Bus Build: 12V Electrical Wiring for our Bus Conversion – S03E27

We wanted to do our own electrical wiring in the bus so that we would know exactly where the wires are and how it all works, but we would not have done this without the guidance of Don’s dad (a retired electrician).

He was able to talk Don through creating our circuit diagram, how to run wires to lights and switches, and of course double check that all our work was correct. Nobody should be learning from us how to wire their electrical for a conversion and we recommend the help of a professional for this task.

It looks like a disorganized mess right now with wires hanging from the ceiling everywhere, but each wire is labeled with electrical marker stickers with a code Don came up with to designate wires to specific lights and switches. 

For now, we have measured and marked on the ceiling where we will place all our overhead lighting plus marked on the side beams where the light switches will go. The most complicated part for us was the 2 way light switch for our living room overhead lights, but this will be a nice feature to have on the bus.  This way we can have a switch right at the front of the bus, so we can switch the lights on/off as soon as we enter/exit the bus. Plus we will have a switch at the back of the bus in the bedroom so we can turn the light on/off as you walk to or from the bedroom.

We used Marine Grade Electrical wire and electrical conduit.  It might be overkill and unnecessary but the conduit keeps everything neat and tidy plus we’d rather take extra precautions as the wires are running against the metal beams of a moving vehicle. 

We still have to do our 120V Electrical for outlets and appliances but those we plan to run through furniture and cabinets so we will get to that at a later point.

Up Next
We are back on the roof to secure our roof rails for the roof deck and solar panels.

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