[AT] Tractor wiring

Wed Nov 17 15:06:28 PST 2004

Mike,

I understand the feeling!  I'm currently on a lot of different medications 
that make it difficult to type at all.  It's bothering me to see so many 
posts that I would like to respond to but don't because of this difficulty. 
I hope this shaky business goes away soon.  It's keeping me out of the shop 
as well.

George Willer

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mike Sloane" <mikesloane at verizon.net>
To: "Antique tractor email discussion group" <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Sent: Wednesday, November 17, 2004 5:18 PM
Subject: Re: [AT] Tractor wiring

> You are 100% correct. What was I thinking when I wrote that? My only 
> excuse is that I had just returned from the dentist office and was still 
> "feeling no pain".
>
> Mike
>
> George Willer wrote:
>
>> Mike,
>>
>> Unless the rules have changed in the 53 years since my high school 
>> physics class, the skin effect only applies to high frequencies... like 
>> radio frequencies.  Direct current capacity depends only on the total 
>> cross sectional area.  Naturally, stranded wire has less tendency to work 
>> harden from vibration.
>>
>> George Willer
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mike Sloane" <mikesloane at verizon.net>
>> To: "Antique tractor email discussion group" 
>> <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
>> Sent: Wednesday, November 17, 2004 1:12 PM
>> Subject: Re: [AT] Tractor wiring
>>
>>
>>> One other thing: house wiring is solid copper, but for vehicles of any 
>>> kind, you should use "stranded" copper. Also, it is my understanding 
>>> that stranded wire will carry more current than solid wire of the same 
>>> gauge (something called "skin effect"). The reason for using stranded 
>>> wire is that it is better able to handle the vibrations and doesn't 
>>> "work harden". OK, two things: resistance losses for direct current are 
>>> higher than for alternating current, so for longer runs you need 
>>> relatively thicker wire. Fortunately, most tractor wiring is very short, 
>>> that that isn't usually an issue.
>>>
>>> Mike
>>>
>>> Spencer Yost wrote:
>>>
>>>> Mattias is right, the formula holds true for any type of electrical
>>>> circuit.   Be sure to realize resistance, an important additional load 
>>>> on
>>>> the circuit that may change your decision on wire size, increases with 
>>>> the
>>>> length of the wire.
>>>>
>>>> As for wire sizes, 10 ga. is used for charging circuits on virtually 
>>>> all
>>>> vehicles with regular duty alternators and alternators are usually the
>>>> highest wattage circuits (400-800 watts) on a vehicle.  So I use 10 ga 
>>>> for
>>>> any type of charging circuit, I use 10 ga (and a relay!) for modern
>>>> high-intensity lamps and I use 12 ga. for for lower output lights if 
>>>> there
>>>> is more than 2 on the circuit.  I use 14 ga. for everything else.  If I 
>>>> am
>>>> unsure, I use 10 ga and a separate switching circuit with a relay. 
>>>> Heavy
>>>> duty alternators, if I had ever wired for any, would probably get 6-8 
>>>> ga
>>>> wire.
>>>>
>>>> I have no engineering calculations to back this up but this is what I 
>>>> have
>>>> learned to use over the years and seems to match pretty well with what 
>>>> is
>>>> used in practice by manufacturers and hold up to a few offhand 
>>>> resistance
>>>> and wattage calculations I have done on the back of a tool package 
>>>> label.
>>>> I am sure others have some better ideas that maybe are tested or 
>>>> calculated
>>>> that may give you a better degree of comfort than "This is Spencer's 
>>>> system
>>>> and it works for him because nothing has burned down"  (-;
>>>>
>>>> Spencer Yost
>>>> Owner, ATIS
>>>> Plow the Net!
>>>> http://www.atis.net
>>>>
>>>> *********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********
>>>>
>>>> On 11/16/2004 at 10:18 PM Greg Hass wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> After several years of procrastinating I am going to completely rewire 
>>>>> my Farmall 856 with a year-a-round cab.  I can rewire a house, a barn 
>>>>> or a shop.  However, when it comes to tractor wiring I can't figure 
>>>>> the size of
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> wire to use when it comes to wiring the various components.  For 
>>>>> instance,
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> I want to add some halogen lights, some hooked together and some wired 
>>>>> singly.  Also, I want to add a heater and possibly get the circulating 
>>>>> fan
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> running, which has never worked since I've owned the tractor.
>>>>>
>>>>> I want to use adequate sized wire, but on the other hand no bigger 
>>>>> than needed as the heavier wire is harder to work with.  Does anyone 
>>>>> know of a chart, or source, or rule of thumb on how to figure such 
>>>>> things?  For instance, with house wiring "amps x volts = watts", but 
>>>>> I'm not sure the same formula would apply to a 12-volt system.
>>>>>
>>>>> Greg Hass
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> AT mailing list
>>>>> http://www.antique-tractor.com/mailman/listinfo/at
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>>
>>>
>>> -- 
>>> Mike Sloane
>>> Allamuchy NJ
>>> mikesloane at verizon.net
>>> Images: <www.fotki.com/mikesloane>
>>>
>>> The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always 
>>> so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts. -Bertrand
>>> Russell, philosopher, mathematician, author, Nobel laureate (1872-1970)
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>>>
>>
>>
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>
> -- 
> Mike Sloane
> Allamuchy NJ
> mikesloane at verizon.net
> Images: <www.fotki.com/mikesloane>
>
> The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so 
> certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts. -Bertrand
> Russell, philosopher, mathematician, author, Nobel laureate (1872-1970)
> _______________________________________________
> AT mailing list
> http://www.antique-tractor.com/mailman/listinfo/at
> 