Anonymous Poster
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- Sep 27, 2005
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I've got a Ford 8N with a 12 volt conversion. It has ran perfect for years before I started using it (it was my father's tractor). It has always been apparent that the wiring was a mess on it, but there was no reason to do anything about it until it quit running last week. This was a beautifully running tractor.
I started by unwrapping the electrical tape that was wrapped around the all of the wires from the key switch to the starter to the alternator. What a mess! Inside of the tape, there were wires that didn't come out of the bundle on either side, just snipped off inside of there. There were wires connected on one end, but snipped off inside the bundle, and there were wires that were connected to a terminal, ran across towards the alternator, but then looped back and connected to the same terminal that it had started at.
I'm by no means an electrician, but I found several wiring diagrams on the internet, along with directions for alternate ways of doing it.
Since I already had a new key switch with the accessory position, I began wiring it that way, wiring the "P2" terminal on the alternator to the accessory terminal on the switch (so it's not always hot). The ignition terminal goes to the coil, and the battery terminal comes from the battery side of the solenoid. The hot wire for the lights is also tapped off the battery terminal on the key switch.
This seems right to me, but it is dead, not even lights! If I hook the wire for the lights directly to the battery, they work. My next guess was the solenoid. I just replaced it, but still nothing. I assume it would be ok to use a 6 volt solenoid, since that is what was there before and it ran fine for years. If that is the case, do I really need to switch to a 12 volt solenoid, or is there even a such thing? The original ballast resistor was also not used in the previous hookup. Since it ran great for years without it, is it really necessary to have it hooked up?
My next guess of why there is no power would be the battery cable. There's not much of a chance of it going bad, but I'm out of ideas. /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif Any help?
I started by unwrapping the electrical tape that was wrapped around the all of the wires from the key switch to the starter to the alternator. What a mess! Inside of the tape, there were wires that didn't come out of the bundle on either side, just snipped off inside of there. There were wires connected on one end, but snipped off inside the bundle, and there were wires that were connected to a terminal, ran across towards the alternator, but then looped back and connected to the same terminal that it had started at.
I'm by no means an electrician, but I found several wiring diagrams on the internet, along with directions for alternate ways of doing it.
Since I already had a new key switch with the accessory position, I began wiring it that way, wiring the "P2" terminal on the alternator to the accessory terminal on the switch (so it's not always hot). The ignition terminal goes to the coil, and the battery terminal comes from the battery side of the solenoid. The hot wire for the lights is also tapped off the battery terminal on the key switch.
This seems right to me, but it is dead, not even lights! If I hook the wire for the lights directly to the battery, they work. My next guess was the solenoid. I just replaced it, but still nothing. I assume it would be ok to use a 6 volt solenoid, since that is what was there before and it ran fine for years. If that is the case, do I really need to switch to a 12 volt solenoid, or is there even a such thing? The original ballast resistor was also not used in the previous hookup. Since it ran great for years without it, is it really necessary to have it hooked up?
My next guess of why there is no power would be the battery cable. There's not much of a chance of it going bad, but I'm out of ideas. /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif Any help?
