Max 26 work lights woo woo.

[linuxman51]

probably going to shiv some sacred cows with this (per install process, not the lights themselves, although who knows on that). been getting home around 4:30pm lately, doesn't leave much time to hand the kid off, change, jump on the equipment and get anything done before it's dark too dark to see cool2. On a whim last week I looked at the LED lights on amazon, and ordered some up. Cheap (probably in more ways than one), so I went big. Got a light bar to go on the top (facing backwards) of the rops, and then a par of smaller 'spot lights' to go on the sides (also facing back. more on this in a minute). Oh, and some cheesy wiring harness kit that says "zombie lighting". It must be defective, I didn't see any zombies.

anyway, for those that haven't played with these inexpensive lights, they're pretty slick so far. plenty of light. hopefully they last for a while. Had to take the console apart to get the blanking plate off (it's screwed on from behind), that resulted in an amusing photo op for my facebook buddies... "Well ****, it looked like just a small bump..."

for anyone that hasn't tried to take that off yet, the grey metal trim piece that goes between the hood and the console plastic (for lack of a better word) is held on by 4 10mm bolts, two under the hood, and two behind rubber grommets down low. once it's off, you can access the bolts that hold the console together up front, and then by the steering wheel there's two phillips(?) screws and another 10mm bolt. Not sure why they used the phillips there, it's the same thread pitch used on the bolts (iirc m6x1.0 or maybe m7). a little bit of tugging, some profanity, and it all slides apart.

once the harness was wired up and the switch mounted and connected, we tested the light out

it's pretty bright, but leaves a bit to be desired off to the sides (As I feared it might, which is why I ordered the two side lights). If you can only get one, I'd get a light bar, but I'd maybe get a bigger one.

After testing, it was time to sodomize the roll bar a bit so I could mount the light (and run the wiring, but mainly mount the light). Didn't want it on top, it'd get wiped out the first time I forgot to drop the rops coming into the carport, and usually I can see where I'm going forward, so backhoe light it is. Used a 35mm hole saw to cut a hole in the bottom at the center (btw, the rops material is nothing to write home about, in case anyone was wondering), and two smaller holes facing backwards, one for the bracket, and the other for the wiring harness.

As far as routing the wiring to the back, I ran it under the rubber next to the case, then over to the operator's left up into the grey plastic control overlay (which got a hole drilled in it was well), out the back of that and up into the rops. there was already a small hole there, so I dropped a piece of small mild steel filler rod down, and used that as a fish. Knowing I was getting three lights and knowing approximately where I wanted them, I went ahead and ran all of my wiring up and over, with service loops and plenty of slack. Did most of this with the rops down, the light bar does hit the back hoe controls, and if you're trying to be slick with your wiring, you should pay attention to where the limit is with the rops up, lest you drill your hole for the wiring below the bracket. whoops.

finished product:

lighting up all the bs on my carport

(that's just the light bar)

saturday afternoon I got the other two lights and installed them, nothing noteworthy there.

looking at the tractor lit up

and the light it throws off into the weeds

Now that I've seen the power, I'll be adding another light bar facing forward, the loader always seems to get in the way of the headlights when traversing the woods. I've also noticed that after ~5 hours of use, the hardware holding the brackets to the rops has started to get a little loose. Since they appear to be m8x1.25 (of which I have copious amounts of spare stuff), I'll go back and tighten everything up and then double nut them to hopefully keep things nice and tight. I attribute it to the vibration of the engine as well as the general bouncing and bumping of tractor operation.


all in all, not bad for ~$60 in amazon lights (the side lights were $20 for the pair, the light bar was $29, and the harness was $11 or something), and $15 in misc stuff from the autozone (more red and black wire, harness wasn't quite long enough, insulated male/female spade connectors, grommets for the wiring where it runs through the holes drilled)

from the seat

looking right (don't think I was actually on the tractor for this one)

standing next to it

ignore the woods-ornament in the background

 

[linuxman51]

the stuff:
Amazon.com: TURBO 9.5" 54W Cree Led Light bar Spot&Flood combo Beam: Automotive

Amazon.com: Nilight 2 X 18w 1260lm Cree LED Spot Driving Fog Light Led Work Light Bar Mounting Bracket for SUV Boat 4x4 Jeep Lamp: Automotive

and some random 12ft harness (there's dozens if not hundreds of them. and really, it was kind of a disapointment, so if you've got spare relays and wiring laying around, I'd roll my own. I normally do but didn't and didn't feel like piecing it together)

 

[mike69440]

Cluttered shop, Almost like mine!

Thanks for the Photo's. They will come in handy if I ever get into the dash.

For those of you who do not care to pull apart the console to get at some higher amp capacity wires, there are 2 wires available in the harness by the left taillight one is rated a whopping 3A the other 2A.

I wired up a switched 36 watts to the 3 Amp wire, and did not use the 2 Amp. I suspect instead of using two 18 W LEDS I could have gotten away with two 27 Watt or 3 18 watts without popping a fuse.

I cant light up a stadium but those little LEDs put the headlamps to shame.

 

[linuxman51]

I got a few more I didn't realize I hadn't uploaded, I'll add em to the first post in a few.

Yeah, if I'd either triggered the lights off of the headlight switch (easy to do, drop a relay in line) or put the switch somewhere else, I probably could have gotten away with not taking the whole console apart, but (as is always the case)I wanted to control them independently, and it's kinda nice to be able to run em with the tractor off. the harness has a 15a fuse in line to the lights, so it should be short-protected.

 

[mike69440]

I got a few more I didn't realize I hadn't uploaded, I'll add em to the first post in a few.

Yeah, if I'd either triggered the lights off of the headlight switch (easy to do, drop a relay in line) or put the switch somewhere else, I probably could have gotten away with not taking the whole console apart, but (as is always the case)I wanted to control them independently, and it's kinda nice to be able to run em with the tractor off. the harness has a 15a fuse in line to the lights, so it should be short-protected.

You know, it is not good to dig in the dark. How I know, around 11:00 PM one night I was still playing digging one of my ponds with my excavator, and I got to close to the edge and ........

Long story, I got it out and did not hurt myself.

 

[linuxman51]

I don't usually dig holes that big, but I'll keep that in mind

 

[JoeyDude]

After testing, it was time to sodomize the roll bar a bit so I could mount the light (and run the wiring, but mainly mount the light)... Used a 35mm hole saw to cut a hole in the bottom at the center (btw, the rops material is nothing to write home about, in case anyone was wondering), and two smaller holes facing backwards, one for the bracket, and the other for the wiring harness.

I'm getting ready to mount my ROPS lights, too. I noticed the same hole at the top of the ROPS that I think you used and am thinking of using it as well. Assuming you drilled a hole in the top of the vertical section of the ROPS at the hinge, how big a hole did you drill? And did that section of the ROPS have a hole at the bottom under the 4 ROPS mounting bolts? It seems like it does but I haven't run any fish tape through it yet to confirm.

Thanks for the write up!

 

[BlackOps]

Whoa! Nice Job!!! sorry it took so long to reply - just get sidetracked sometimes with all of the stuff to do here and business books for end of year.

 

[linuxman51]

I'm getting ready to mount my ROPS lights, too. I noticed the same hole at the top of the ROPS that I think you used and am thinking of using it as well. Assuming you drilled a hole in the top of the vertical section of the ROPS at the hinge, how big a hole did you drill? And did that section of the ROPS have a hole at the bottom under the 4 ROPS mounting bolts? It seems like it does but I haven't run any fish tape through it yet to confirm.

Thanks for the write up!

there's a hole in the bottom of the rops large enough to pull wire through without issue (unless you're pulling battery cable or something lol).

I didn't mess with the hole on top, it's not big enough to get a wrench in on the backside and I didn't want water getting down into it (well, I reckon I wanted to cut down on it as much as possible), so I drilled a 34mm(I think..) hole in the bottom, and then put a grommet in there to keep from slicing my fingers up. I'll get a plug for it eventually maybe. The top half of the rops (the part that folds down) is open on the end, no drilling there except for running power and mounting the side lights. I kept the hole I cut in the bottom small enough to not interfere with the angles so as to minimize any potential weaknesses it might have introduced (however, that being said, the rops itself isn't an overly substantial piece, so any situation where the holes I drilled/cut would cause problems will probably have already killed me anyway. I really can't picture anything short of tumbling off a cliff or something where it'd be a serious problem)

 

[JoeyDude]

there's a hole in the bottom of the rops large enough to pull wire through without issue (unless you're pulling battery cable or something lol).

I didn't mess with the hole on top, it's not big enough to get a wrench in on the backside and I didn't want water getting down into it (well, I reckon I wanted to cut down on it as much as possible), so I drilled a 34mm(I think..) hole in the bottom, and then put a grommet in there to keep from slicing my fingers up. I'll get a plug for it eventually maybe. The top half of the rops (the part that folds down) is open on the end, no drilling there except for running power and mounting the side lights. I kept the hole I cut in the bottom small enough to not interfere with the angles so as to minimize any potential weaknesses it might have introduced (however, that being said, the rops itself isn't an overly substantial piece, so any situation where the holes I drilled/cut would cause problems will probably have already killed me anyway. I really can't picture anything short of tumbling off a cliff or something where it'd be a serious problem)

Got it. Thanks.

I'm leaning away from drilling my ROPS on the upper foldable portion but was thinking of snaking the wires up through it and using that top grommet hole as the pass through. I figure I can always silicone over the wires / hole to help keep water out plus being the tube is wide open at the bottom, no water should be retained.

Did you take any special precautions for the wire where the ROPS folds? I have to fold mine to get it into the garage so it's a concern for me.