ROPS mounted lights

[TrailHermit]

Has anyone mounted lights on the ROPS? I usually don't work outside when it gets dark but the few times I've found myself on the tractor when it does get dark, the FEL blocks the lights. Raising the FEL helps but then the raised FEL blocks my view.

Seems like some sort of utility light mounted on the sides of the ROPS might solve this problem. Has anyone come up with a solution to this problem with the FEL blocking the head lights?

 

[Shimon]

Take a look at this recent post.

 

[jim_wilson]

Another thing to think of is mounting lighs so they shine under the FEL when it is raised at a good travel height. I did this recently on my BX23 and it works great. I did not want to go with lights on the FEL because I didn't want the lights shining in my face when I was driving the tractor - lights on the FEL also don't directly shine on the ground right in front of the tractor which is where you usually want to see.

Shine under the FEL lights

 

[TrailHermit]

Jim - that looks really nice. I can see some advantages with the approach you've taken. One of the things I like about the approach escavader used is that there is a backwards facing light on his ROPS design. I had not considered the annoyance of bugs though with the lights close to head level. Also, when going around trees, the ROPS hits lower branches which might be a problem.

With your setup these aren't issues. Have you come across any unexpected issues in using them? In one picture it shows the switch which you added a new place for on the console -- wouldn't it be easier to disconnect the headlights and use the existing headlight switch to operate the new lights?

 

[jim_wilson]

I also mounted lights facing backwards on my BX23. I did this last year when I was doing a lot of backhoe work and I found they worked out pretty well during the winter too. I posted one pic here that gives somewhat of an idea of where the rear facing lights are mounted.

So far I have not come across any unexpected issues with using the lights on the front. They work really well actually. I was digging the other day right around dusk and found the lights worked out really well for doing FEL work and being able to see where I was going. I prefer having the lights shining on the ground and not on the tractor which is why I stayed away from the ROPS mounted lights for the most part. The only problem I have run into so far is I apparently screwed up my wiring when I was doing the front mount lights and caused a short somewhere - as of yesterday my headlights and lower front lights dont work and I have to dig in and figure out what is wrong.

I did not use the headlight switch for the lower front lights because I wanted them to be independent of the headlights. If you did not mind losing the headlights or if you wanted both on at the same time the headlight switch could be used for both or rewired for just the lowers.

The rear lights are two Hella worklights I got from www.awdirect.com - they are actually mounted to the ROPS on two tabs that I welded to the ROPS just above the hazard/warning lights. This puts the rear facing lights in a protected area where they wont get whacked off by branches and again keeps the lights away from my head. I found they work really well for using the backhoe (as long as I am not digging a deep hole) and they also work well when I am using 3pt implements. They put a decent amount of light right around the back of the tractor so you can see what you are doing when climbing up on the backhoe and stuff like that. If I can find some more pics of the rears I will post them.

 

[jim_wilson]

Here are a few more pics of the rear mounted lights:

Good shot of lower mounted rear lights

Another shot showing how the light gets put down with a rear blade mounted on the tractor:

Night shot clearing snow

 

[AMR]

Here are a couple photos of lights on my BX23, they work great, I have used them for mowing and fertilizing so far. I don't look forward to using them for plowing!

 

[TrailHermit]

Wow that night shot says it all. Very nice job of adding "effective" lighting to your bx. I really like the pics of your bx 23. I was tied between the 2230 and 23 for a while and the huge price difference convinced me to go with the 2230 especially since I really don't have enough land or justifiable use of the backhoe at this time--of course after seeing the signature line from one of our fellow members (the price break down comes to around 15k) I sure wish I had gone to his dealer!

Anyway, nice job -- you've got a very nice setup there.