New wiring for Lights on an old Tractor

[BayouMan]

Decided to go with a piece of aluminum plate to mount the components on. This will then be attached to the console with 5 ea bolts with spacers to hold the plate with the components.

Got some preliminary wiring done with the fuse panel. Still have to mount the switches and wire those up.



Next step will involve mounting the panel under the canopy. I have an issue with the console being 2" deep and I am going to be mounting that against a 1 1/2 " box angle. I think I have a work around for that. Pictures will show my plan better than me trying to explain it here.

Getting close to the down hill side on this project. It is definitely tough to stay motivated to work on this when it is anywhere from the mid 20's to mid 30's outside. I know that is almost spring weather for you northerners, but that hurts here.

 

[Scrambler82]

Scrambler,
I have a 100 amp circuit breaker next to the batteries. From there I am running 6 gauge marine wire to the fuse panel for both the hot and the ground. From each relay, I am running 16 gauge marine wire. Per the charts that I am looking at, this is more than adequate.

Non the less, what I am running now has got to be better than what I had done before. At the time that I first put the 6 lights on the tractor, I had them all on one switch with a 20 amp fuse. Did catch the switch on fire. Went to two switches and still had issues. Hoping this will improve things. As far as putting the relays under the hood, a 1978 tractor didn't even have that in the equation. It is going to be challenging enough to get all of the wiring bundled up good in the battery box.

I appreciate your comments and hope that I am following your suggestions more or less.

Mike

The one hundred amps Breaker, if just for the lights is too big; if the 6-ga wire shorts out between the Breaker and the sw pak 100+ amps will cook a lot of metal and wire before shutting off.
The six lights will draw just under 30 amps so a 50 amp breaker would be plenty.
If you use a single breaker at the battery you should use separate fuses before each relay on the power wire going to pin 30.
Alway fuse for the smallest amperage draw in the circuit, i.e. total amperage at battery fuse 50 total to allow for surge; separate 10 or 15 amp fuses before each relay for each two light setup.
Also, if the power for the switches will be picked up at the 6-ga wire then each sw should have a 2 or slightly larger fuse, placed just before the sw on the power wire. (In-Line Blade type fuses will work good here, the type of case with the cap on it to help lock the fuse in place.
Safety first, as you found out is always the best policy.

From the 6-ga Power Feed to each relay 16-ga wire is OK because each set of two lights requires 9+ amps BUT IMHO a fused 12-ga wire should run from the 6-ga to pin 30 on the relays and from pin 87 to the lights; this way the lights will get all of the power they need to burn the brightest and last the longest.
The power for the Relays (pin 85 or 86) can be 16-ga or 18-20-ga will work; these have low amperage draw and do not need heavy gauge wire.

Decided to go with a piece of aluminum plate to mount the components on. This will then be attached to the console with 5 ea bolts with spacers to hold the plate with the components.
Got some preliminary wiring done with the fuse panel. Still have to mount the switches and wire those up.
View attachment 199865

Blue Seas Fuse Panel, nice stuff they have.
Nice work on the panel.

Good Luck yes spring is almost here ! 40 on Sunday.

 

[BayouMan]

Scrambler,
I am going to look into buying a 50 or 60 amp circuit breaker to replace my 100 amp one.

Made some more progress this afternoon on my wiring project! Got the console mounted today and got the wire pulled to it!

 

[BayouMan]

A couple more pictures showing wire pulled to canopy lights.

 

[BayouMan]

Now I get to start on making up all of my connections for the lights. I am going to have 3 switches to control the very front lights. the front canopy lights and the rear facing lights.

While I was at it, I am going to also install a power source on the outside of the console. Hope to find a 12 volt fan to mount under the canopy and use this power source to run it.

Now that the console is installed and I have a fuse panel, I can look at adding other components more easily. May have to replace the 6 fuse panel with a 10 fuse panel. Already thinking about a strobe light.

Thanks for all the input during this install. I will post pictures of the finished project soon.

Hope to be able to replace all of my existing lights with LED's in the very near future.

Mike

 

[Scrambler82]

Good job on the wiring.
Good pics too!

 

[BayouMan]

Scrambler,
Thanks for your comments and interest. I have not been able to find a 50 amp circuit breaker for the price I got my 100 amp one, but I am still looking.

Was able to get the console mounted and a bolt welded to the top to hold the console closed last night.

Had a good day today in the shop working on the light wiring project. Had a buddy show up and he helped me solder the 5 ea lugs on the #6 wire ends. That was a 4 hand job and I only have two. I had two switches that I think I got from a marine supply store, and a generic cheapie. I am going to find a third switch to match the quality of the other two before I finish up in the console. For the most part, I am satisfied with my wiring in the console. Not precision lengths or bends, but I think neat enough. Tried to use shrink tubing on all connections.



Tomorrow I will hopefully finish up this project. I will be using split loom to protect the wires in the canopy. Then I have to figure out the best way to secure the flex conduit going to the front. Currently have tie wraps holding the conduit, but I want something more secure. May try to use the rubber lined clamps and drill and tap where I have tie wraps now, to allow me to use the rubber lined clamps.

The following pictures show my progress on wiring in the console.

 

[BayouMan]

Had a productive day in the shop today. Amazing what 70 degree weather with about 20% humidity will do for you. I finished wiring up the console last night and today, I got the canopy lights wire. This involved getting the final wires pulled from the junction boxes to the lights. Got the junction boxes closed up and got the wiring done for the canopy lights.

Just have the front lights left to wire up and finish those terminations. Then I have to drill and tap for at least 3 ea clamps to secure the flex conduit I ran for the front lights,

Here are 2 pictures that show the console wiring completed and the canopy lights wiring.

 

[BayouMan]

I still have to finish taping and zip tying on the canopy lights. Will be drilling and tapping to use 1/4" bolts to hold rubber lined clamps to support the flex conduit going to the front lights. After that, I will be reinstalling the 2 batteries and hooking up the circuit breaker and testing the lights.

I still have to do some shimming on the lights that face forward under the canopy. For some reason, they don't hold position like they should. Will have to add washers to get the lights to stay pointed where I want them.

Hope that the LED lights continue to get more reasonably priced, so that I can replace the halogen lights in the very near future.

Thanks for the comments and suggestions, they were most helpful during this project. I shudder to think what this project would have cost to have a tractor shop do this!

Happy seat time to all of you TBN'er's.

Mike

 

[Scrambler82]

Nice work !