ROPS: Epoxy light bar with front/rear lights

   / ROPS: Epoxy light bar with front/rear lights #1  

Bob_Skurka

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Jul 1, 2003
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It has been raining all day and I finally got some pictures of the front and rear lights I put on my NH TC24D.

The lights are PIAA 35-watt yellow fog lamps. I had no desire to put lights bright enought to warm the top of my head on a cold winter day or to light the whole countryside with some 100-watt flamethrowers that would overtax my alternator. My lighting goal was pretty simple, to put out enough light to mow the lawn on summer nights (I chose yellow because I HOPE they won't attract bugs). I chose fog lamps because they throw a wide pattern and I simply wanted to supliment the light I get from the headlights, not to project light 100 yards beyond the front of the tractor.

The rear facing lights are the same PIAA fog lamps. My goal there was to put out a wide beam pattern to supliment the rear auxiliary light for when I am working with an implement. I have found that the factory rear light is low enought that the light hits the implements and casts a very black shadow. Mounting two wide beam lamps up high should eliminate the shadow effect and also should illuminate a much wider area around where I am working.

The lights are mounted to a piece of angle iron that I epoxied to the ROPS. I took the paint off the ROPS prior to applying the epoxy. The epoxy used is a waterproof marine grade epoxy with a 5000# shear strength so I figure it won't come off. Because I have a lot of hilly land I was worried about drilling into the ROPS and I was leary about welding brackets for the same concern. The epoxy seemed to be the best solution I could come up with.

The lights are mounted UNDER the ROPS to protect them from trees, that is also why I epoxied the bracket to the rear of the ROPS, it puts the front facing lights slightly behind the front edge of the ROPS.
 

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   / ROPS: Epoxy light bar with front/rear lights
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#2  
Here is a view from under the ROPS.

You can see the angle iron bracket is flush with the bottom of the ROPS for a very smooth clean look. There are also several holes drilled into the bracket for the purpose of allowing me to tie down the wires without having to wrap zip ties around the entire ROPS.
 

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#3  
Here is a view of the top of the bracket that shows how the wiring is tied down. This is taken from the rear of the tractor, above the bar. the ROPS provides protection for the wires, which are also tied down to the bracket with zip ties so all of the wiring connecting to the lights is protected behind the rops.
 

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#4  
Waterproof marine switches mounted on the left fender.

I keep this tractor in the garage, but I wanted to make sure everything is 100% waterproof. These are marine grade switches and appear to be the same brand that NH uses as their factory switches. All of the wiring was sealed as well.
 

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#5  
Here is a front view of the ROPS showing the lights.

I mounted the front facing lights outboard because I wanted to enhance the light from the factory headlights. I figured if they were mounted closer to the center that I would end up with hood of the tractor <font color="blue"> (or my big head) </font> casting a shadow where I wanted to put light on the ground. The lights are aimed fairly low because I want to see the ground at night right in front of the tractor and to the sides of the front wheels (that is also why I chose fog lamps because they spread an extra wide light pattern).

The lights are automotive PIAA lights and spread a very even light pattern. Many of the lower priced lights cast light patterns that have light and dark spots (just like the headlights of the TC24D) and I have uneven ground that is full of shadows when using the headlights, so I was very concerned that the lights I used would cast a very even light pattern like automotive lights.

The rear lights are mounted closer to the center-line of the tractor simply because that was where they fit. I would have put them farther out but there was not room. They are set high enough and far enough apart that they help to eliminate the shadow cast by the rear auxilary light that is mounted behind the tractor seat when that light's beam hits the top of an implement.
 

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   / ROPS: Epoxy light bar with front/rear lights #6  
Gee Bob, it is kind of hard to steal your ideas since your pictures are so tiny even on my Iiyama 21 inch monitor!
So what brand are those switches and where did you get them? Also how did you run the hot wire and is it fused? Oh and how about a picture of the wiring at the battery.

George
 
   / ROPS: Epoxy light bar with front/rear lights
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#7  
LaGeorge. . . the wiring is using the PIAA wiring that came with the lights, I simply substituted their switches for the same ones you used with your strobes. The PIAA lights have inline fuses and switches control relays.

Here is a picture that is lower resolution so it should be larger, it is from the underside.
 

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#8  
Here is another, side/bottom view. You can see the edge of the angle iron, it is 1.75 by 2. I rounded the corners. The bracket is about 18" long. In person the bracket and the ROPS are the same color as the light housing, but in the picture the light housings look black and the ROPS/bracket appear grey. I used stainless screws hold the lights to the bracket, there is also a thin piece of foam between the angle iron bracket and the light's brackets to help isolate vibrations.

I hope this picture is a little easier for you to see.
 

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#9  
George, as for the wiring at the battery, I didn't take the wires all the way there. The hot wire had a connector that fit perfectly on the left side of the engine where the wire from the battery runs to a screw and then the starter, alternator tap their power from that point, I simply added the light's connector to that screw as well. The ground wire grounds to a screw on the frame next to the left foot platform. I thought about grounding to a fender screw near the switches but thought it would be better to go directly to the frame. All the wiring is shielded inside plastic tubing and ziptied to prevent rubbing agains moving parts.

As for the switches, I got those from the source you posted a while back, it has been a while but I think it was Anchor? I thought about mounting them so the ON was facing the front of the tractor but decided that ON should face to the left. My logic for that is that the front switch works the front lights and the back switch controls the rear lights. There is enough room for me to enlarge the hole and mount another 2 more switches if I decide I need to add something else. As only road the tractor on the private lane in front of my house, and only very infrequently, I doubt I'll add strobes like you did.
 
   / ROPS: Epoxy light bar with front/rear lights #10  
Hey Bob, those strobes are cool and I feel so DOT with them on. But honestly they do make a difference when working near public roads. I was asking about your wiring because I was wondering what other people do about wiring up accessories to their tractors. I like your idea of running it to the alternator positive stud. We used to do that on our Suburbans but changed to the battery due to alternator regulator flicker. I guess the battery serves as a regulator that kind of smoothes thing out a bit.
Your installation looks real clean and I am finding that I need some more light as well with these short days. Neat idea to use epoxy, I guess it should hold but JB Weld would have made that very permanent but then again so should epoxy/
Your pictures are still very small, maybe a resolution of 800X600 would help all of us idea thieves a bit. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

George
 
 
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