9:30 in the morning and my shirt is saturated/stuck to my back! It is too warm to be working outside already!

Despite the above I now have wires from fuse block down through the slot to the switches; and power out wires back up through the slot ready to go their merry ways (when I get to them).

Where the wires pass through the slot I have run them through some plastic tubing to ensure nil chance of chaffing. A couple of the wires down by the switches could have been a tad shorter, but what the hey, they'll be inside the switch box out of sight.

There are some holes to fill, plus a rubber grommet to go in where the power lead from the battery/starter solenoid and solenoid actuator wire pass through the bulkhead (one of the holes lower left corner, to be opened up appropriately).

Only real hold up in here at the moment is the switch that has the faulty connector, which I will replace next time I go near a Jaycar store. Once that is replaced and connected I'll be able to check that every thing is as it should be . . . as in, working!

So what now? Change the heads over? No, too hot for that. Modify switch box to take a radio, or UHF, or possibly provision for cup holders? Hmm, I could even tidy up the garage, or finish edging the front lawn, or even try starting my Triumph that I was having trouble with but have ignored for about three months, or maybe have some breakfast? Yeah, breakfast seems the best idea.

Slog on fellas, the end of the tunnel is out there somewhere . . .

Despite the humidity I have managed to solve my wiring problem, at last!
Other than the switch that is . . .

. . . the switch was straight forward to swap, even though the Jaycar salesman had extreme difficulty pulling the wires off the contact blades. No charge, and I was on my way again. Once the switch was replaced I hooked everything up and it worked (almost)!? Everything right, except the small lights came on when they felt like it, naughty little buggers, they even persisted and stayed on with the ignition off.

I resorted to going right back to basics with the fuse block, after finding nothing even remotely suspicious with the wiring at the switch panel. Days, hours, and much perspiration wasted. I could not fault any of my wiring, or connections.

Mulling the situation over last night, I couldn't sleep, so up at 2am and out to the shed. Much cooler and not a drop of perspiration; I did more in half an hour than I'd done in hours previously. I pulled every fuse out and worked my way, wire by wire looking for anomalies. The separate sections within the cheapie re-wiring kit fuse block were live when they shouldn't have been - this was rectified by separating the wavy contact pieces that had been cut to prevent power passing to the section alongside (on both sides of the fuse block ) but were still managing to make contact! A small electrical screwdriver pushed between the sections and the wavy connecting strip was pushed back in either direction, leaving a much larger gap than previously. Result was a resounding success, and now awaits slotting the switch box into place.

Along the way I made up a better wiring diagram than the simple one supplied with the kit and which I had colour coded to assist my tracing of wires. After much referencing this was becoming decidedly grubby, and as there was no wiring diagram at all for the switch panel I made my own, so I went from this:

To this:

And after a busy morning at the Men's Shed made up a new wiring diagram for the fuse block too:


A wearying experience but feeling much, much better now.

Wow! That diagram is absolutely first class!

I am glad to hear you were able to separate the wavy contact pieces to solve your problems, although the 2am thing sounds harsh! It might require a 2pm nap!!!

And here was me thinking erectrickery was simple, thats every hardware shop sells power points and light switches for a licensed trade

Well glad you got it sorted


Paul

On reflection it was possibly the indicator lights on the switches that led me to keep checking what was going on. At one point I had almost decided to ignore them and leave the small lights without power as they were causing my frustration, while the bigger lights did what they should (most of the time!?).

Now I can remove my bulkhead addition and get onto swapping the heads over, although weather report says today is expecting high humidity. Just as well I worked midnight shift for thirteen years as it looks like I might be doing another overnighter again???

Hi,

What did you use, software wise, to create the pretty diagrams?

Terry

Gryphon wrote:

Hi,

What did you use, software wise, to create the pretty diagrams?

Terry

Thats a good question, they have come up pretty neat


Paul

Thankyou for the compliments, relatively easy using Microsoft Publisher - a great program that has been a bone of contention with some of the Men's Shed hierarchy because they can't open my files.

I struggle with some of the tools within the program, simply because I don't use them very often; especially when I'm pushing what is a desk top publishing program to do what a decent drawing program could do easier!?

Being the Shed's secretary I have found it necessary to use Word, just so they can open their minutes! They just don't seem to appreciate the advantages of a desk top publishing program when laying things out where you want them, when to them, the end product sometimes doesn't look any different anyway.

I'm actually looking forward to showing them my two diagrams tomorrow - and then asking them to do likewise with Word.

Good Luck PDU. Sometimes Committees get stuck in a rut and because they don't understand things totally ignore them. It would be very hard to do those diagrams on Word. I guess M.S Publisher is an extra program that has to be purchased and that too may bring the idea back to Earth.

You get full marks from me PDU, as i have no idea what you are talking about.

I would use a texta.

Brett.