New Holland 2006 TC55DA Fire Hazard

[FarmaBro]

Had quite the scare. My '06 TC55DA had the rear brake lights and hazard lights lit while parked and turned off. No key. All the switches were turned off and I could smell burnt plastic. I disconnected the battery right away.

After getting into it, I discovered the flasher control module was the source of the smell. It was burned along one side apparently along the circuit board and had blown a hole in the potting compound. Scary for such a failure to occur while the tractor is parked, right? That's not the worst of it...

This module is mounted on a small piece of steel against the gas tank under the steering wheel. The gas tank was melting where the control module made contact. If I had gone away or just not looked at it for a few days, my two barns and my workshop could have burned down.

I'll take some photos if anyone is interested in seeing this but the reason for this post is twofold.

1) If anyone has a tractor from this era made by LS (these were produced for both NH and Case), please keep an eye on it. Consider pulling the fuse for that section if you don't need the signal lights.

2) To whom should I report this so they can investigate. If this is a common failure mode for these flasher control modules, it poses a huge risk to life and property.

 

[RickB]

Don't bother LS, they didn't build the tractor. Shibaura built the tractor for CNH. Don't expect anyone to get excited about an electrical failure of a 15 year old component.
Not the answer you want, but you were lucky to catch it before anything worse happened. Make sure your flasher switch isn't shorted.

 

[workinonit]

You say to pull the fuse if someone has a tractor like this but it sounds like yours was not fed from that fuse or if it was the fuse must be oversized. You would think a failure that generated that much heat would have blown a properly sized fuse.

 

[Chewwy]

. . . You would think a failure that generated that much heat would have blown a properly sized fuse.

In general, fuses and circuit breakers are sized to protect the circuit (i.e, the wiring). They are typically not sized to prevent individual component overheating.

 

[IH3444]

My TC48 flasher modular did this also, though not quite as bad. It just keep flashing all on its own and drained a new $180 series 65 battery below where it would not take a charge. I contacted Messicks for a replacement. They had one and I think it was some absurd amount of money like $300. I just disconnected it, then removed it. So I have no flashers now.

 

[Boss 302]

Great find glad you avoided a complete disaster, thanks for looking out for others that may experience this issue.

 

[ybmertz]

I have the same tractor and the same problem, some lights stay on and drain the battery, I've been connecting a trickle charger when I park it but how did you fix the issue?

 

[IH3444]

Disconnected the flasher relay.

 

[5030]

If I were you, I'd install a master disconnect knife switch on the NEGATIVE post of the starting battery and break all the circuits when parked. I do it because I leave my tractors in the field unattended and I don't want anyone trying to start them or worse. The knife switch renders everything electrical inoperative and you can get them with key activation as well.

 

[CobyRupert]

I think the flasher module “fused itself” once parts of it melted away and interrupted the large fault current shorting to the frame and creating high heat.
It probably only created significant heat for a short period of time. This is when the outcome could of went either way. Lucky for you, it wasn’t the worst case outcome.
Luckily it melted and fused itself off before it heated up nearby objects that could burst into flames (fuel tank).
I doubt the module was still creating heat when you found it.
The module “shorting” to the lights, only allows the low amount of current to pass, as determined by the current the lights normally demand. (That is, the resistance of the lights in the circuit limits the amount of current just like always.)

It’s the arc between the module and steel frame that creates the heat. Most hot arcs can’t sustain themselves very long because as the metal melts, the arc can’t continue to jump (arc) the increasing distance.