lights left on -> dead battery

[WinterDeere]

I park my tractor in a shed with a sealed concrete floor, where any leak is going to be blatantly obvious, so I'll admit I get a bit lax about checking fluids. I'll check crankcase oil each Saturday morning, as I'm mostly a weekend warrior, but hydro oil might get checked only once per month, and coolant almost never.

 

[Shawn T. W.]

I park my loader tractor like this, with the bucket cutting edge down, mostly because the exhaust misses the lower side of the loader arm, if I leave it flat on the ground then I get the black smudge of exhaust smudge ... The headlights will shine on the loader cross member!

The Kubota in the background has a much more difficult light switch to "accidentally" turn on, compared to the Massey ...

If you have LED headlights, maybe a battery tender would keep up?

 

[Fuddyduddy1952]

I park my tractor in a shed with a sealed concrete floor, where any leak is going to be blatantly obvious, so I'll admit I get a bit lax about checking fluids. I'll check crankcase oil each Saturday morning, as I'm mostly a weekend warrior, but hydro oil might get checked only once per month, and coolant almost never.

Habit, man, habit!
I have a big sign on walk-in door leaving garage: COMPRESSOR OFF!
THERMOSTAT 60°F
LIGHTS OFF!!!!!

 

[WinterDeere]

lol... I only turn my compressor off if I'm going out of town for a week or more.

 

[Carl_NH]

You guys are lucky to have heated barns and leave compressors on!

My compressors stay off in my unheated barn until I need it - usually only in the warmer months.

 

[Shawn T. W.]

My barn is only heated in the summer, when it's not needed!

 

[WinterDeere]

You guys are lucky to have heated barns and leave compressors on!

My compressors stay off in my unheated barn until I need it - usually only in the warmer months.

I always seem to find myself living in houses with a small carriage barn, the plight of an "old house nut", and either I or a prior owner has insulated and heated each one in various ways.

The one where I spent my 20's and early 30's was heated with a resistive in-wall heater, which stank of burned sawdust each fall, and the place had no cooling. Since I seemed to be forever working on projects mostly in the hotter months, I spent most of my time out there just broiling in heat... with the constantly-running compressor never helping with that. Trying to do any painting out there with isocyanate-hardened urethanes was always a hassle, with my rigging up various window air conditioners to try to make the climate a little less humid, as best I could.

So when I fitted out my current carriage barn, which I believe dates back to the 1770's addition to this house, I decided I was going to have air conditioning! So I installed a mini split system with a single outdoor unit, and one indoor unit on each of the two floors. It is now my refuge and solace on hot days, I'll go out there to work on projects in the cool space, when it's too hot to work outdoors.

Where I (or more specifically the guy who sized and quoted the system) screwed up, is that the single indoor unit on the first floor is woefully under-sized for keeping the space warm on the coldest days in January and February. It'll keep the space a comfortable 55 - 65F down into the 20's, but it struggles when we get into teens and single digits. I've been meaning to get around to having a second or larger indoor unit installed for years now, but there's always other more urgent projects in the way of making that happen.

 

[RayIN]

Would a red light mounted in plain sight work?

 

[CliffordK]

I have a similar, but different problem with the Diesel Ford 1715. It has a mechanical shutoff. So, the key is primarily used for the glow plugs and starter motor. And perhaps charging. But the tractor is shut off by pulling the shutoff cable. So, it is so very easy to forget to turn the key off. The key hasn't been out of the lock for years.

I try to remind myself to look for dash lights. But, the light is rather dim.

 

[WinterDeere]

I have an idea for a simple mod that will get me what I want, but it might be awhile till I have time to get the parts and implement. Basically, it will connect into the lighting circuit, either at the switch connector or one of the light connectors, using male/female plug pairs for easy plug-n-play, as well as the key hot accessory terminal that Deere includes under the hood. It'll contain a latching relay and a non-latching relay in logic configuration to start a buzzer each time lights are left on with key off, and contain a push button to silence the buzzer, until the next key cycle resets the circuit.

 

[Fuddyduddy1952]

I have an idea for a simple mod that will get me what I want, but it might be awhile till I have time to get the parts and implement. Basically, it will connect into the lighting circuit, either at the switch connector or one of the light connectors, using male/female plug pairs for easy plug-n-play, as well as the key hot accessory terminal that Deere includes under the hood. It'll contain a latching relay and a non-latching relay in logic configuration to start a buzzer each time lights are left on with key off, and contain a push button to silence the buzzer, until the next key cycle resets the circuit.

Either that or change how you dismount tractor so you have to walk around the front every time after it's shut off.
What works for me with a bad habit like leaving lights on is incorporate a new habit.
Even if it's a string tied to key and a loop other end over light switch. To remove key you have to take it off light switch knob.