Electrical Gremlin on my CCO - Need Advice

Ok, was in the middle of plowing the driveway and the light on my Original went out and since I only have one headlight, I kinda need it. Pulled O' into shop, checked fuse and it was blown, bulb was blown too. I replaced fuse and bulb and blew 2nd bulb but not the fuse. I don't have a mutimeter, I know I need to get one and will in the next week, but I do have a 12v testor similar to this:http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/st...ing_googlebase

Any ideas, seems like I'm having an amperage surge, maybe replace s/g??

[Roanoker494]

Originally Posted by Sminkey

Ok, was in the middle of plowing the driveway and the light on my Original went out and since I only have one headlight, I kinda need it. Pulled O' into shop, checked fuse and it was blown, bulb was blown too. I replaced fuse and bulb and blew 2nd bulb but not the fuse. I don't have a mutimeter, I know I need to get one and will in the next week, but I do have a 12v testor similar to this:http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/st...ing_googlebase

Any ideas, seems like I'm having an amperage surge, maybe replace s/g??

It is possible that your second bulb was just faulty to start with, but the previous blown fuse would lead me to think not. With out a meter I would just trace the wires back looking for hot spots, not the easiest task when dealing with old dried out harnesses. With the tester you have you should be able to ground to the frame and probe the negative terminal to see if you have power there. Pull and twist the wires, while you are probing the light socket, to see if anything changes. You could probably rewire the entire circuit faster than tracing down the problem.

[Rhoderman]

Blew the bulb? Voltage too high.
Blew the fuse? Current too high. Caused by voltage too high, or short circuit.
Blew both??? Probably overvoltage.
Check the regulator.
Your battery should hold the voltage at 13 - 14 volts, which won't blow a bulb normally, fuse either.
If your battery went open circuit, the S/G might surge and cause what you saw.
Go get that gremlin!
If your regulator caused your battery to go way into overvoltage, a new battery may be in your future.
I've seen blown bulbs cause fuses to blow when the bulb internals short out.
Did you replace the bulb with a 12V bulb???? 6V would last no time at all...
Good Luck!

Ok, will post a couple pics in a few minutes, found a charred wire, the blue one, and also on the regulator, the fusible link on the back is kinda messed up, will try to take a pic of that too. thanks guys

update: Ok, battery is pretty new, the fusible link on the back is still attached but all loose and stretched out in 2 spots. From the other 4 regulators I have, the fusible link is solid. Gonna replace the regulator and blue wire and see what happens, hopefully don't blow another bulb

Well, I replaced the blue wire and the regulator and now it won't stay running. It will stay running if I hold the starter switch in, but as soon as I let go she dies. It was running before, maybe replacement regulator is no good, I pulled it off my 124. The regulator that was on the Original had a ground wire coming off of it to the chassis, when I looked at all my other tractors, none of them had a ground wire, just the bat.,gen., f., terminals?? Guess I'll be waiting for daylight to plow now

Ok, So now I see there are 3 different types of regulators, I tried to use the one off my 124 and it didn't work so I took the regulator off my other O' and s/g, replaced most all the wiring and wala! She runs great and new bulb is working fine too:biggrin2.gif:. So I found a couple issues when I went replace the wiring, both terminals on the s/g were loose, one was very loose and in the regulator I found a very fine copper wire that was broken, and on my other O's regulator the wiring is much beefier. Anyway problem solved, went and bought a MultiMeter today too, now just need to retrain myself on how to use it

[ol'George]

Originally Posted by Sminkey

Ok, So now I see there are 3 different types of regulators, I tried to use the one off my 124 and it didn't work so I took the regulator off my other O' and s/g, replaced most all the wiring and wala! She runs great and new bulb is working fine too:biggrin2.gif:. So I found a couple issues when I went replace the wiring, both terminals on the s/g were loose, one was very loose and in the regulator I found a very fine copper wire that was broken, and on my other O's regulator the wiring is much beefier. Anyway problem solved, went and bought a MultiMeter today too, now just need to retrain myself on how to use it

If that small broken ground wire pictured inside the reg, is the only thing wrong with the Regulator, I would re solder it (ok to extend it) and try it to see if it repairs the regulator.
But if the wire wound resistor on the bottom of the regulator is bad, it's best to replace the unit.
It is not a fusable link, and there are two of them.
They will function as long as they don't touch anything and are not broken.

[Methos]

Glad you got it figured out Jude.

Originally Posted by ol'George

If that small broken ground wire pictured inside the reg, is the only thing wrong with the Regulator, I would re solder it (ok to extend it) and try it to see if it repairs the regulator.
But if the wire wound resistor on the bottom of the regulator is bad, it's best to replace the unit.
It is not a fusable link, and there are two of them.
They will function as long as they don't touch anything and are not broken.

Thanks ol'George and Duke!! I'll post another pic in a bit of the back of regulator with a bigger issue, I think. I'll repair it if it's feasible..

Here's a pic of the back, the fusible link is all tweaked, still intact, but not solid and tight like all my other regulators.

[ol'George]

Originally Posted by Sminkey

Thanks ol'George and Duke!! I'll post another pic in a bit of the back of regulator with a bigger issue, I think. I'll repair it if it's feasible..

Here's a pic of the back, the fusible link is all tweaked, still intact, but not solid and tight like all my other regulators.

It is not a fusible link
it is a wire wound resistor.
I'd carefully push it together and leave it be.
I see you have another issue with the rubber vibration damper.
They put them there to reduce contact arcing in the voltage/current points.
It looks like someone was not careful while turning the mounting bolt causing the bracket to rotate, ripping the rubber damper and injuring the wire wound resistor.(lesson learned it has happened before)
Repair the ground on the inside as I stated previously, and give it a try as you have nothing to loose the way it is now. Worst case you replace it if it is /goes bad.
Luck!!