By pass of seat safety switch - pro's & con's

[Redlands Okie]

Re: By pass of seat safety switch - pro's & con's

As long as the person towing the trailer has the key to be able to start machine and move it (if it's needed) to re-tension the chains it is legal to only use binders on one end of a tractor or other device of trailer.

Aaron Z

Your probably right, not sure, especially on equipment under 10, 000 lbs.

Personally I strive to be prepared as best as I can for the unexpected and worst cases. The following picture is a good example. No idea why the trailor came loose, but whoever tied down that tractor did well. That quality of tie down should be what we all strive for.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

I under stand what your saying. All I am saying is no guessing should be needed, especially with long use. Now swapping from machine to machine and never getting comfortable with one machine would be a big problem.

Swapping tractors or vehicles can be another sign of aging.On the Fords I pull down to give them more full but have to push forward to give the 265 MF more fuel. I drive three different vehicles and wind up turning on wipers on sunny days quite often.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Re: By pass of seat safety switch - pro's & con's

Your probably right, not sure, especially on equipment under 10, 000 lbs.

Personally I strive to be prepared as best as I can for the unexpected and worst cases. The following picture is a good example. No idea why the trailor came loose, but whoever tied down that tractor did well. That quality of tie down should be what we all strive for.


View attachment 667961

Wow! Totally trashed the trailer but the tractor still did not come off.

 

[MossRoad]

That reminds me that I frequently drive several cars/trucks/work vehicles/other machinery. I find myself reaching for console shifters in column shift vehicles and vice versa quite often.

 

[jaxs]

On the flip side of that...

There're more cars and more miles driven today VS 30 years ago, yet the deaths per miles driven had dropped dramatically. Something must be working.

Are you arguing that safety features cause drivers to be more attentive or that complacency is ok if safety features reduce death rate? Are you one of those drivers I'm referring to?

 

[MossRoad]

Are you arguing that safety features cause drivers to be more attentive or that complacency is ok if safety features reduce death rate? Are you one of those drivers I'm referring to?

I'm saying, since the advent of safety devices that you listed on cars:

"air bags,seat belts,shock absorbing bumpers,anti-lock breaks and such"

There are not only fewer fatalities per mile driven, there's also fewer accidents per mile driven.

On the subject of complacency, I see no difference today than I did when I started driving 45 years ago. Very, very few people are thinking about driving when they are driving. Very few. They're talking to their car-mates, listening to the radio, thinking about work, home, family, the guy eating a sandwich next to them, etc...

About the only time people think about driving is in heavy traffic, snow, heavy rain, things like that. Otherwise, it's autopilot-of-the-brain.

Same thing happens with equipment operators, like tractor operators, for example. If they get comfortable on a machine, and get into the groove of the work, it's very easy to go on auto-pilot, especially in repetitive tasks. That's when safety systems come into play. They are anti-brain fart devices. No one thinks they're gonna get injured on a tractor if they pay attention, until they get injured on a tractor because they weren't paying attention, or, a machine malfunctions.

I like my current machine because it is simple. It only has one safety switch that prevents starting the engine if the hydraulic PTO is turned on. Other than that, no rear lights, no seat switches, no beepers... heck, it doesn't even have any brakes except a parking brake. It does force you to be attentive. However, as with the other things I've mentioned, once you get used to it, and in the grove of things, you aren't thinking about operating it. It's like an extension of your body. You just push pedals, turn the wheel, manipulate the other controls all second nature.

It's a horrible thing, but complacency is human nature. I hear so many people railing against safety devices because it fosters complacency, however, with or without the devices, people will eventually become complacent.

 

[Diggin It]

The operation on my Crapsman is as follows:

With PTO engaged, rotate ignition switch to secondary position, push button, LED comes on. PTO stays engaged (forward or reverse) until ignition is turned off or rotated back to primary position.

For those who want to add a switch, I suggest a momentary pushbutton switch that engages a self-holding relay that stays engaged until the ignition is turned off. That way, when the unit is started the next time, the safety works again unless the override is activated. A child or uninformed operator would be less likely to have an accident. Any commonly available double pole relay can be wired as self holding.

 

[Frankenkubota]

ya, the forks are a good reason to stand up while moving. i have to just about cram my head into cab roof to see forks when loading a generator pallet. would definitely hate engine to shut off

And that痴 why I知 putting on a fel camera, ASAP. While moving stacks of lumber yesterday, I jumped up and down off the tractor 20 times at least. There was very little room to fit the forks between stacks. If the forks are were high or to low, pickin up sticks.

 

[pmsmechanic]

For those who want to add a switch, I suggest a momentary push button switch that engages a self-holding relay that stays engaged until the ignition is turned off. That way, when the unit is started the next time, the safety works again unless the override is activated. A child or uninformed operator would be less likely to have an accident. Any commonly available double pole relay can be wired as self holding.

This is the one of the better ideas I've heard of. I'm trying to wrap my head around how to wire it. If my seat switch has key on power going to it then it'll be easy, but even so there should be a way of making it work. The idea would be that the push button would energize the solenoid which is wired to stay on till the key is shut off at which point the push button would need to be used again to activate the bypass feature.

I like this idea as one of my issues with wiring in a permanent switch was what if you forget about turning it off. If I was only educated enough to wire in a logic circuit that would reactivate the seat switch after the seat had been sat in for more than say 10 seconds.

 

[Diggin It]

This SHOULD work, but you'd need to work up- a test rig to be sure. Pressing the 'Set' switch closes the relay, closing the contacts (in the red box) that hold the relay closed as long as "key on" power is applied. Turning the key off drops power to the coil which opens the contacts. They remain open on the next machine start unless the Set button is pressed again. The orange wires are the seat switch bypass circuit. I can't draw that here because they all might be different, but this is the same place a simple toggle switch would be. The LED comes on when activated. I may have the diode symbol backwards though. You'd have to verify polarity of whatever LED you choose. Most 12V auto type LED pilots come with red and black leads.

The seat switch doesn't need 'key on' power. You can run a lead from any 'key on' accessory to this override.