Which wire for ride on mower electrics

[woodman-46]

Hello,
I am installing a new engine into a second hand ride on mower and there are no existing electrics at all at the moment. Can someone tell me what type/gauge wire I need to make all the relevant 12v connections from battery to ignition, to solenoid etc.
If it is not to much effort can someone draw a layman's diagram of how everything is connected.
There is a solenoid attached to the engine at the moment.
Would be much appreciated
James
Ps I will be using a 35ah 12v lead acid.battery and there will be no other things like headlights etc .

 

[jj4091]

ride on tractor wiring diagram & this

should find your answers here.

 

[ericmark]

25 mm² or thicker to starter motor depends on size of engine and distance, and 1.5 mm² for the rest. What I use to do was use 7 core trailer cable the different colours make it easy to identify. As to how it depends what is already on the engine, most small engines come part wired as use parts inside the flywheel.

 

[SUNRAY]

25 mm² or thicker to starter motor depends on size of engine and distance, and 1.5 mm² for the rest. What I use to do was use 7 core trailer cable the different colours make it easy to identify. As to how it depends what is already on the engine, most small engines come part wired as use parts inside the flywheel.

Most modern cars don't use anything like 25mm² for the starter motor. I re-used some from a 2 litre Ford Sierra's on a self build car and they fitted in 10mm² copper lugs with ease.

 

[woodman-46]

25 mm² or thicker to starter motor depends on size of engine and distance, and 1.5 mm² for the rest. What I use to do was use 7 core trailer cable the different colours make it easy to identify. As to how it depends what is already on the engine, most small engines come part wired as use parts inside the flywheel.

Thanks, I really appreciate all of your advice on this and the video etc. Just one point, did you mean 2.5mm or thicker to starter motor ericmark ? cheers
James

 

[EFLImpudence]

No, Eric said and meant 25mm² (twenty five square millimetres cross-sectional area) but SUNRAY said that 10mm² will likely be adequate.

It depends how many Amps are drawn.

The 6 gauge mentioned in the video is 13.3mm² - so 16mm² is the nearest size up.

 

[SUNRAY]

It depends how many Amps are drawn.

The 6 gauge mentioned in the video is 13.3mm² - so 16mm² is the nearest size up.

It depends on current [amps], how easily it starts [how long] and how long the cables are [volt drop] I've just asked a friend if he knows what size is on his mower and he says it is less than 6mm diameter but in total less than 2ft long. I am accustomed to working with Tri-Rated and I reckon 6mm² is about 5mm and 10mm² is about 7mm, not that I've ever measured it!. On that basis I'd say its 6mm² however Tri-rated does tend to be slightly thicker than other types, especially recent automative wiring, so it could be 10mm² at a push.

 

[EFLImpudence]

Just had a quick look on ebay and the first example for 12 inch negative lead is 16mm² which it says is rated at 110A and has an outside diameter of 8.7mm.

 

[ericmark]

A 35 Ah battery is rated around 330 amp, it can clearly be a lot less than that, but we have no idea as to engine size or type, multi-cylinder engines tend to need a smaller starter, and with some engines one has a clockwork decompresser and a dynostart which does not use many amps.

Even the word lawn mower does not tell one much, this on

has a 24.5 HP Yanmar Diesel engine and the problem with items like this there is often some drag even in with everything turned off so the starter motor can have quite a load.

Others are more like a mobility scooter with an attachment

or worse, so you really do need to give some more information.

 

[woodman-46]

Thanks, this is the engine and it is 16hp. I was going to use a 35ah 12v battery ?

 

[ericmark]

The manual gives you all the sizes, 15 mm² for starter motor clearly in UK 16 mm² and it recommends a 45 AH battery. I did wonder if AWG but think W 2.0sq means white 2 mm² which seems a little small for 25 amp fuse but motor vehicles always seemed to use thinner cable to mains.[/URL]