Installing AUX light on GC2400

[irvingj]

Gio- any possibility you could post some pics when you're done? Thanks!!

 

[Gio]

Irv, I'll post for sure. They should ship on Monday and I can hopefully hook them up by next weekend.

We have been lucky so far but I feel the Nebraska winter is on it's way. I have some pretty steep drop offs along my 1/4 mile driveway so it will be nice to see where i'm going this year:thumbsup:

 

[75H2]

I just placed my order this morning through BXpanded. I went with the 3 light set up. I'll have 2 rear facing & 1 front. I'll do my best to post iics afterward. Still could use a little guidance on where to source power from

 

[tx2310]

There should be a loose wire with a bullet connector going to no where on the back of your tractor under the sheet metal between the fenders. It should show 12 volt when the key is on and no power when turned off.

Doug

 

[75H2]

There should be a loose wire with a bullet connector going to no where on the back of your tractor under the sheet metal between the fenders. It should show 12 volt when the key is on and no power when turned off.

Doug

Doug,
Thanks, much appreciated

 

[tsteahr]

The bullet connector on the back of the tractor is not sufficient to run three work lights. That wire is 18 gauge I believe. If you check out the Owner's manual on pg 68, the connector is identified as item 19, "for loads less than 70W". At one point I tried to run a three light setup from that connector. There is insufficient current available. I switched the lights back off as soon as I saw they were kind of dim. I ran heavier wire, both a positive and negative, to the battery terminals. I also installed a inline 15 amp fuse from a auto parts store. Three 55W lights will draw about 14 amps. If I remember correctly I used 12 gauge. 10 would probably be better. I kept the run as short as I could, about 8 ft or so, and the 12 seems ok. The 12 gauge was what I had on hand. If I did it again I would use 10 gauge.

 

[tx2310]

It will run a relay and you will still be switched. There should be no reason to run a separate ground. tsteahr,If you want to get more power to the lights use the ground you ran and move it to the positive side and move your ground to frame. Just for info the 2310 has a 20amp line (good for 3-4 55w lights) to the work lights and I did not know the 24xx had lighter wiring.

Doug

 

[tsteahr]

It will run a relay and you will still be switched. There should be no reason to run a separate ground. tsteahr,If you want to get more power to the lights use the ground you ran and move it to the positive side and move your ground to frame. Just for info the 2310 has a 20amp line (good for 3-4 55w lights) to the work lights and I did not know the 24xx had lighter wiring.

Doug

Doug, you are right there was no reason to run the separate ground. But when I was doing the installation I could not come up with a spot on the frame that I was happy with. At the time it seemed less work to run another ground wire. But you are right, grounding to the frame would work great, and let me double up on the supply wire.

Harry's BXpanded kit comes with a nice switch, so I'm not sure if it's worth adding a relay into the setup. A relay would have the advantage of preventing inadvertently turning on the lights with the tractor off, so that would be one positive aspect.

It's nice that the GC23xx comes with that 20 amp supply. That makes the light installation easier, that's for sure.

 

[irvingj]

Good discussion, folks! I really need some additional lighting on my 2310. I can live with the blower partially blocking the headlights on those early, dark mornings, but when it comes time to back up..... (I tend to have a very glazed look after relying on the orange flashers for back-up lights.... the strobe effect...:confused2

However-- is it different with DC current? My recollection from my HVAC days (& working on my own house) is that standard household 15-amp circuits are 14-ga. wire; I threw in several 12-ga. circuits with 20-amp breakers, and for the heavier stuff I used 10-ga. wire, which I believe is good for 30 amps.

tsteahr, I should think your 12-ga. wire would be more than adequate, 10-ga. would be overkill (and a lot harder to work with, for sure!).... or am I missing something?

 

[tsteahr]

Good discussion, folks! I really need some additional lighting on my 2310. I can live with the blower partially blocking the headlights on those early, dark mornings, but when it comes time to back up..... (I tend to have a very glazed look after relying on the orange flashers for back-up lights.... the strobe effect...:confused2

However-- is it different with DC current? My recollection from my HVAC days (& working on my own house) is that standard household 15-amp circuits are 14-ga. wire; I threw in several 12-ga. circuits with 20-amp breakers, and for the heavier stuff I used 10-ga. wire, which I believe is good for 30 amps.

tsteahr, I should think your 12-ga. wire would be more than adequate, 10-ga. would be overkill (and a lot harder to work with, for sure!).... or am I missing something?

Irving, The more I look the more I think you are correct. I went looking for wire capacity charts and found this (scroll to the bottom of the page), which seems to have very high current ratings but no real references to back it up. There is also this voltage drop calculator, which shows a half volt drop on a 10ft run for 15amps using 12ga. That voltage drop calculator was what lead me to thinking 12ga min. Some additional searching lead me to this, which has a table about 2/3 down the page for car stereo amp installation. That calls out 12ga for 20amps up to 10 ft. That chart seems much more reasonable than the first link that shows 60amps for 12ga.

So I think you are exactly right, the 12ga is fine and the 10ga would be overkill. I also think Doug is correct that grounding to the frame is better than running a separate ground wire.

Hey Doug - do you have any idea what gauge wire the 20amp aux plug on your gc2310 is? I wonder what MF used?