panchohughes
Bronze Member
I had posted a video and folks were interested in the strobes that I installed on my Kubota BX.
Here is a link to the video so you can see the strobes flashing; Put lights on my Kubota BX 2350 - YouTube
I use the tractor to clear snow for our neighborhood, and where are lane joins the main road folks like to drive fast despite there being a sharp corner. I figured the strobes might give me some extra visibility from a distance as i have the front ones aimed side to side, and the rear lights are on the corners. The only bad thing is that the loader arms can block the front strobes in certain positions, however they are bright enough that there is plenty of reflection to still get noticed. I thought about mounting an amber led mini-strobe bar under the top section of the ROPS, but this might be overkill given that I am only home-owner & not clearing snow commercially.
Anyway, the install was pretty straight forward. You just need to grab a beer, turn on some tunes and take your time.
I used heavy duty trailer wire for my runs underneath the tractor. It was nice because there are 4 wires inside the single strand. I used 2 wires for the power, and the other for the sync and mode switching. I soldered & shrink-tubed all connections. There was one major "gotcha" that I ran into where i was kicking myself tho. As i said, the strobes have 2 extra wires. 1 serves as a sync wire so that all the flashes will be synchronized. The other serves as a mode change so that you can switch between various flash patterns. I had gotten all my wires ran and all connections made however I had forgotten to get the modes set between each light so that they were all on the same flash pattern together!!! So when pressing the mode change button, they would all advance to the next pattern, but not the same one. This meant that I had to undo my connections that I had just got done soldering and shrinking in order to disconnect 1 light and advance thru the patterns on the other until they were on same one. So moral of the story- before you even install them, hook them up to a 12v source and get them all on the same pattern first! You may also notice in the video that the front and back lights are not sync'd with each other. I didn't bother with that, as I figured as long as each pair was in sync that was fine. However, be careful to make sure that all 4 strobes are on same mode!
I finished my beer, so i have no fear, so I just used a 1" wood bit and drilled into and open area behind each light. On the headlights, i ended up with a bunch of black plastic shavings inside the lens. I used an air hose & nozzle to blow them out. It took a minute or two to get them all out. Here are a couple of pictures that give you an idea how they mount.
I used silicon adhesive around the bezel of each strobe and simply pressed them thru the hole i drilled. The taillight was easy as the entire lens assy comes right off the tractor. So I drilled thru the fender making sure i was lined up properly so the hole would be in the right place under the lens. Under the hood, I tried to be mindful of where to best run the wire so that it would be protected from heat and I used this 16ga bundled 4-wire which was probably overkill:
It took me awhile to figure out the best way to mount the toggle switches so that they were easy to access from behind the dash. Also they are lighted toggles which is nice. I think i bought the round one from TractorSupply but it could have been RadioShack.
Notice in the picture there is a black push button by itself.. I use this for switching between strobe modes. I think i got it from TSC.
I think it turned out ok, and i like the 'stealthness' of it.
Here is a link to the led strobes that I bought: 10 Watt LED Button Strobe | LED Hide-Away Strobe
* Note- I had originally bought the "piranha" led strobes, but they were terrible. not bright at all. I returned them and TowMart was great with no hassles at all.
Hope this helps anyone considering something like this.
P.S. For Christmas my wife got me the heated motorcycle coat & glove liners from Gerbing. (cheaper than buying a cab!
) So I recently installed the electrical jack for where my dual thermostat plugs in which controls gloves & coat separately. I will try to contribute that project soon.
Here is a link to the video so you can see the strobes flashing; Put lights on my Kubota BX 2350 - YouTube
I use the tractor to clear snow for our neighborhood, and where are lane joins the main road folks like to drive fast despite there being a sharp corner. I figured the strobes might give me some extra visibility from a distance as i have the front ones aimed side to side, and the rear lights are on the corners. The only bad thing is that the loader arms can block the front strobes in certain positions, however they are bright enough that there is plenty of reflection to still get noticed. I thought about mounting an amber led mini-strobe bar under the top section of the ROPS, but this might be overkill given that I am only home-owner & not clearing snow commercially.
Anyway, the install was pretty straight forward. You just need to grab a beer, turn on some tunes and take your time.
I used heavy duty trailer wire for my runs underneath the tractor. It was nice because there are 4 wires inside the single strand. I used 2 wires for the power, and the other for the sync and mode switching. I soldered & shrink-tubed all connections. There was one major "gotcha" that I ran into where i was kicking myself tho. As i said, the strobes have 2 extra wires. 1 serves as a sync wire so that all the flashes will be synchronized. The other serves as a mode change so that you can switch between various flash patterns. I had gotten all my wires ran and all connections made however I had forgotten to get the modes set between each light so that they were all on the same flash pattern together!!! So when pressing the mode change button, they would all advance to the next pattern, but not the same one. This meant that I had to undo my connections that I had just got done soldering and shrinking in order to disconnect 1 light and advance thru the patterns on the other until they were on same one. So moral of the story- before you even install them, hook them up to a 12v source and get them all on the same pattern first! You may also notice in the video that the front and back lights are not sync'd with each other. I didn't bother with that, as I figured as long as each pair was in sync that was fine. However, be careful to make sure that all 4 strobes are on same mode!
I finished my beer, so i have no fear, so I just used a 1" wood bit and drilled into and open area behind each light. On the headlights, i ended up with a bunch of black plastic shavings inside the lens. I used an air hose & nozzle to blow them out. It took a minute or two to get them all out. Here are a couple of pictures that give you an idea how they mount.
I used silicon adhesive around the bezel of each strobe and simply pressed them thru the hole i drilled. The taillight was easy as the entire lens assy comes right off the tractor. So I drilled thru the fender making sure i was lined up properly so the hole would be in the right place under the lens. Under the hood, I tried to be mindful of where to best run the wire so that it would be protected from heat and I used this 16ga bundled 4-wire which was probably overkill:
It took me awhile to figure out the best way to mount the toggle switches so that they were easy to access from behind the dash. Also they are lighted toggles which is nice. I think i bought the round one from TractorSupply but it could have been RadioShack.Notice in the picture there is a black push button by itself.. I use this for switching between strobe modes. I think i got it from TSC.
I think it turned out ok, and i like the 'stealthness' of it.
Here is a link to the led strobes that I bought: 10 Watt LED Button Strobe | LED Hide-Away Strobe
* Note- I had originally bought the "piranha" led strobes, but they were terrible. not bright at all. I returned them and TowMart was great with no hassles at all.
Hope this helps anyone considering something like this.
P.S. For Christmas my wife got me the heated motorcycle coat & glove liners from Gerbing. (cheaper than buying a cab!
) So I recently installed the electrical jack for where my dual thermostat plugs in which controls gloves & coat separately. I will try to contribute that project soon. 
