Electricity Basics, and Gremlins

Bob H · 2025-02-22T13:28:07-0500

First of all, I don't want to bore some of the people on here that already know about what I'm about to "share". Secondly, I'm in no way trying to be-little anyone's abilities, or lack of, when it comes to troubleshooting electricity, and the problems that sometimes occur. Thirdly, NO, I'm in no way trying to "Blow my own Horn" it's simply a matter of fact, that I have spent my entire life (almost entire life) working with electricity, and experiencing most of the "Gremlins" which can present themselves. And lastly, (and "Administrators" please correct me if I'm wrong) I believe this Forum's main purpose, is to share with each other, information that helps to promote the successes of having, repairing, enjoying, and using, one of the best Garden Tractors ever built. Now I'll try to get to my point. Electricity comes to us basically in two forms" A C, and D C. A C is what you'll typically find in your Home, Shop, etc. and I'll leave that topic for another time. What I want to focus on here and now is D C electric. This is what we have in most "portable", or "movable" equipment, let's call it. Cub Cadets fall into this category. They have a D C Battery, and the electricity, for the most part is also D C. The "Hot" wire, let's say the +/positive wire, is going to supply electricity to whatever needs juice, to operate. A simple example, for illustration purposes, is a light bulb, a headlight, taillight, dash lite, etc. You run a "Hot wire" to the light bulb, (in a socket usually) and if that's all you do, your light bulb won't work. Why? because after the electricity goes through the bulb, it needs a way back to the battery to do other things. This "return wire", back to the battery, is what we normally call the "-/negative or ground wire" Now the bulb will light, and stay lit, until you either remove a wire, your bulb burns out, your battery goes dead, or corrosion interferes with one of your connections. This is as basic as it gets. Adding to this: You don't want your light on, all the time, so you insert a switch, usually in the "Hot/+ wire, and now you can turn your light on, or off, simply by switching the switch. The switch is a simple device that opens up the loop, thereby turning your light off, the same as if you took the wire apart, anywhere in this loop, or "circuit" as we call it. Still with me?, let's go further. Cub Cadets are made of steel, at least they used to be, and steel is reasonably good at passing electricity through it. Someone, somewhere, at some time decided that instead of using a wire, to get back to the battery, in my above description, they could use the steel parts of the tractor, as a wire. They hooked up the battery -/negative to the frame of the tractor, and the steel became the "return wire". Now then, they ran the same +/Positive wire from the battery, through the switch, and to the light bulb, but instead of running a "return wire", they simply ran the return to the steel part of the tractor, and yes, the light went on. Okay, now let's add about 50 years to the steel, maybe a little paint, here and there, several episodes with the garden hose, a little vibration here and there, wear and tear, and whatever else we can throw at it over it's lifetime, (kinda making myself feel older as I write) What happens here is that the connections start to deteriorate.; "springy" steel connectors, loose they're springiness, and loosen up on the slip-ons, rust and corrosion start to sneak into joints that are bolted together, shims and washers wear thinner and the connections suffers electrically. There are also problems that come with taking good care of your 50+/- year old piece. You take off your "whatever" to repair it and you also put a good coat of paint on it, you re-assemble, and your light won't work?? Probably because your paint is blocking a good bond, and electrically you have "opened the wire" so to speak. Scrape off the paint where the two pieces come together, and your light works. Good habits, bad habits, whatever, electrically you end up with "Gremlins" lurking, always lurking, trying to keep your lights "loop" from working. Hope this helps someone, I need to stop for now. Good luck with your projects and keep them alive. Bob H, Southern Indiana