How To Put Cab / Flasher Lights ON Designated Switch

[JasonMac]

You can count me in.... when you figure it out.... I'll send you a check and buy it...

[nmu98]

Originally Posted by JasonMac

You can count me in.... when you figure it out.... I'll send you a check and buy it...

Currently, my biggest issue with getting this complete is finding a piece of orange wire that is 4 feet long

LOL.. this will be easy

[nmu98]

Well, I have located the 12 volt power source under the control panel on the right hand side. As the service manual states, wire 162C is hot. A simple blade connector fits perfectly in the slot. I will run a wire from the red wire in the beacon connector to the switch. Then a wire will go from the switch, under the mat (with the rest of the wires in the harness) to the dash, and up to the orange wire that will be removed from the switch. That will make the hazards independant. Then I will switch the purple wire into the orange wires slot on the original light knob.

We will have independant hazards:
the light switch will be
off
work lights
work lights/headlights
headlights

That would be easily reversable if you wanted.

[JasonMac]

Do you think this idea of going through the Beacon light harness will still work for me? Because I just had a Beacon light installed.... Do you (in your opinion) think it's too much of an overload to have the Flashers and the Beacon on the same switch? Or do you think it can work?

[nmu98]

Originally Posted by JasonMac

Do you think this idea of going through the Beacon light harness will still work for me? Because I just had a Beacon light installed.... Do you (in your opinion) think it's too much of an overload to have the Flashers and the Beacon on the same switch? Or do you think it can work?

We are only using this power to open a relay, so there is very little power draw. The power for the flashers comes from a different source. You would have to splice in the power instead of using a blade. There might be other power available under there for you to use. It all depends on who has what. If I were in your shoes, I would slice the wire and not worry about it.

[JasonMac]

It's too bad there wasn't such a thing as a 3 way blinker switch..... Left turn On/ Both On / Right Turn On/..... that would have been a nice feature too.

[Spudland_Dave]

Originally Posted by nmu98

If I were in your shoes, I would slice the wire and not worry about it.

If you dont want to splice at all, A person could make a "Tee" that would just plug right inline...Literally NO cutting/splicing/modifying of your factory harness.

[Karl2]

Originally Posted by nmu98

We are only using this power to open a relay, so there is very little power draw. The power for the flashers comes from a different source. You would have to splice in the power instead of using a blade. There might be other power available under there for you to use. It all depends on who has what. If I were in your shoes, I would slice the wire and not worry about it.

I have a 4720 w. cab. I intend to hook the front work lights to the beacon switch, I don't have a beacon installed (but the switch is there) and that would bring control right next to the rear work light switch. Do you see a problem with this? I know how to do this but better safe than sorry.

Next I would like to have the hazards flashing whenever any light is turned on including work lights, and that I"m not too sure how to go about doing. What would happen if I ran the flashers from the headlights connector? I don't mind not being able to operate the hazards by themselves (without road lights) since we have a bylaw here that requires road lights to be on anytime we drive on a public road, day and night. So far the only electrical work I have performed on this tractor -only had it for a month- was to reconnect the headlights that the previous owner had disconnected, had to do this after being warned by a cop that headlights had to be on (along with hazards) and work lights off anytime I was to use the tractor on a public road, which is often. Headlights beaming back from the loader is a nuisance but it's the law here, eventually I intend to install a dedicated switch for the headlights so I can turn them off whenever I'm in a work area.

[nmu98]

Karl,
In post 7 & 13, I describe how we would put the hazards in a separate switch and how the factory switch would work. This is how I think you want it.:

The red power on the beacon would go to a switch, from the switch you would run a wire up to the headlight switch. You would remove the purple wire from the connector one the back of the headlight switch and plug it in to the switch wire. That would give you worklights whenever you want.

Without doing anything else, you would have a factory switch that was:
off
hazards
hazards/headlights
headlights

I would think that would work well for you as there might be some time you would want to work without flashers. But, if you want flashers on whenever lights are on, you would have to run two wires with doides on them from the worklights and the headlights, to the flasher wire. Then you would always have flashers.

[Karl2]

Originally Posted by nmu98

Karl,
In post 7 & 13, I describe how we would put the hazards in a separate switch and how the factory switch would work. This is how I think you want it.:

The red power on the beacon would go to a switch, from the switch you would run a wire up to the headlight switch. You would remove the purple wire from the connector one the back of the headlight switch and plug it in to the switch wire. That would give you worklights whenever you want.

Without doing anything else, you would have a factory switch that was:
off
hazards
hazards/headlights
headlights

I would think that would work well for you as there might be some time you would want to work without flashers. But, if you want flashers on whenever lights are on, you would have to run two wires with doides on them from the worklights and the headlights, to the flasher wire. Then you would always have flashers.

Thanks, I this will be perfect.

The reason I may want the hazards on all the time except when light switch is off is to make sure I don't forget to leave them on when I'm using the work lights while pushing/blowing snow in a high-risk area such as a schoolyard. I know JD meant well by making sure we couldn't have flashers on with work lights on as a reminder not to use work lights on the road (or as an incentive to purchase a beacon?) but it can be unsafe in some situations when making the vehicle highly visible has to prevail over operator convenience.

I would humbly suggest to John Deere that they install an independent switch for the road lights (headlights, taillights and hazards) and, since JD appears very fond of computerized features, perhaps they could have the chip issue a "Light Config" reminder to turn on the road lights and turn off work lights whenever forward speed goes above 10mph for more than 30 seconds with all implement raised, as this would tell the computer the tractor is likely in transit. Those wanting to drive with work lights on on empty country roads, for example, could just ignore the warning or better, have the possibility to turn the warning off.