CloudKit - CKRecord returning nil

Not sure what I am doing wrong here, but my "record" variable keeps returning "nil".

When I run the savetoCloud() function, it crashes because record is "nil" (when it should have the data to be uploaded to CloudKit instead).

Help please.

I have this in a .swift file:

import Foundation
import CloudKit

public class dbData: NSObject{

    var record: CKRecord?


    var lightDB: Bool?{
        didSet{
            record!["Light"] = lightDB
        }
    }


    init(record: CKRecord){
        self.record = record
        self.lightDB = self.record!["Light"] as? Bool
    }

    convenience init(light: Bool) {
        self.init(record: CKRecord(recordType: "Location", recordID: CKRecord.ID(recordName: UUID().uuidString)))
        self.lightDB = light
        }
}

And then this on the main View Controller:

import UIKit
import CloudKit

class MapViewController: UIViewController {


    let publicDatabase = CKContainer(identifier: "iCloud.XXXX").database(with: .public)

    var dbdata: dbData?


    @IBOutlet weak var lightSW: UISwitch!


    override func viewDidLoad() {
        super.viewDidLoad()

    public func savetoCloud(){

        let light = lightSW.isOn
        let record = self.dbdata?.record
        record!["Light"] = light
        self.dbdata?.record = record

        publicDatabase.save(record!) { (record, error) in
            if let error = error{
                print("Error\(error.localizedDescription)")
                return
        }
        print("Record saved: \(record?.recordID.recordName ?? "")")

        }

}