles to the locks, I have very small diameter stranded cable with swedged ends, not much larger than fishing leader. I'm worried that if one breaks on a compartment door while it's closed and locked, there won't be any way to get it open without destroying the latch and possibly the door. Drilling the tumblers won't do any good, and the handles are mounted with screws with washers and nuts on the inside that will turn if they are drilled.

I've thought about trying to replace the wires with rods, but considering there are seven compartments of which one is the battery box, it would be a real pain to custom manufacture all of those parts, especially since they would need to be adjustable in length. I guess the best thing is going to be inspect it all now and replace anything now that looks suspect before it happens.

 

[cjken]

Alex if you want the mirrors off mine I'll give them to you.
They are bigger and have better visibility than the ones I have now. My box is not as wide so they were over kill on mine. One of the lower mirrors is missing.

 

[flightcancled]

Ken
That would be sweet! I actually really dug those and they would make a great place holder while I do a conversion down the road.

Of course there is a yellow lab in your photo! Let me guess, the young one?


Pat,

At one point one of the locks failed on one of my main compartment doors. Someone had to drill through the diamond plate repeatedly until they were able to remove the tab that immobilizes the opening lever. Now I have to make the trashed (but thankfully well hidden) panel look pretty again...

I'd definitely look into 1/4" threaded rods. Odds are they could use a little tuning anyway. Maybe you could at a minimum add a second wire for security?

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[cjken]

I'll be up in Warrensburg from the 3rd - 6th
I'll bring the mirrors. Maybe we can connect at some point during that time or if you or any if your guys are down here I can send them up.
I'm actually not sure whose leg that is in the picture.

 

[patoz]

I'd definitely look into 1/4" threaded rods. Odds are they could use a little tuning anyway. Maybe you could at a minimum add a second wire for security?

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I've only looked at the rear doors because the right rear would not unlock when I bought the ambulance. Some cleaning, adjusting, and lubricating and I got it working OK. Considering what I would have to do just to remove the wires and associated hardware, a second wire might be the answer. Thanks for the idea!

 

[flightcancled]

Yeah a second strand would really be a nice insurance policy.

FYI Pat my mechs are totally packed and slathered with grease. They look like new. Can't hurt with all the salt air you have down there.


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[patoz]

Yeah, all of the compartments are unlocked now and the locks are working fine, but I'll inspect and lube each one before they ever get locked again. I sprayed all of the tumbler cylinders with Fluid Film when I first got it. This is what we use on all of the boat hardware and outboards engines down here. It's a very effective lubricant and preservative, and it doesn't evaporate like WD-40 does.

I was looking on this website at some other stuff and figured you might need something from here. I have to warn you though, this stuff is EXPENSIVE! But, if you can't find it anywhere else...

http://www.fixmyambulance.com/

They even have the Glass Kits for the mirrors that Ken is going to give you on page 20 at the bottom. Of course, you can probably find what you need cheaper somewhere else.

http://selecttechambulances.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Select-Tech-Parts-Catalog.pdf

 

[flightcancled]

Ouch...

Thanks Pat! What's going on with your rig!?


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