jd 3020 dim headlights

Anonymous-0

Well-known Member
Just finished a generator to alternator conversion. Headlights were dim before and still are. Noticed it has a 6 volt coil. Is this the culprit or is it something else?
 
Your coil wouldn't have anything to do with your dim headlights. It's for your ignition. Is your
alternator 12 or 6 volts? If it's 12 volts you need a ballast resistor between your ignition switch and coil. I would replace one of the headlights to see if that fixes the dim light. You need a 12 volt replacement if you have a 12 volt battery. Hal
 
I don't know anything specific about your tractor, but, one way to tell if it's headlights or some other problem is to rig up clip leads directly to your lights from the battery and see if there is any difference. If not, you may have the wrong lights. Or your battery isn't up to par. See if you can read any numbers on the headlights to positively identify them as to voltage. I would lean toward bad grounds. I fiddled with the same problem on a Ford and finally ran a new ground wire from each light directly to the battery ground post on the frame. I don't like to connect anything to the battery other than the battery cables. Make sure all connections are clean and tight.
 
I don't think it's the lights themselves because it's all 4 headlights and the dash light that are dim. Is there a main ground somewhere for all of these? Would a weak ground cable on the battery cause this?
 
Trace the ground cable to where it's grounded on the tractor and disconnect it. Clean the surface where it's grounded and the lug on the cable. If the cable is cracked replace it. Use a volt meter and see what your voltage is at the
lights. With the engine running you should see 14 volts or better at your battery and the lights if you have a 12 volt system. Hal
 
I installed new battery cables, had the tractor running and turned on the lights. They were still dim. Then I noticed smoke coming from the dash, so I shut everything off and removed the panel with the light switch. One of the wires had started melting on the switch. Could this be a bad switch or bad wiring somewhere else? I noticed on the fender lights there is a two-wire cable that runs to the lights. One of the wires goes to one light, and a jumper across to the other light. The other wire of the two-wire cable is not connected to anything. Its the same on both fenders. Shouldn't this be connected to something? I assume one side is positive and one is ground. Someone must have disconnected one wire on each side at some point for some reason. Any ideas? Thanks!
 

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