Magnet Mounted LED ROPS Lights - PICS

[Garandman]

It snows in KY?!:confused2: Who knew?!:laughing:

Oh, Fort Knox had snow.....But a friend of mine lives in Knoxville and I asked him what they use to clear the roads of snow. "The sun." :laughing:

This is clever and has me thinking. I have a bunch of small rare earth magnets. We embed them in 3D printed parts all the time. I'm going to see about making plastic brackets with embedded magnets. Rare earth magnets are 50-100% more, well, "magnetic."

 

[fordmantpw]

Question, could you take a pic of the magnet on the under side? Is the hole counter sunk so the bolt sits flush? I love this idea and want to do the same on mine (even though it's green ).

 

[KYKub]

Thanks for the feedback, guys. I'm pretty happy with how the project turned out. Here are some additional pictures of the switch box. The "switch" is actually just a toggle lever that engages a regular light switch mounted in the box. I know it's an AC switch in a DC application, but at this low amperage it seems to work ok. Box/switch came from Rural King, but they're available at most home supply box stores.


Garandman, sounds like you have a more fully developed plan for using magnets. I'm happy with this application, but stronger magnets would make it even better. As requested, here are a couple more pics of the magnets I used. I drilled the hole larger to accommodate the mounting bolts. The magnet has a recessed hole so the bolt head doesn't interfere with the magnet. Again, if I did it over, I'd use 3" magnets (these are 2").

 

[fordmantpw]

Thanks for the additional pics. This looks like the perfect plan, then it's easy to re-position the lights if you need it at a different angle for a different purpose. Great work!

 

[TMGT]

Funny you just posted this up, I just finished up my magnetic mounted lights last week, I use Velcro straps to help hold the lights on and secure the extra wiring I gave them for moving the lights around on the rops.

 

[KYKub]

TMGT, were you happy with the installation? I'm pleased with mine and wonder why I don't see more folks doing this.

 

[PILOON]

I also now use magnets.
My rear floods, strobe and camera are all mounted with magnets.
No matter how I tried to seal the attachment and wire pass thru, my strobe always let water in so I plugged holes and went magnet.
Recently I modified a pals strobe to magnet simply because his shed door was too low.
A side advantage is that low branches no longer damage the strobe light, simply let it dangle at wire's end.

A magnet mounted flood or spot allow for maximum adjustments as well if you leave some extra wire to relocate. (I use shielded wire for extra ruggedness)

LOL, a good magnet is also a great tool retrieval system if you drop your favorite tool into the deep water.

My radio antenna is also magnet mounted so I no longer need to replace due to low branches.

Magnets to me are joining duct tape, vice grips and WD40 in the 'go to' KISS dept!

 

[Chilly807]

Thanks guys! I was thinking of replacing my halogen flood light on the tractor, I think I'll go ahead with a couple of these.

 

[oldballs]

Thanks guys! I was thinking of replacing my halogen flood light on the tractor, I think I'll go ahead with a couple of these.

Same here. As to solid mounted ROPS, even on the underside, my brackets catch on limbs which has cracked the glass lens, has bent up the mounts and knocked the lights all which ways. I've repaired the lens and hardware and taped up other damages.

Thus a magnetic mount looks a lot better to me. Plus the cost of this halogen set up was a lot more to begin with.

 

[TMGT]

I love mine although I haven't used the tractor much since I finished it (darn rain). I like the ability to position the lights where I need them easily, like when using the backhoe I can turn all 4 around for better side coverage.
I also used quick connectors for each light so I can steal them for other equipment or replace them easily if need be.

I'll try to get some pictures now that it's dried out.