***UPDATE*** Mice ate my light wiring, ques on the wire connectors

[ultrarunner]

Probably have to use both sides... male and female?

 

[ETpilot]

Picture of male and female terminals. Typical width we use is .250” and are sized by the AWG wire used. Look at the insulation on the wire. The wire gauge used may be printed on the insulation. Your terminals are uninsulated as they are in the housing.

 

[bmg88201]

I got hit recently also, mice chewed up some wires on my mower. My lazy ass cat likes to lay on the mower seat and is probably telling the mice which wire to chew on next.

 

[tstex]

Picture of male and female terminals. Typical width we use is .250” and are sized by the AWG wire used. Look at the insulation on the wire. The wire gauge used may be printed on the insulation. Your terminals are uninsulated as they are in the housing.

View attachment 747254

Thx ET

Each wire is individually insulated, then wrapped in electrical tape, at least towards the end. It’s then in Blk flex tubing

there’s a total of 6 wires: 2 Blk & 4 orange. So, 1 Blk & 2 orange for ea light.

They do not seem to be bundled in pairs. The Blk wire is the easy part. How do i tell which orange goes where? I know 2 orange per connector, but which one goes to what connector? Assuming it doesn’t matter on which side of the connector as long as it’s paired w the right connector, correct? Would pairing them incorrectly cause any damage to either the lights, battery or anything else? Damn mice!!

PS / i guess i could just wire nut them together, or do the connectors serve as something else besides the obvious?

 

[5030]

I got hit recently also, mice chewed up some wires on my mower. My lazy ass cat likes to lay on the mower seat and is probably telling the mice which wire to chew on next.

Female cats are the hunters, mousers. Male cats for the most part are not. All they do is pee on everything and fight....lol

Nothing more enjoyable than repairing mouse eaten wiring and removing the always stinky mouse houses too.

We have cats as well but my wife keeps them well fed so they only kill (and eat) mice for fun (and leave the heads by the back door to show us they are killers, they don't eat the heads for some reason).

I had them get under the cowls on both zero turns this year and not only ate the wiring but ate the spark plug wire insulation. Had to replace 2 of the ignition modules at 70 bucks each plus remove the mouse houses and blow them out with compressed air (stinky mess, mice are poor housekeepers, they seem to pee on everything).

Also built a mouse house under the hood on one of my tractors on top the engine but didn't munch any of the wiring. Mice seem to like the soy based insulation, must be tasty to them.

Mouse killer bait is out, they would eat it and the cats would eat them and then expire so I went with bucket traps which are essentially a lid with a pivoting (walk the plank) section with the bait (in my case peanut butter) just out of reach. The lids fit a 5 gallon bucket you add water too. The come with a set of stairs that fit the lids so they can climb up and as they go towards the bait, the hinged plank part of the lid pivots and drops them into the water below and they drown in there. To dispose of them you simply remove the lid and dump the contents (dead mice and water) somewhere convenient.

Since I've put them in the barn and the shop, I've had no mouse issues at all and even the cats have not 'deposited' any mouse heads by the back door. I've emptied the buckets several times.

This winter I'll replace the water with RV antifreeze as the water would freeze,

Last forever and are fairly cheap. They sell various styles on Amazon, where I got mine at. Simple, effective and no more mice and best of all, no more eaten wiring or stinky mouse houses.

Tried the old style snap traps (Victor), very hit and miss. Little buggers got good at getting the bait off them (peanut butter) without springing the trap and they are a PITA to set anyway, I 'snapped' my fingers more than once.

Like I said, mouse killer bait traps are out here. Loaded mice eaten by lazy cats equals dead cats and my wife is a cat lover (I'm not) but I don't relish sleeping in the barn in the winter.

I'm 100% sold on bucket traps now. One in each barn (2) and one in the shop has eliminated the issue.

 

[tstex]

put this bait (i don’t have any cats) inside an aerosol cap and taped cap down. When i went to open tractor hood, the bait was chewed and outside of the cap. I put it back in cap..

 

[kyryder]

Female cats are the hunters, mousers. Male cats for the most part are not. All they do is pee on everything and fight....lol

Nothing more enjoyable than repairing mouse eaten wiring and removing the always stinky mouse houses too.

We have cats as well but my wife keeps them well fed so they only kill (and eat) mice for fun (and leave the heads by the back door to show us they are killers, they don't eat the heads for some reason).

I had them get under the cowls on both zero turns this year and not only ate the wiring but ate the spark plug wire insulation. Had to replace 2 of the ignition modules at 70 bucks each plus remove the mouse houses and blow them out with compressed air (stinky mess, mice are poor housekeepers, they seem to pee on everything).

Also built a mouse house under the hood on one of my tractors on top the engine but didn't munch any of the wiring. Mice seem to like the soy based insulation, must be tasty to them.

Mouse killer bait is out, they would eat it and the cats would eat them and then expire so I went with bucket traps which are essentially a lid with a pivoting (walk the plank) section with the bait (in my case peanut butter) just out of reach. The lids fit a 5 gallon bucket you add water too. The come with a set of stairs that fit the lids so they can climb up and as they go towards the bait, the hinged plank part of the lid pivots and drops them into the water below and they drown in there. To dispose of them you simply remove the lid and dump the contents (dead mice and water) somewhere convenient.

Since I've put them in the barn and the shop, I've had no mouse issues at all and even the cats have not 'deposited' any mouse heads by the back door. I've emptied the buckets several times.

This winter I'll replace the water with RV antifreeze as the water would freeze,

Last forever and are fairly cheap. They sell various styles on Amazon, where I got mine at. Simple, effective and no more mice and best of all, no more eaten wiring or stinky mouse houses.

Tried the old style snap traps (Victor), very hit and miss. Little buggers got good at getting the bait off them (peanut butter) without springing the trap and they are a PITA to set anyway, I 'snapped' my fingers more than once.

Like I said, mouse killer bait traps are out here. Loaded mice eaten by lazy cats equals dead cats and my wife is a cat lover (I'm not) but I don't relish sleeping in the barn in the winter.

I'm 100% sold on bucket traps now. One in each barn (2) and one in the shop has eliminated the issue.

Mouse pee isn't about being poor housekeepers. Mice pee is how they mark safe paths for each other, that's why they always travel the same paths.

 

[5030]

Not into the habits of mice other than the bucket traps work very well. Must have 'mouse pee' in the stairway leading up to the pivoting floor...lol It certainly collects enough victims (the one in the barn). The one in the shop, not so much.

Chuckle to myself that the mice go for a swim with no life preserver inside.

 

[WranglerX]

Home made simple "rolling log " bucket mouse trap.... Made one works well....

 

[mikeb11000]

I found out why my lights would not come on (pic 1)

Are the white connectors reusable? (Pic 2&3) If so, what’s the process of removing old and installing new wires?

if not, does anyone have a source?

thank you in advance