Let there be Light!

Now that the interior of the van body was starting to take shape, it was time to figure out how the hell the thing was wired.  I knew the batteries were good, because I had already started the beast up on more than one occasion, and had that memorable inaugural drive down to ProBuild in order to buy the plywood for the floor.  Still, I hadn't quite figured out how all of the various fuse boxes, relays and circuit breakers in the back had been wired together, and to say the least, I was a little bit daunted.  So, time to call in some heavy duty reinforcements.

I called upon my friend Joe.

Grand Master Joe, 5th Dan Black Belt in Eletra-jitsu

Now, a little background on Joe.  I work with him, and he has been an Electrical Engineer since you could get degrees in such things.  I would not be surprised if he and Tesla wouldn't have gotten along quite well in fact.  He is the kind of guy who has a collection of old oscilloscopes because its fun.  In other words, he is just the sort of bad ass electrical genius the Bad Ass M109A3 needed in a bad way.  And yes, I just used the word bad three times in one sentence, all the while conveying the meaning of awesome.

We started by reading all of the various labels, wiring diagrams, and other informational plaques bolted to the various boxes that comprised the electrical system.We then proceeded to pull out our trusty volt meter and open up all of boxes one by one, flipping switches and checking continuity and presence of power.  It should be noted we weren't plugged into shore power or anything at this point, as he hadn't discovered where that was yet, and really only had access to the vehicles onboard 24V battery system.  After a little bit of trial and terror, we figured out most of it.  Perhaps even all of it.

It brakes down like this:  All power to the van body is controlled by a giant knife switch that selects between using the vehicles onboard 24V power, or in its other selection it will run off of conventional 115V shore power (plugged into an external power source, such as a building, a portable generator, and so on).  Set to 24V, we got current running through the thing, so we knew it to be live, but we couldn't for the life of us figure out how to turn on the damn lights.  After screwing around with the various circuit breakers (which I will get to in a second), I finally noticed a light switch on the other side of the van body's interior up at head height above the door that read "Light Switches".  Flipping that one to the "On" position (with the knife switch set to 24V, and the circuit breaker for the lights set to ON) the lights came on.  Success!  I know it may not sound like much upon reading it, but I can tell you that I was pretty well stoked at the time.  Hell, I still am.

Lights!  First time seeing the 24V lights work...

Still heady with our success, we moved on.  Shore power.  Walking around the exterior of the vehicle, we identified what we believed to be the original external shore power receptacle.  It is this great big honking thing hanging off the top right front of the van body, not so coincidentally right on the other side of the electrical control boxes.  It was impressive, heavy duty, and way over the top.  I did some quick online searches to figure out just where I could buy a plug to go into it and build the appropriate cable that would be needed.  Ends up it is an Arktite connector, rated to survive in biological war zones, hazardous wastes sites, and basically the End of Days.  It also cost roughly $400 to $700 for a used one, if you were lucky enough to find one.  So, screw that, we would need an alternate method of supplying power.  Once again going back to my favorite Canadian's M109A3 conversion web site, I saw that he ran into the same issue.  Joe has owned boats throughout a great majority of his life, and simply suggested we go down to West Marine and wire the sucker up with an off the shelf receptacle for shore power.  I said "Hell yes" and we both jumped in the car.

Barely owned the vehicle for a month
or two, and already putting holes in it!

So, a quick stop by West Marine, and then a follow up trip to Home Despot and we had everything we needed to get going on adding our own shore power receptacle up and running.  I had purchased a boat shore power receptacle, an insulated rubber booty, a 30amp plug connector, a traditional heavy-duty three prong plug, and 50' of heavy duty thick gauge wire.  I also picked up some water proof cable conduit, a mounting box, and a cut out saw as well.  Laden with hardware, we returned to the project.  First order of business was cut out the hole that the shore power receptacle would live in.  I selected a place just above the right front reflector  on the van body.  This would put it a few feet below the knife switch on the inside, and still be generally convenient to access and plug in from the outside.  I drilled the pilot hole, and then got down to the serious business of putting gaping holes in the side of my newly acquired old military truck.

A man, and his cable...

I managed to get the hole cut out without horribly destroying either the truck, the drill, or myself, so I considered it a grand success.  We made sure the shore power receptacle fit (it did) and made an appropriate (smaller) sized hole in the far wall leading into the van interior.  After this it was time to make the cable.  We started by stripping the ends of one side, exposing the three wires contained within, and then wiring them into the big 30amp plug.  Working on electrical this large is a joy, because you have actual wires the size you can hold onto, instead of teeny, tiny little wires that want to bend at a moments notice.  That wired up, we added the weather proof bootie to it and ran into a snag.  The cheaper 30amp plug I had bought at Home Despot didn't quite fit inside the bootie.  After screwing around with it for a little while, we decided to punt, deal with it later, and move on.  We added the generic 3 prong male plug to the other end and presto, we had our cable!

Completed outside shore power receptacle

It aint pretty, but it works!

We were running out of daylight at this point, and didn't have all of the necessary goods to finish the project right, but we decided to push forward and at least get it wired up in a temporary fashion so that we might see if shore power worked at all, then come back in the near future and ruggedize it and do a more permanent mounting job.  So, with that in mind, we screwed in the outside shore power receptacle in with not-quite-right screws, fed the wires through the other side, and wired them up in a temporary manner to the knife switch's 115V side of things.  And by we I mean Joe.  Not that I didn't stand by and soak up as much knowledge as possible, hand him wrenches, fetch him beer, and what not, but I was no dummy, I also gave the Master room to work.  We forewent the junction box, the cable conduit, and just got the damn thing wired up.  It wasn't pretty, but it was only going to stay this way for a few days until we did it right.  What was pretty was plugging it into the house on the other side of things, throwing that big 'ole knife switch, and having lights, glorious 115V lights switch on in the back of the van body!

Hooked up to shore power externally, with the knife switch set to its 115V position, and all of the circuit breakers set to the ON position, I am happy to report that the lights work, the power strips on both the right and left sides work, the black out bulb works, and even the blower/fan near the door works!  I was overjoyed.  I had set my expectations for the day to be investigation only, with the stretch goal of coming up with a solid plan of what to do next.  Instead I stood in the back of my vehicle, cackling madly under beautiful 115V lights, listening to the horrid whine of my blower wheezing away.  I was ecstatic to say the least!  Once again, my thanks have to go out to Joe for making this happen.  In him I have found a fellow old truck nut, diesel officianado, and electrical genius.  Having him on the team just made this project a lot more doable, and I can't thank him enough for it (although I may try).  I also have to thank my tireless helper, Indigo, and her princesses that were always there for us when we needed some perspective and a break from things.

Indigo, Joe and two princesses enjoy the new lights of the truck!

I promised to cover the legal aspects of getting this vehicle registered and legal with The Man, but it looks like I have ran out of space in this post, so it will have to be next week.  For all of you who have harbored secret desires to buy old military vehicles that weigh thousands upon thousands of pounds, read on to see what getting it legal with The Man entails.  Until then, enjoy!