No power to dash

[k0ua]

The fuse was blown - not sure why. The two metal bands in the fuse would make contact when I rattled the wire - thus starting. When I went out yesterday morning the battery was down to 4v and no dash lights no matter how hard I wiggled the wires. I stopped into my local auto parts store and they had the fuse - actually same manufacturer too! I brought it home used the grease and it started(battery was charging this morning). I pulled apart every connection I could reach and greased.

The two fuses(extra one) with tax was just under 20 bucks - ouch! I will take the loader off to access other wires as per spring maintenance noted above.

I looked for a wire that could be worn and had shorted out but found nothing. Any ideas regarding why it would have blown?

Thanks.

What I am about to tell you may or may not be the problem.. And you may not be able to tell. BUT. look at any blown fuse very carefully, I mean really examine it.. to tell if it blew instantaneously with the element gone and possible black marks inside indicating a serious current overload. Or is it just barely melted and sagged just a little in the middle but the element is still all there, just not quite making continuity, then it could have opened from many years of use and just a little overload one time or just was operated at the near limits for a long time.. Or if the element looks intact but when wiggles or jiggled, it moves, but does not appear to have ever really been hot, the fuse can fail from metal/vibration fatigue. No electrical overload at all, just vibration cracked the element. Now you might not be able to tell from just a cursory look at a fuse what happened, but sometimes you can.

 

[Lloyd_E]

k0ua -thanks for the reply - "element is still all there, just not quite making continuity" sums it up. Unfortunately the old fuse is gone... but, from what I remember, the copper element, where split, was grayish silver, not black and the interior of th fuse/plastic was not marked. The break was clean. Hope this helps. Your vibration point actually triggered something that happened last Friday. I was traveling to a friends over a snow covered road and bounced through a major frost heave in the road. The tractor bounced heavily - hit my head on the cab roof. After returning home the tractor was parked for 5 days without use.

Hopefully it was just fatigue. Thanks for your help.

 

[k0ua]

k0ua -thanks for the reply - "element is still all there, just not quite making continuity" sums it up. Unfortunately the old fuse is gone... but, from what I remember, the copper element, where split, was grayish silver, not black and the interior of th fuse/plastic was not marked. The break was clean. Hope this helps. Your vibration point actually triggered something that happened last Friday. I was traveling to a friends over a snow covered road and bounced through a major frost heave in the road. The tractor bounced heavily - hit my head on the cab roof. After returning home the tractor was parked for 5 days without use.

Hopefully it was just fatigue. Thanks for your help.

One thing for sure, if it is a current overload, because of intermittent abrasion in the wiring harness, it will happen again. Intermittents all love to raise their ugly head when you least need it to happen. But hopefully you are all done..

James K0UA

 

[murphy1244]

One thing for sure, if it is a current overload, because of intermittent abrasion in the wiring harness, it will happen again. Intermittents all love to raise their ugly head when you least need it to happen. But hopefully you are all done..

James K0UA

Also when your the farthest away from the barn.

 

[Lloyd_E]

Also when your the farthest away from the barn.

That's my biggest fear!!!! Land is so soft now - could not get my truck down there to pull it out or bring power in. Time will tell...