Work light wiring under the seat on my BX

[RaydaKub]

I've got a red/black wire, a blue wire, and a black wire under the seat. As near as I can tell, the black is a ground, the red/black is the work light source, and the blue is the goofy HST warning light that isn't used in the US.

I am trying to add lights to my ROPS. I have only the little 6 inch pigtails on the new light and plugged those directly into the bare wires I found. I used my volt meter alligator clips to hold them together as well as take a reading. If the light is not hooked up, I get about 10 volts, but with the light (55 watt, so 4.2 amp draw) the voltage drops to almost nothing and there is no light whatsoever. The battery measures 12.5 volts.

If I hot wire the light using my jumper cables, it's like daylight in the garage.

Oh, and while it was hooked up, I couldn't turn the tractor off. I just found my red tip lever for the first time. But it didn't blow the fuse. After I disconnected the light, the tractor shut off just fine. :thumbsup:

Any advice out there? Should I just run my own wire and forget about this circuit? There's a fuse in the kit anyway, but this wiring is so handy. :confused2:

 

[Johnbro]

I've got a red/black wire, a blue wire, and a black wire under the seat. As near as I can tell, the black is a ground, the red/black is the work light source, and the blue is the goofy HST warning light that isn't used in the US.

I am trying to add lights to my ROPS. I have only the little 6 inch pigtails on the new light and plugged those directly into the bare wires I found. I used my volt meter alligator clips to hold them together as well as take a reading. If the light is not hooked up, I get about 10 volts, but with the light (55 watt, so 4.2 amp draw) the voltage drops to almost nothing and there is no light whatsoever. The battery measures 12.5 volts.

If I hot wire the light using my jumper cables, it's like daylight in the garage.

Oh, and while it was hooked up, I couldn't turn the tractor off. I just found my red tip lever for the first time. But it didn't blow the fuse. After I disconnected the light, the tractor shut off just fine. :thumbsup:

Any advice out there? Should I just run my own wire and forget about this circuit? There's a fuse in the kit anyway, but this wiring is so handy. :confused2:

I'm confused too. Do you have a circuit tester? Just find the wire that's hot when the ignition is on and connect it to your light. the other wire on your light make sure you have continuity through ground back to the ground at the battery. Now your light will be on when the ignition switch is on. Nothing else should change. You can, of course, put a switch in the circuit as well. Otherwise, run a wire from the battery either through the light/switch combo and back to ground, or else to a relay if you're going to draw much amperage. If you go direct to the battery, put in a 10 or 15A inline fuse to be on the safe side.

 

[oldballs]

You might be connecting in an inconvienent place. The kit that I bought hooked up not under the seat, but on the back side of the tractor to the left of the three point hitch top link. There was an factory OE place to make this connection on my BX2660. It was wrapped in black electric tape and easy to find. But heck, I'm no electrician...nor mechanic...nor farmer...

 

[RaydaKub]

If I put my volt meter at the end of the wire and the other end on the battery, there should be almost no resistance. It goes through the fuse box, but should be a dead short. If it is NOT a dead short... That would seem odd, but then I guess I'll run my own wire.

It shouldn't be this hard. I gotta wonder if the previous owner did some funky stuff with this tractor.

 

[radioman]

sounds like you blew the fuse. check the fuses again- you will find it would be the source of the problem.

A little advice, I wouldn't use those dinky little wires for rops lighting. It will power them no problem, but I don't like the wire gauge for light uses. I ran my own wires out for rops lights for avoiding the shutting off tractor issues. I also wanted to keep it available for a power source for other implements I have like a sprayer, 12v water pump, etc.

 

[Craig Clayton]

I have a L2250 Kubota and I rewired in my own work lights as the dealer plugged into a wire that was available in the harness at the rear but I did not like the quality of the crimping. This wire was live when ever the head lights were turned on so they added a toggle switch in the Rops rear lamps. I spent time and followed the wiring harness back to the ignition switch. I then added a quality panel mounted toggle beside the front panel area switch so when the head lamps are on I have control over the rear lamps.
I also added another lamp that sits on the metal flooring high up under the seat. It is a clear 12 volt tail lamp for truck/trailer/car. It is wired into my head lamps without any off switch. This lamps lights the entire floor of the tractor so when I am blowing snow in the dark the entire floor is lite. It is similiar to the lights in movie theaters that light the isles and steps. My first light burned out because it was a dome light ,the second was a clear classic tail light.
I did all this work years ago and I have 1100Hrs on the machine. Tape all your work to keep out the moisture. Run any wiring in 1/4 " loom as any wiring that rubs could short to your chassic and cause ???.

Craig Clayton

 

[freddyr]

I hooked to the same wires and had no problems with light. sounds like a short.

 

[crazyal]

Sounds like you have the wrong wire. I think you somehow bypassed the ignition switch, that's why your tractor wouldn't shut off. Try to use just the 12 positive and ground the light out to the frame and see what you get. One guess is that the wire you think is ground is not. So when you connect the wire with power it's going through your light, a low resistance, and continuing through the wire you think it ground to what ever it connects to (think of it like water).

 

[RaydaKub]

OK, call me Stupid, but I still don't know what I did last night that was wrong. I went out to debug this setup tonight and the voltage all checked out and I had light. I measured a couple millivolts between the black wire and ground for some reason, but I got 12 volts on my black/red consistently. :confused3:

I'm an electrical engineer for pete sake. This shouldn't happen.:thumbdown:
Oh well. At least I had light and will be able to finish this project. :cool2: :laughing: