Alright. I screwd it up good now.

pickeringchris · Dec 23, 2012

Just for the record, I am we'll versed in Ac. DC not so much but I do know the colors. Lol.

These fixtures as I just found out are black (hot) and white (ground). What a cluster %#@*. No instructions or schematics in packaging. What a major PITA. I guess we should never assume things. The lights work when I put white to black and black to red. Lol

jefwyn · Dec 23, 2012

pickeringchris said:
Just for the record, I am we'll versed in Ac. DC not so much but I do know the colors. Lol.

These fixtures as I just found out are black (hot) and white (ground). What a cluster %#@*. No instructions or schematics in packaging. What a major PITA. I guess we should never assume things. The lights work when I put white to black and black to red. Lol

Glad you got them to work.

pickeringchris · Dec 23, 2012

Still some unknowns here. According to the other thread, this extra factory circuit under the tool box is connected to the 15A "customer use" fuse. Why was i blowing the 7.5A "Combination meter" fuse when I was hooking them up in reverse polarity?
Also, I blew the main 60A which I still dont understand....

Willl · Dec 23, 2012

pickeringchris said:
black (hot) and white (ground).

That's semi-trailer standard. Black is 'marker or clearance lights'.

Steve_Miller · Dec 23, 2012

This is a GUESS only but if you hook them up reverse polarity and there is no short circuit protection you have forward biased the diodes and created essentially a short circuit. Remember, this is just a theory not knowing the structure of these LED lights.

As far as which fuse blows first can sometimes not make sense but it may come down to the fuse structure. All fuses are not alike, they have different capacities at which they blow. For an off the wall example we had a condition one time at our plant where a machine was tripping a 1200 amp breaker instead of taking out the 150 amp fuses protecting it. It all came down to the condition that was creating the problem and the reaction time of the protective device.

Steve

rjwerth · Dec 23, 2012

I'd send those lights back....I don't like the sound of how they were engineered. It doesn't take all that much to put in a safety to protect against reversed polarity. As for the color code...well...I don't think I've ever seen black as positive in a DC circuit.

k0ua · Dec 23, 2012

Willl said:
That's semi-trailer standard. Black is 'marker or clearance lights'.

Well, that explains that.. I am wondering if there is a voltage regulator and protection circuity (diode protection) inside the lights to protect against reverse polarity (I would not have thought the black to be positive on a DC circuit. it would have been nice for the manufacture to have include a simple application diagram..

James K0UA

Willl · Dec 23, 2012

White = ground is also used in small truck and trailer connection. No black thou.

Scooby074 · Dec 23, 2012

Glad you got them working. I hooked mine up backwards but didnt blow a fuse. There must be something else going on there. I agree the lack of instructions can be frustrating.

Dazinyandina · Dec 24, 2012

First post so Hello to every one and a Merry Xmass to all.

May I ask is the body of the work light metal?

If it is have you attached the light to a metal part of the tractor?

If you have then my thoughts are that the earth wire on the light runs to the body or case of the light so by run the Positive wire to the earth wire on the light it will create a dead short to earth through the metal case of the light.

Hope this has helped in some way.