Lights kills engine on Terramite

[kyhotrize]

Greetings,

I have a 2005 Terramite T5C with a Kohler Command 20 hp engine. Everything is great except when I turn my lights on which kills my engine. When this first happened a couple of weeks ago as I had turned on the head lights and was moving when it blew the fuse, on two different occasions. I changed the fuse both times and it hasn稚 blown one since.

Today I intended to fix this problem thinking it was only a short or grounding problem. It turns out not to be that simple. Even when the tractor is sitting still and I turn the lights on it will kill the engine but it doesn稚 blow a fuse. It seems I must wiggle all of the connections and wait a few minutes until something resets before I can start the engine again. The last time this happened I disconnected the wiring harness at the engine and then was able to get it to start.

Any suggestions or advice would be appreciated.

Thanks,
ron

 

[Soundguy]

are the lamps powered of fthe same switch that provides ignition power tot he engine? if so, the switch contacts may be insuficient, and heating up and besoming resistive.. ( fuse will blow, or votlage will drop and ignition fall out.

seen it on gasser tractors that had lamps wired thru ignition switch.


try disconnecting the lamp power from the ignition and instead run a jumper and run them from the battery... see what it does for you then..

soundguy

 

[kyhotrize]

Yes Soundguy, the light are connected to the key switch. I willl try your idea this evening after work.

Thanks for your time!

 

[Soundguy]

post back what you find.

soundguy

 

[kyhotrize]

This situation just keeps getting more interesting. For fear of complicating the issue I didn稚 tell you that I was also connecting overhead tractor lights both front and rear. This evening I corrected some grounding problems by re-running a couple of wires and installing two heavier switches. I connected these lights to the auxiliary connection of my key switch and the lights worked perfectly! That is except the original head lights still didn稚 work. I connected them to my before mentioned configuration and BOOM something goes wrong. My engine now will start but doesn稚 want to run; only with the choke.

I scratched my head, what could be wrong? The Terramite T5C is not known for its creature comforts and the one thing that I really miss is a fuel gauge. I might be simply out of gas. I am going to bring home more gas tomorrow and try to fix the problem.

I think you might be right about the key switch. When I order parts for the front end I will include a new key switch.

Thanks again,
ron

 

[Soundguy]

I see lots and lots of amps going thru that key switch.

I already told you to test it be removing ALL lamps fromt he key switch, and or bypassing it with wire to check... the new switch will likely DIE just like the old one.. ignition switches aren't made to run hundreds of watts of lamps.

run a relay of fthe ignition switch and use the relay to run the lamps... small current for the relay coil won't bother the ignition switch. source the main power for the relay from the battery, or load center of the machine, like where the alt line comes in.. etc.

soundguy

 

[kyhotrize]

Your advice is always right on. Thanks once again.

As a teenager back in the 70痴 it was my job to install car stereos at my father痴 Radio Shack. I pride myself in some of my wiring jobs.
I did test the lights by running a wire directly to the battery. Just as you thought it worked, but I wanted the peace of mind knowing I wouldn稚 leave the lights on with the key off, so I chose to run the lights through the aux of the key switch. I still plan to replace the key switch so the light out tab will work. I have the parts manual to this tractor and it shows four (4) work lights all of them 55 watts each and it even says to connect to the yellow light wire at the key switch.
I am going to take your advice and buy a relay for this circuit. It just makes sense.

By the way that gas I bought last night did help, but not as much as when I plugged the aux wiring harness back onto the key switch, which I had unknowingly pulled loose working on the lights the night before. You see the carburetor of my engine has an electric needle valve and must have 12 volts to run.

Thanks again,
ron

 

[kyhotrize]

I installed two light relays today. One for head lights and one for the four work lights. So far things are working great!

Thanks for your advice Soundguy.

ron

 

[Soundguy]

thanks.

when you posted the problem, it reminded me of so many similar problems I've seen before with insuficient power available at or thru the switch.

soundguy