Audible alarm for parking brake???

[Chuck K.]

Coming from a L3400 with no parking brake warning at all the Grand series has a light but is easily overlooked when sun is glaring off instrument panel.

Has any one rigged an audible alarm from the parking brake lamp for additional warning?? It really irks me when Im in a hurry and move the tractor with parking brake on...

Chuck.

[daTeacha]

It could probably be done easily enough, although a relay is probably a good idea so you don't fry the circuit.

[Wombat125]

I suspect you could plumb a little piezo buzzer like this into your dash warning light circuit easy enough. While drawing 65 mA at 12v, I doubt the circuit would even know it was there.

If you don't have a Radio Shack handy, you could probably grab a seatbelt or headlight warning buzzer from an old car at the salvage yard.

You might want to also wire a little switch in line with your buzzer so that you can turn the extra warning off if necessary.

[cityfarma]

I have a L4400 and have left the handbrake on a few times as well. I was thinking about fitting a buzzer via a microswitch, to the handbrake and connecting it through the seat switch so that it only sounds when I am on the seat. I may also go a bit further and make it so that it only works when in gear.

Cityfarma

[zkurtb]

Something that I have done upon occasion as well. Irks me to no end. The tractor will go no matter if the brake is on, the consequence (benefit?) of low gearing. Seems my brake is less sensitive than it used to be as result of occasional forgetfulness. Has anyone else noticed brake wear from the occasional oops?

[SPYDERLK]

Originally Posted by zkurtb

Something that I have done upon occasion as well. Irks me to no end. The tractor will go no matter if the brake is on, the consequence (benefit?) of low gearing. Seems my brake is less sensitive than it used to be as result of occasional forgetfulness. Has anyone else noticed brake wear from the occasional oops?

Yeah, thats where most of my wear happens. - Driving out of a tuf situation after Ive set the brake pretty hard to dismount and do groundwork. Usually a short distance and notice it right away when I push the clutch back in. Other times, lightly set driving point to point. Ill probably do something like Cityfarma and connect a parallel circuit off the light that then goes to the buzzer thru a switch on the shuttle shift.
larry

[3RRL]

I think a lot of us suffer from the same problem.
A light or buzzer might help, but heck, who knows, I might miss those too. An electrical shock to my butt would probably work better.
One thing I do that helps is set the parking brake as tight as I can get it. That at least puts a little drag on the tractor when I start out. Otherwise, if it's not noticeable at all, you end up driving with it on for a longer time.

[jimainiac]

I think the thing to do would be to mount a blinking light on or in the dash. I don't think you'd want to leave your tractor warming up or idling while you're off it adjusting something, with a buzzer or beeper constantly going. I did a similar thing with our 4WD pickup. There's a light for 4WD down on the floor by the lever, so I wired into it and put a light up in the dash, more in the line of sight - big improvement.

[Squeak n Itch]

Blinking light - good idea. Even in bright light a blinking light will stand out where a solid light is tough to distinguish.

[MikeD74T]

I've thought a parking brake audible that only sounds when you're in the seat would be easy. Power from the brake light thru a seat switch and a momentary contact aligned to the parking brake mechanism. Locking the brake would test it, leaving the seat would silence it, reentering the seat would alarm it, releasing the parking brake would silence it again. MikeD74T