New wiring for Lights on an old Tractor

[BayouMan]

I have a 1978 John Deere 2640 that I have owned for about 16 years now. I have been trying to update the tractor over the last several years to try and get it closer to current standards for newer tractors. I have added drag link stabilizers, canopy, limb protectors and additional lights. After I put a front end loader on 2 years ago, I added a bucket level indicator and built a set of forks.

This project was inspired by reading about other lighting projects on this forum and from 2 separate incidents where I had a light switch burn out. The las one occurred about 2 years ago and I thought I was going to lose my tractor, before I got the small fire put out. The problem was due to my ignorance and I had 6 ea, 55w lights, all controlled with 1 fused light switch. After the fire, I put in a second switch to break up the load. Have not really had any issues since, but all of my reading and research shows that there is a tremendous amount of knowledge and expertise on this forum about installing lights.

With all that said, I have purchased the following list of items:
1. 1 ea new switch ( reusing existing 2 switches )
2. 3 ea new 30 amp SPDT relays with sockets
3. 1 ea 6 position fuse panel
4. 1 ea 100 amp circuit breaker
5. 30' of 6 gauge, red and 30' of 6 gauge marine wire
6. 100' each of 16 gauge red and black marine wire
7. Assorted lugs for connectors
8. terminal strips for ground and hot connections.
9. Flex conduit to run wiring in

I already had an aluminum diamond plate step from an old firetruck, that was 6' long by 2' wide with 2" rolled edges. each end had a 2" x 2" aluminum angle welded in each end. I cut a 12' piece off of one end. This will give me 3 sides and will allow me to make a hinged glove bos in the upper right side of my canopy. This picture shows that side of my canopy and the box will be just in front of the light.

 

[BayouMan]

The diamond plate enclosure is shown next with the fuse panel, relay hoders and terminal strips laid out randomly.

 

[BayouMan]

The next major task is deciding where and how to run my wiring and try to have the majority of it protected from the elements and the inevitable limb or debris. The next series of pictures shows the area where the batteries are housed and how I plan to install the circuit breaker and where my wiring will enter and exit this area. I decided to replace both ground cables, due to their sloppy fit on the batteries. I also found a connector to use on the positive cable connector to give me a place to hook up the circuit breaker.

 

[BayouMan]

I have decided to use PVC flex conduit to route from the battery area to the under side of the ROPS. There is a hole under the ROPS base plate, that I can weld a 3/4" pipe nipple to and make a water tight connection on the bottom.


The welded on nipple idea hit me after I started pulling wire and realized that the bracket I had made to support the flex conduit male fitting was going to be impossible to get to after it was welded on the bottom of the ROPS base. The coupling will allow me to pull wire straight down through the ROPS post and the feed into the flex conduit and make the pull to the battery area. I can then install the male fitting and then make up the flex to the fitting.

 

[BayouMan]

The aluminum enclosure will be hinged on the open side, on the 2" x 2" box angle that supports my canopy and I will come up with a latching mechanism to hold it closed. As stated earlier, I will mount the fuse panel, terminal strips for hot and ground, 3 relays and 3 light switches. I still have to figure out how I can run my wiring to the enclosure from the where the wires come out of the top of the ROPS. I also want to protect the wiring to the canopy lights from the enclosure as well. I am thinking of mounting a junction box where the wires exit the top of the ROPS and then use flex conduit to protect the wires. I'm hoping that the flex conduit can be installed in a way that I will be able to hinge the enclosure down for access to the internal components.

 

[BayouMan]

The following pictures shows where I had done a preliminary wire pull down through the ROPS, the terminal strip in the battery area that will allow for the wires going to the front light to be unhooked, to facilitate splitting the tractor for clutch work and a view of what I am facing to get the wires for the front lights routed. I want the wiring protected and I have to be careful of the placement to not have the wiring in a vulnerable place when I chain my tractor to my trailer.

 

[BayouMan]

I feel pretty confident on getting the wiring routed and protected. The first question I have involves the protection of the light switches. Each set of lights will be operated by a switch. I had planned to put each relay on a 15 amp fuse. That takes up 3 spots. Can I put all three switches on one fuse, say a 10 amp? The only reason I ask, is that would leave me with 2 spare fuse slots and I was thinking I could put a power source on one fuse and maybe a strobe light on the other one.

Any other input is appreciated and expected. Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[hr3]

Very nice looking job,,

 

[mjw357]

Can I put all three switches on one fuse, say a 10 amp?

Yes that will work fine, you probably could go even smaller like 5A or 7.5A, depending on the current draw of the relay coils.

Looks good!

 

[BayouMan]

hr3,
Thanks for the comments!

mjw357,
Thanks for the response on my fuse question. I may go ahead and put a 7.5 amp and see how that goes.