head lights
 

hey everyone,

i want to hook up my head lights. i looked in the wiring diagram section for the 108. i understand everything but a few things.

1. what size fuse do i use

2. the head lights have a puple wire that turns to yellow. what is the cylinder thing in between the purple and yellow wire?

3. i see that the purple wire also goes to the amp gauge on the negative side. why?
will this allow the lights to be on with the key on but the engine off?

will the lights get brighter as i give the tractor more throttle?( i had a tractor like that's once and it was so stupid. the more throttle i gave the brighter the lights got. i had to have the throttle wide open for the lights to be bright) or will they be at the brightest and stay thier as soon as i turn them on?
thanks
mike

I will answer what I can....

1. use a 15amp fuse with a waterproof holder if you are planning on throwing snow--prob. be alright with a normal one, but just to be safe.

2. ?....picture please....is it a connector?

3. on my 149 & 129, my lights come on if I have the ignition switch in the on position & the light switch in the on position. I always have my lights off though whenever I start my tractor & then turn them on after the engine is running.

the brightness should be consistent regardless of engine rpms...all of my cubs are!

Cub Cadet 123

Mike, headlights that dim significantly when the throttle is decreased usually indicate a charge system based on what is called a dual supply stator. These engines have 2 part internal "alternators", one part supplies heavy duty REGULATED charge current to the battery and the 2nd part supplies UNREGULATED power to the headlights only. Power produced from this winding (headlight brightness) depends totally on engine RPM.

p.s The power from the unregulated winding is AC power - not DC.

The 108 has a standard Starter/Generator (S/G). The S/G does NOT produce an A/C voltage.

15A fuse is borderline too big...use a 10A fuse. That's what is specified in the parts lookup.

the lights on my 123 come on with the switch, regardless of ignition, on or off.

Wire the lights as per the diagram. Use a 10A fuse. Wire color is irrelevant.

The fuse size is more dependent on the wire used. If you use 14 gauge wire, you can use a 15 amp fuse, 16ga and you should use a 10 amp fuse. What you don't want to do is use, say, a 15 amp fuse with 18g wire--18g could overheat and cause a risk of fire before the fuse blows. 14g wire can carry 15 amps without a problem.

I think the standard lights are 35 watts each, at 12 volts, that's 3 amps, at 14.5 volts (max charging voltage?), a little more, say 4 amps to be safe. Times 2 gives you 8 amps. A 10 amp fuse works. The tailights look to be about 1/2 amp each, so add another amp for the two there. 10 amps should still work.

The idea in circuit protection is to size the current interrupter for the wire ampacity.

You should nothing less than 14GA wire, if you are custom wiring.

This, of course is great advice. Minimizes voltage drop and just makes sense. I've been using marine grade wire, tinned, stranded. Figure if it's good for my boat, it's good for the tractor.