Ck weird electrical.

[k0ua]

My switch is good. Just tried it in another tractor.

So my only choice is tracing that green wire from the twin solenoid back.
Thinking that would be a great job for the dealer. Lol.

can you identify the 20 amp fuse, and can you get to the fuse block to see the green wire leaving the fuse block? and make sure 12.7 volts is leaving there? Did the other troubleshooter actually do that? It is infered by the drawing he did on the diagram, but is that what happened? Fuse blocks are a good candidates for corrosion.

 

[pickeringchris]

Yes. He checked. Full voltage leaving fuse block. The mahine only has 80 hours and has never been in rain. Always stored in heated garage. I doubt there is corrosion anywhere from the 3-4 times I've hosed it down in its life.

 

[k0ua]

Yes. He checked. Full voltage leaving fuse block. The mahine only has 80 hours and has never been in rain. Always stored in heated garage. I doubt there is corrosion anywhere from the 3-4 times I've hosed it down in its life.

Well if there is 12.7 leaving the fuse block, and 3 or so when a load is placed on what is essentially a piece of wire, there is by definition a "high resistance joint" in that piece of wire. A wire in its normal state will have the same voltage on one end of it as it does the other. There has to be a high resistance in that wire. High resistances can be caused by corrosion somewhere along its length or if there are connections inline to that wire they are highly suspect. IF we have not made any mistakes in our measurements or analysis, it HAS to be the problem. We could install a temporary splice wire by cutting into the insulation of the green wire as it leaves the fuse block and taking it to our green wire that feeds the relay's to bypass the wiring harness. This would prove our hypothesis correct if the lamps then worked under control of the switch and relay circuitry. There should not be any danger in doing this, as it is essentially a parallel wire. You would want to do this in a manner easily repaired/waterproofed. Man I wish I was there to help you in person.

 

[somguyss]

I would check under the pasanger side floor pan and look for the large connectors there and i would disconnect and blow out and check for any corrosion, also i woould spray terminal cleaner in them and also som dielectric grease. and then test for proper operation.

 

[murphy1244]

I would check under the pasanger side floor pan and look for the large connectors there and i would disconnect and blow out and check for any corrosion, also i woould spray terminal cleaner in them and also som dielectric grease. and then test for proper operation.

Yep, Bad ghosts hang out under there.

 

[ritcheyvs]

Well if there is 12.7 leaving the fuse block, ...

Did your "trouble shooter" verify the 12v at the fuse )departure end) with the lights on? The voltage drop only occurs when there is current flowing so it's possible to read 12v with the lights off but see much less (like 3v) with the lights on.

Also, another member had a wonky problem that turned out to be a corroded connector under the floor. So that's a possibility.

 

[k0ua]

Did your "trouble shooter" verify the 12v at the fuse )departure end) with the lights on? The voltage drop only occurs when there is current flowing so it's possible to read 12v with the lights off but see much less (like 3v) with the lights on.

Also, another member had a wonky problem that turned out to be a corroded connector under the floor. So that's a possibility.

Good points. But I have to assume they did, because they mentioned the term "voltage drop between here and here" on the diagram he annotated. since the fuse is hot all the time with 12 volts and he was reading 3 volts on the other end,, I "assumed" that was with the relay pulled up. and the load applied. In my opinion Ohm's law should be taught in about the sixth grade science class, with a couple of days lab showing practical applications and troubleshooting of simple DC circuits.. BUT I don't have much input in grade school curriculum's It would be a whole heck of a lot more useful in peoples lives than a lot of things they DO teach.

James K0UA

 

[PatasColo]

Chris,
Given your posts 51 and 53, your switch or one of the connectors to that switch may be leaking to ground when the switch is connected to the tractor. Try disconnecting the switch (physically) from the tractor, and hook it up to the electrical connections. If the lights then work, you know it is the act of physically installing it in the tractor (and whatever connectors, grounds, etc. that touch in that process) that are the culprit.

Second, what Murphy said in post 58 has been a revelation and blessing to lots of folks: check your ground connections, and clean them and retighten if at all suspect. If one got loose or corroded or holding water underneath due to the spray-down and is not grounding well, it can cause all kind of funky electrical symptoms.
Best to you!
-Mitch

 

[pickeringchris]

I would check under the pasanger side floor pan and look for the large connectors there and i would disconnect and blow out and check for any corrosion, also i woould spray terminal cleaner in them and also som dielectric grease. and then test for proper operation.

These connectors were full of water. They were the reason my glow plug light wouldnt turn off after 8 seconds... I cleaned them, packed with dielectric grease and put back together. They glow plug now turns off after 8 seconds

 

[PatasColo]

Yes. He checked. Full voltage leaving fuse block. ....

On the pic, did he check and find 3 volts at one of the connectors for the low-beam relay? (that's the way the schematic and his writing made it look). If so, the schematic shows at least two simple opportunities for voltage loss along the way: the connection into the 12-volt main for the Hi-beam relay, and if that connection is good, then the high beam relay itself may be bad, causing a drawdown in voltage. Here is an easy thing to try: pull out the high beam relay, ....or... disconnect the 12 volts going into that high beam relay (is it one of the two in the twin relay? if so, you have to do the latter). Then use the light switch to turn on the low beams. If the low beams work, then the high beam relay is faulty and replacing it should solve things.

I'm going to be a bit contrary to what others have said, and say that the possibility that the wire itself has "gone bad" is very low (not impossible, but very low on probability scale compared to other possible causes). If there is a connector along the way, that is another story, but I believe it inadvisable to go poking into the wire casing -- I've seen many more problems caused by that than fixed (you've just opened the wire for oxidation, and you often compromise a strand or two in the process). However, it is always a great idea to look along the wire casing for chafing if that can ever happen: in car wire harnesses, it is common for a wire to fail where you almost always find that the casing and then the wire have been chafed open and the wire compromised.
Again, best of luck... this kind of thing does get "fun" when you finally resolve the issue.
-Mitch