Saturday, March 01, 2008

Thomas Buses-HDX Rear Emergency Window Modification

Thomas Bus HDX Pushers have a rear emergency exit window that has 2 ground switches. One for the alarm, warning the driver that the window is open and the other is an interlock that does not allow the bus to start when the window is latched.

The problem we were having was water seeping through the seal causing a circuit to ground tripping the alarm even when the window was fully closed. The quick fix was to grab an air line and dry off around the switch and grounds. Pictured here is the alarm ground switch[click on pic to enlarge]

This is the window locking latch that must be unlatched for the bus to start. The rivet on the outside is going to ground while the handle contacts a strip riveted on the inside of the frame.






We installed 2 intermittent switches in a currently available Thomas Part that encases the 2 switches and does the same job as the factory install.






The window must be removed to rewire the new installation. The 2 original ground switch wires are attached to the new switches in the casing and grounded at the case.






Once installed the [starting interlock] bolt style latch locks the window and the other switch is depressed [just above] to shut off the window alarm.
The latch catches on a "C" shaped flat bar that was fabricated to lock the window.




The latch bolt is in the open [run] position and the bus will start, this is a safety factor that newer Thomas Buses come with from the factory.

I will be updating this post soon with part numbers.

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