Brighter Headlights BX2200

botalvr · Sep 30, 2004

Anyone upgrade/replace the stock lights with brighter bulbs?
Been searching the net, seen alot of LED bulbs, some halogens, all claiming to be much brighter than stock 1157's (or whatever's in there, I assume that it's a 1156/57 type).

Since it is getting dark earlier and earlier here, I will be doing a bit of midnight mowin...
Also toying with the idea of mounting some of those speed boat "eyeball" lights in the fenders to shine down on the leading edge of the deck so I don't hit a tree with it.

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Bob_Skurka · Sep 30, 2004

DannyDan, there are lots of folks who find that the stock lights are not good enough (on pretty much every brand and every size machine). You might want to consider mounting on your ROPS so you get a good spread of light.

With any lights added, make sure your alternator can handle the extra load or you will drain down the battery and shorten its life. Sort use is not a real big issue, but extended frequent use can become a big issue.

Last year I mounted 35 watt fog lamps on my ROPS and now am upgrading to 55 watt driving lights. My theory was that the yellow fog lamps would not have bugs circling around my head as I mowed at night, but I found that the yellow lights didn't provide the contrast I needed to see the ground well enough. I mounted the new lights last night but have not finished the weatherproof connections. I did a temporary hookup just to check to see if they were an improvement and the white light really did seem to make a big difference. If you want to see what I did, take a look at the PHOTOS section of TBN, it shows my ROPS mount, which did not involve drilling into the ROPS (to avoid warrenty issues I used marine epoxy to mount a bracket and then drilled the bracket), it also has a shot of the waterproof switches I mounted on the fender. There is also a very recent thread about another TBNer who just upgraded his lighting on his NH TC24, you might want to search around the site a bit and take a look at what people have done.

By the way, the pictures of the lights show my 35 watt fog lamps (2 forward & 2 rear facing). I did not shoot pictures of the new lights yet. But I will be keeping the two 35 watt rear facing lights because for snowblowing and other work I do with the 3pt they provide plenty of light, especially since I also have another rear auxilary light mounted at the base of the ROPS

ducati996 · Sep 30, 2004

You could get real lucky if they are 1156 or 1157 bulbs...typically the mfg supply 27watt versions. Autozone carries a brand made by "Blazer" and they are incadesent 50 watt bulbs. They are only 1.99 and they do wonders !! The halogens get hot, especially 50 watts so be careful (melting of socket and lens) The incadesent 50 watt have more Umph than the superwhite bulbs for those types of bulbs, so save you money...
I did this on my Garden tractor (Cub 3000) it did such a world of good over the stock, and comes in handy in winter snow blowing...again it was only $4 improvement and I stocked up!!

Duc

sandyc · Sep 30, 2004

Like it was said, watch the dyno output and your wattage used for lights and other accessories. In the winter I run 4 spots plus a heater/defroster and found that I needed to upgrade the dyno to the high output alternator in order to keep the battery fresh enough to start the beast on a cold day.

SeymourBota · Sep 30, 2004

Another helpful plus for the winter is to use a battery maintainer with a quick-connect when the tractor is not in use.
I have one for my B2410 and it helps recover from electric heater use, etc. after snowblowing.

jim_wilson · Oct 2, 2004

After reading this post last night after I finished working with the tractor (in the dark) I ran over to Autozone and picked up a pair of those Blazer bulbs for my BX23. Got back and put them in and there is a definite difference in brightness between the regular bulbs the factory puts in and the Blazers. Tonite or tomorrow night I should have a chance to see if the added brightness adds anything when I am working. I did not notice if the Blazer bulbs were significantly hotter than the originals but I did not leave them on for very long either. I will have to watch that to make sure I don't melt my headlights.

Junkman · Oct 2, 2004

I removed a bulb from my tractor (BX22) and I have no idea if yours is the same, but I know that the traditional 1156 bulb is different than what I have in my tractor. This tractor bulb number is a GE1931 45/40 Watt bulb (see picture). I looked it up on the GE site and it is referred to as a R2 design bulb. The only replacement that I found for the 1931 was R2 Halogen part #52950

jim_wilson · Oct 2, 2004

My BX23 had a Phillips 1156 bulb in it - the headlight design is somewhat different from the BX22 to BX23 - maybe they used a different bulb. The Autozone I went to had a whole selection of different bulbs - but it sounds like maybe the bulbs Kubota put in the BX22 were higher wattage in the first place than what they put in the BX23.

jim_wilson · Oct 2, 2004

Didn't look at your picture before I responded - that is definitely not the same bulb that was in my BX23.

ducati996 · Oct 2, 2004

hey guys,

I'm glad its a 1156 type bulb these days in the BX because it is really inexpensive to replace. No other bulb will do better than the 50watt Blazer for $1.99...I can give you the PIAA types, and the halogen's (that are too hot) for free, because I have experimented with all of them....Stock up on the Blazers !!

Duc