More Lights

Prodirt6000 · Oct 16, 2009

Well, I want to add some more lights. I've been doing my homework and did alot of looking on here of what everyone else has done. I was thinking though, I have a BX 1500, and looking at pictures it just seems like my body will get in the way alot of the lights when hanging from the ROPS. The ROPS arent very tall, or wide. But the lights need to be inside the arch so that they are protected.

The other thing I want to do maybe is put my lights on the cross piece on my FEL. This way when I'm plowing snow I will be able to see alot better, and I wont have the light shinning on the back of my head and dash all the time. Then where the FEL hydraulics quick connects are I will have an electrical quick disconnect.

What are your thoughts?

And I will only have 3 lights, 2 55W for the front, and one 35W for the back. I dont have the upgraded alternator.

Thanks

bpattie · Oct 16, 2009

Prodirt6000 said:
The other thing I want to do maybe is put my lights on the cross piece on my FEL. This way when I'm plowing snow I will be able to see alot better, and I wont have the light shinning on the back of my head and dash all the time. Then where the FEL hydraulics quick connects are I will have an electrical quick disconnect.

What are your thoughts?

Thanks

Not sure where you are talking about mounting them on the FEL cross piece, but as the loader was raised or lowered change where the beam is aimed?

Prodirt6000 · Oct 16, 2009

Yeah thats a negative part about that, the aim would be changed. But usually the loader is down most of the time when plowing snow. I would rather have them up on the ROPS because it would make it so much easier, but I just dont know if my body will be in the way or not.

veresjwv · Oct 16, 2009

Prodirt6000 said:
Yeah thats a negative part about that, the aim would be changed. But usually the loader is down most of the time when plowing snow. I would rather have them up on the ROPS because it would make it so much easier, but I just dont know if my body will be in the way or not.

Hey Pro,
Don't know much about BX's... but what if you where to take a piece of unistrut or kindorf (depending what part of the country your from) a little wider then your rops mounting the lights to it and then u-bolting it to your rops. Unistrut comes with holes already in it and is painted or weather resistant coating. Front facing lights could be on the outside of rops and back facing light in the middle. Then a quick attach plug and you are there
Just a thought!

LBrown59 · Oct 16, 2009

bpattie said:
Not sure where you are talking about mounting them on the FEL cross piece, but
as the loader was raised or lowered change where the beam is
aimed?

Prodirt6000 said:
Yeah thats a negative part about that, the aim would be changed. But usually the loader is down most of the time when plowing snow. I would rather have them up on the ROPS because it would make it so much easier, but I just dont know if my body will be in the way or not.

Hang them so they swivel.

BXRICK · Oct 17, 2009

BX1500 owner here.
Your body will likely be in the way if you hang them inside the ROPS. You can try it quickly with a flashlight to find out.

You could hang them off of a cross-piece clamped (hose clamps, U-bolts) to the top of the ROPS, so each light is to the side of your body.

If your main use for the lights is when plowing snow, it doesn't matter exactly - snow is very reflective, and as long as you get light out there somewhere, it'll light up the area well enough. Setting up lights to mow with effectively would be much harder.

An advantage of putting lights somewhere up near your eye level is that anything that gets in the way of the beam (think FEL) won't matter, since you can't see through it anyway.

I mounted my work lights (one backward, one forward) on top of the ROPS, as I don't have a problem with low-hanging branches, and, since the ROPS is low enough, it still fits in the shed. And, up there, my head isn't in the way. But you may need to protect them more.

Stradbash · Oct 17, 2009

BXRICK said:
If your main use for the lights is when plowing snow, it doesn't matter exactly - snow is very reflective, and as long as you get light out there somewhere, it'll light up the area well enough.

This speaks to something I have been wondering about. I'll soon be starting my first full season of snow plowing with my BX and a 60" plow. Are the headlights reasonably sufficient for non fussy plowing? Or does the blade get in the way of the headlights too much for them to be very useful?

iplumb · Oct 17, 2009

Anybody have a rear facing light? I plan to plow snow with my back blade this year. Could you guys post some pictures of your lights so I could get some ideas? Thanks

LBrown59 · Oct 17, 2009

Stradbash said:
This speaks to something I have been wondering about. I'll soon be starting my first full season of snow plowing with my BX and a 60" plow. Are the headlights reasonably sufficient for non fussy plowing? Or does the blade get in the way of the headlights too much for them to be very useful?

The blade won't lift high enough to get in front of the lights so wont block them .
Haven't you ever went out after dark and tried your lites on your BX with the blade attached ?

CHDinCT · Oct 17, 2009

Here are some pic's of my ROPs lights and rear light. I mounted mine under the ROPS for protection and because my BX ROPs just clears my shed door. I used the smallest 55w halogens I could find. I get a little shadowing with me in the seat but still plenty of light to see. The rear light is a little low, but works fine for backing up at night while plowing snow.

Edit: In the pic's the ROPs lights are mounted with magnets, but I switched over to U-bolts since the magnets didn't hold as good as I needed them to.