Uggg again!

grandpa Love · Jun 24, 2018

Ford 640. 12 volt. Last year while bushhogging I flipped lights on and 90% of the lights wires burnt crispy, in 2 seconds. Got home total rewire of lights. All good. 2 headlights,2 red/ yellow lights on fenders. And 2 led work lights on back ,but those have different switch. Last night as I was putting tractor away I turned lights on and the switch smoked something awful. Wires didn't melt this time. Maybe a bad switch? Lights are wired from battery to switch then one wire to front and one to the back. Maybe need a fuse in line? Thanks.

blue_tractor_man · Jun 24, 2018

I put an in line fuse in mine. Put it in between the little terminal block and anything that draws power. You can buy the little rubber ones that fully cover the fuse. They have about 3" of wire with them.

grandpa Love · Jun 24, 2018

Little terminal block? What ? Where? I'm thinking I ain't got one?!

john in la · Jun 24, 2018

The terminal block goes under the dash and gives you a place to neatly hook up wires.
You could easily install a small fuse block and kill 2 birds with 1 stone.

grandpa Love · Jun 24, 2018

John, that's funny , neat wires! Lol. Both tractors are a bit of a mess in the wiring. But , except for the light wire issues everything works. Hate to mess with stuff that works. But I think a terminal block would be a great idea. We have replaced most of the wires on both tractors. Some had been spliced many places and some were bare.

JD Seller · Jun 24, 2018

Well you can replace wiring or a 25 cent fuse????? Always put a fuse or circuit breaker in any wiring. The burnt wiring is bad. A burned down shed or barn would be worse. That worry is why anything of mine that is going set very long gets the batteries unhooked. Our self propelled forage harvester came from the factory with a battery disconnect.

DoubleO7 · Jun 24, 2018

You can let the smoke out of the wires several times without it getting worse. But sometimes after all the smoke comes out, flames come out.

You can install a fuse but it would behove you to find out why your getting the short circuit in the first place.
Or maybe install a auto reset circuit breaker at the battery going to the lights. At least then they will go off and on by themselves without the smoke and blown fuses.

RobCons · Jun 24, 2018

Kevin I have one like John showed. The fuse block is protected by a 30 amp fuse, everything else has its own smaller fuse. Seems like I got mine from Amazon for just a few dollars.

RobCons · Jun 24, 2018

Forgot but mine is wired off the ignition switch so key has to be on for stuff to work. That way I dont leave the lights on and drain battery.

SVcummins · Jun 24, 2018

Sometimes the switch does go bad especially if you didn?t replace it after melting those wires .

Steve@Advance · Jun 24, 2018

If no wires got hot, it has to be the switch.

Best to use a tractor or marine switch, they are designed to be exposed to the elements that an automotive switch isn't.

Some fuses would be in order. As it stands now, a short in the lighting could not only burn the new wiring, but also damage all the wiring from the battery to the ignition. Should that happen, obviously the tractor would not run.

I would add a 20a fuse to each light circuit, and a 30a to the main feed to the ignition switch. The charging system should not be included unless it still has a generator.

SVcummins · Jun 24, 2018

After 52 years they do eventually go bad

Uggg again!

grandpa Love

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grandpa Love

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john in la

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grandpa Love

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JD Seller

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