PTO wiring

[huffy]

I'm installing the rear pto on my Sunstar. It has two wires coming out of it. I assume one is hot and one is ground. But, both wires are black. Does it matter which one I use as the hot/ground?

[Brettw]

I am not sure, but as I recall from the Sunstar I restored a few years back, if it is like the front PTO, they are both hot and the ground is accomplished by it being mounted. I think it has to do with the ignition module / safety nanny. Someone here will chime in I am sure.

[huffy]

Brett:The front PTO on mine has 2 wires also. As I recall, one is black and the other is white or yellow. The black is the ground, and the other is the hot lead. I assume that the rear PTO is the same. But what's throwing me off is that both wires are black, so I don't know which is which:

The way it's put together, I can't trace the wires down inside the PTO to see where they go without tearing it all apart, which I'd like to avoid if possible. I used to have a wiring diagram for the SS, which I think showed the rear PTO, but it's lost somewhere in my mound of tractor paperwork.

[huffy]

This pic shows the wires going into the PTO, if it helps anyone at all:

It's my understanding that all the power does is magnetize it. So, does it even matter which wire is used as the ground/hot lead?

[Bruker]

Here's a related topic in regards to the PTO wiring. It might matter which wire is which...http://www.simpletractors.com/club2/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=139140

[Brettw]

Again, I am not sure. The front PTO on my Sunstar had two separate wires. I have no experience at all with the rear, but one would assume it is set up the same as the front. I take a battery charger and test them. Yours appears to be ground and hot in one lead. So, you could try to jump both leads and see if it clicks in. If not try ground the frame and try each lead. This assumes the charger has enough moxy. But that is how I have tested various electric clutches to see if they engage, a battery charger, generally not enough amps to damage anything.

[BLT]

I looked at an earlier Sunstar wire harness with Magnum engine and it shows power going to plug connecting to one black wire and then coming back on a black wire thru the plug and finding ground on the tractor frame which means to me that the clutch is not polarity sensitive. Also there is no clamping diode in circuit. This need to be confirmed with your product number.

[BLT]

Hmmmm, 13 hours later and Nothing from Chris, must be golfing again, Ceeeze!

[huffy]

I'm sorry, Bob. I meant to work on this today - really, I did. But when I got home from work I noticed this weird fungus growing in the trees near my driveway. I started looking around and noticed that it was everywhere. Fearing it might ruin my yard if left unchecked, I had to spend a good hour scouring my woods to make sure that I rooted it all out.

Then I had to drive all the way to the store to get some supplies to finish killing off this pesky fungus.

Hopefully tomorrow I will not be sidetracked by such an onerous burden and will be able to turn my attention back to figuring out how to wire up my PTO.

[fishnwiz]

Have you no morals?

Them babies go for 25-35 dollars a pound around here on Craigslist.

[huffy]

Mark:

I eat a few. The rest I trade away. The old lady across the street makes delicious blackberry pies. And a girl I work with grows great asparagus. And there's tons of other locals with a dilectible array of jams, maple syrups, fresh walleye, and a plethora of other things to trade for. Who needs when you have such things?

[powerking_one]

Chris,

The fact you have 2 wires (black)at the clutch connector end tells me it is not polarity sensitive in that perspective. If you reverse them, it would just change the polarity of the electro-magnet coil from N to S vice-versa when power is applied; it's still going to pull in the steel disk either way. Most important is to make sure both leads are isolated/open circuit with respect to the metal part of the clutch and have a few ohms of resistance accross them to verify the coil.

Where the polarity does matter is on the switched feed power side of things, since some manufacturers incorporate a clamping/ back-EMF protection diode in the PTO wiring.

Tom (PK)

[huffy]

Thanks, Tom

[Burntime]

Morels are great, I used to find them by my old house. I seem to remember them growing on old elm trees that were rotting???

[huffy]

Well, I got it installed and all wired up. And it works!

Now I just gotta put the rear end of the tractor back together and the hitch back on. I'll get to that tomorrow, unless something more fun pops up again.