5088 Electrical Light Issue

[TURBO94]

So this has been an issue for years, so I just have not used this tractor at night. Well, things have changed. I want to use it on my grain cart.

The issue is that the lights work for a bit, then trip out. After some time, they come back on. The time it takes to trip back out gets shorter and shorter after that first ime it happens that night.

I'm not sure how it should look, but it seems like this has been spliced together.  I have a multimeter, but I am not an electrical expert.

 Looking for some help 

BTW, the picture I took is 90 degrees rotated....not sure how to fix it in here

 

[HydroTek]

One of those circuit breakers on the RH side is tripping
You have a heat gun ? the one tripping will be hot
use your finger , but you may get burned 

Original used the fuse block -- so the breakers are added

Also is there extra lights ?
pulling too much on the breaker 

All of that power thru the light switch is asking fro problems there also

I would add a couple of relays to switch the main lights and take some load off the light switch
while you are doing that , you can figure if another breaker is needed to split up the load 

Had a customer that added a LED light bar and was blowing fuses
you would be surprised how many amps one of those can draw 

I added a relay and a separate power source for the light bar

[TURBO94]

No extra lights, all stock.

[Mike56073]

I worked on a 1466 once that did the exact same thing, you would be plowing at night and have the lights on for a while, then all of a sudden the breaker would trip and you were plowing in total darkness. The breaker would cool, lights come back on only to go out again, and it would slowly get worse as the night went on.  It was something like a 30 amp breaker, and all of the lights were drawing maybe 20.  Replaced the breaker only to have the same thing happen again.  I ended up installing 2 15 amp breakers in parallel with each other, and it cured the problem. I think what was happening was that the single breaker was getting just warm enough that the tractor vibration caused the breaker element the vibrate and trip.

[TURBO94]

Mike56073

So replace the two circuit breakers on the right side with 2 15 amp breakers?

HydroTek

I know those circuit breakers on the right side get very hot. I can't remember if just or both I think both get hot.

Sorry everyone, but I'm not familiar with electric issues

[HydroTek]

Kinda depends on what those breakers are powering
I think remove one wire and see what no longer works
since it is a mod to the original, hard telling what they power

Count the lights that are being powered thru the breaker
and look on the side of the breaker for the Amps

Each light will draw about 3.5 amps is original
LED's will draw some less
Halogens will draw a little more

The total load on the breaker needs to be less than 80 percent of what is marked on the breaker

Like I mentioned , you can add a relay or two
and split the load -- will get brighter lights anyways 

[Mike56073]

54 minutes ago, HydroTek said:

Kinda depends on what those breakers are powering
I think remove one wire and see what no longer works
since it is a mod to the original, hard telling what they power

Count the lights that are being powered thru the breaker
and look on the side of the breaker for the Amps

Each light will draw about 3.5 amps is original
LED's will draw some less
Halogens will draw a little more

The total load on the breaker needs to be less than 80 percent of what is marked on the breaker

Like I mentioned , you can add a relay or two
and split the load -- will get brighter lights anyways 

I would do this…….

I can tell you that if you’re still running the factory halogens, the best money I’ve ever spent on my stuff was convert everything to LED. WAAY easier on switches, wiring and alternators!

[Wisconsin Ron]

Poor connections and grounds will cause larger amp load I have come to find. 

[brahamfireman]

Start unplugging lights 1 by 1 until it stops tripping, probably a chaffed wire somewhere 

I'd convert to LED and be done. Best mod ever.

[TURBO94]

Going to do some checking tonight, thanks for all your advice.

I've gotten LED's from Larsen lights they seem to be the most reasonable. What's your opinion? 

[TURBO94]

I assume if a line has more resistance, which would cause more heat, you can check the ohms on the Fluke meter? If it's good, what should it read? If there is too much, what should it read? I've seen people use it, but never asked what's good or bad

[HydroTek]

54 minutes ago, TURBO94 said:

I assume if a line has more resistance, which would cause more heat, you can check the ohms on the Fluke meter? If it's good, what should it read? If there is too much, what should it read? I've seen people use it, but never asked what's good or bad

Will not get you a meaningful result using the meter to read Ohms on a power wire 

You would get a better reading measuring voltage loss in the circuit with it under load 

[TURBO94]

Could it be a bad switch?

Looks like it might have gotten hot. 

[TURBO94]

My battery is out putting 11.2V

When test it at the front headlight I get 10V

This is after we cleans the switch blades and the circuit breaker and the ring with emery cloth. 

[Mike56073]

11.2 V is almost a junk battery. A good battery will read around 12.5.  I wouldn't be happy with a 1.2V voltage drop at the headlight, either.

Disconnect your battery(ies) and check the Ohms resistance on the ground side of the light, put one probe on the negative battery cable and the other probe on the ground of the light.  It should read 1 ohm or less, preferably less than .5 ohms. If it's more than that, it's time to clean connections and ground locations, especially where the ground straps are attached underneath the cab. There is also at least one ground in front of the radiator fan.

     With the battery still disconnected do the same on the power side (with the switch on), or like Hydrotek said you can do a voltage drop under a load. Either way will point you to dirty corroded connections.  Those tractors used a multiwire connector on the right side of the engine in the main harness, double check that one. 

   That connector looks fine to me; that's one of the few that's not totally melted yet. When they get really hot, those brass terminals will turn bluish black and the plastic will melt and glue it to the switch.

[5288IH]

Add relays electrics in the 80's was shocking, less relays wires getting thinner.

[TURBO94]

10 hours ago, Mike56073 said:

11.2 V is almost a junk battery. A good battery will read around 12.5.  I wouldn't be happy with a 1.2V voltage drop at the headlight, either.

Disconnect your battery(ies) and check the Ohms resistance on the ground side of the light, put one probe on the negative battery cable and the other probe on the ground of the light.  It should read 1 ohm or less, preferably less than .5 ohms. If it's more than that, it's time to clean connections and ground locations, especially where the ground straps are attached underneath the cab. There is also at least one ground in front of the radiator fan.

     With the battery still disconnected do the same on the power side (with the switch on), or like Hydrotek said you can do a voltage drop under a load. Either way will point you to dirty corroded connections.  Those tractors used a multiwire connector on the right side of the engine in the main harness, double check that one. 

   That connector looks fine to me; that's one of the few that's not totally melted yet. When they get really hot, those brass terminals will turn bluish black and the plastic will melt and glue it to the switch.

Yeah, I knew I was running the batteries too long. I was mainly only using the tractor for chopping stalks.  

In the Picture, the red wire had two connections in it, one was getting hot, the other very hot, so we got rid of them and put in a new one, and it seems not to be getting as hot in the breaker.  It's got late, so we could not run as long as we wanted to.

So the next thing we will do is look into the voltage drop at the lights.

[TURBO94]

9 hours ago, 5288IH said:

Add relays electrics in the 80's was shocking, less relays wires getting thinner.

When you guys say add relays, where do you add them? 

Replace the breaker with a relay? Before the breaker, after the breaker? What size or kind of one?

[brahamfireman]

22 minutes ago, TURBO94 said:

When you guys say add relays, where do you add them? 

Replace the breaker with a relay? Before the breaker, after the breaker? What size or kind of one?

You obviously have a high current situation if its opening a 30 amp breaker,  relays won't change that. Get that battery up to 12.5 and start checking voltages at each light, hot wire to a good body ground.

[acem]

You need to determine the actual amperage through each circuit with the battery at 12+ volts. Could be a bad breaker.

If you have high amperage, find the cause

Electrical problems can cause tractor fires.

[ComancheStarFarms]

I’ve purchased a couple dozen PAR 36 4.5” LED lights from Larsen & have had very good use out of them - no failures.

[TURBO94]

On 9/9/2025 at 9:06 PM, Mike56073 said:

11.2 V is almost a junk battery. A good battery will read around 12.5.  I wouldn't be happy with a 1.2V voltage drop at the headlight, either.

Disconnect your battery(ies) and check the Ohms resistance on the ground side of the light, put one probe on the negative battery cable and the other probe on the ground of the light.  It should read 1 ohm or less, preferably less than .5 ohms. If it's more than that, it's time to clean connections and ground locations, especially where the ground straps are attached underneath the cab. There is also at least one ground in front of the radiator fan.

     With the battery still disconnected do the same on the power side (with the switch on), or like Hydrotek said you can do a voltage drop under a load. Either way will point you to dirty corroded connections.  Those tractors used a multiwire connector on the right side of the engine in the main harness, double check that one. 

   That connector looks fine to me; that's one of the few that's not totally melted yet. When they get really hot, those brass terminals will turn bluish black and the plastic will melt and glue it to the switch.

I did the checks with the positive and negative cables. Both reading .5 ohms. So that was good. 

[TURBO94]

So I think we got it fixed. We redid the splices and crimped a new eyelet on in the line that goes to the switch and installed new battery's ran the light for 45 minutes and the breaker was a little warm but I could keep my finger on it. Before it would have been so hot you couldn't keep it on for a second. 

I'm still dropping .8 volts out to the headlights. 

I ordered a LED light kit from Larsen lights also. 

I'm hoping this will fix everything. 

[Matt Kirsch]

LED lights will reduce the current load on the system (i.e. AMPS) but it won't change the voltage drop to the lights. That's a function of the wiring, or lack thereof. You need to pull new wires to the lights, preferably larger gauge wires.

What is the voltage with the tractor running? You don't run the lights with the tractor off. Should be 13.8 or maybe a bit higher.

[acem]

Actually when you reduce the amperage, you reduce the voltage drop. 

Check all the wiring harnesses from the dash to the lights. Look for bad spots and corrosion in the connections.