B3030 ROPS light project

[InspectorGadget]

Found them at the local hardware store, because for some reason, HD didn't have them. They had the plugs for the 3/4" and 1 1/4" square tubes, but no 1" tube plugs. The ones I found are for metal furniture legs.

Thanks. I am constructing a shade canopy for my ROPS and the plugs will help give it that finished look.
C-YA RL

 

[bandit67]

Finished wiring up the lights today.

The factory Kubota switches turned out pretty nice, too.

I want to head out tonight to see just how much light these 4 lights will throw. Need to check out how bright the switches look at night, too.

 

[drgill]

Great project! I am curious about the wiring. Did you use the service manual to decide how to hook in the lights or did you figure it out by looking at the existing wiring? What is the purpose of the relays and where did you get them?

Cheers,

Dennis

 

[bandit67]

Had to do the wiring on my own. I'm no electrical guru, so I had to tap into some of the TBN members and found a wiring diagram that someone had posted. I also used a lighted tester (invaluable tool when doing something like this) to determine switched power to the headlights (for the lamps in the lighted switches) and key-switched power (for the switches to turn relays on and off) in the wiring behind the dash.

The relays allow you to run power directly from the battery to the lights by allowing the dash mounted switches to turn the power coming out of the relays to the lights, on and off. You only need one 30 amp fuse between the battery and the relays, then no other fuses, if you wire them correctly (since most switches can't handle larger electrical loads).

I wired my lights so that they can only be turned on when the key is turned on, eliminating the possibility that they could drain the battery if the switch was accidentally turned on or if I forgot to turn them off. But I can turn on the worklights without having to turn on the factory dash headlight switch. For example, sometimes when digging with the backhoe during the day, I don't need any tractor lights on, but it would be nice to turn on the rear ROPS lights to see down into the shadows in the hole.

What made things a little more difficult is that I had no wiring diagrams for the Kubota switches, so between taking one of them apart and talking to another TBNer that has used the same ones, I was able to figure it out.

I went in to a local Checker auto parts store to track down a couple of 4-pin relays with a mounting tab. They just had to start opening boxes to find the right one, since most of them are vehicle/application specific. I do plan on taking a few pics of some of the general installation.

By the way, it was quite a project. I spent the better part of two days on the wiring alone. Not 2 full days, but a good number of hours each day. Had to take a bunch of stuff apart, and almost took the seat deck off, but that was going to be a big hassle, so I managed to feed the wires across the top of the tranny from underneath, but it was not a very easy task. I ended up with relays and power running down the right side of the tractor (when sitting in the seat), then across to the left and running under the floor deck from the dash back to the seat deck (following a factory wiring loom), then back across under the seat deck back to the right rear. I realized after running the power wire to the relays that the right side under the floor deck had too many moving parts that could snag the wiring loom, so went through the extra effort of crossing over and then back to keep the wiring away from too many moving parts.

 

[bialecki]

Nice looking job with the lights. Did you leave enough of slack in the wiring so that when you fold the ROPS over the wire is not taught? Also I found that mounting the lights on the underside of the ROPS prevented my lights from getting knocked around when I was using the tractor i.e., cutting under trees and allows me to drive the tractor into my garage without ripping them off.

Very neat work!

Best wishes,

 

[bandit67]

The lights were wired with the ROPS folded so there's a bit of slack when the ROPS is up. Didn't want to go through all that and end up with the wires being too short to fold the ROPS, especially since it has to be folded to get into the garage.

 

[bigballer]

nice project, it makes a world of difference having the ability to continue working when the sun goes down, especially this time of year. i am curious how you fed the wiring from the lights down the rops, did you run it internally or through flex tube down the rops?

 

[bandit67]

I ran the wiring down the outside of the ROPS in the new flex tube. Doesn't look as clean, but I didn't really feel like drilling the ROPS - kind of wanted to get it done after spending a couple of days with all the wiring, hookups, etc. The light brackets and light mounting was a day's worth of work earlier in the fall counting fabricating, painting, etc.

I'll probably end up drilling the ROPS in the spring once I get tired of the flex tube look, because I honestly believe that one or 2 small holes in ROPS isn't going to compromise the structural integrity.

 

[denmansoft]

I'm in the process of doing this on my B7610, I have all the parts, but don't see any obvious way to open up the dash boad to get at the wiring! Any hints or pics out there?

 

[StrangeRanger]

Just a note for others considering a lighting project. I don't know about all models, but on my L3400, and others too I'm sure, you do have some aux power lines that end back near or under your rear fenders. If you're only driving 1 or 2 lights this may work for you. But in my case and others where you're driving more than 10A you can't use these hook ups for power to the lights. But, they are tied to the ignition so they're switched and make great drivers for your relay(s) w/out having to pull the dash apart to get to switched power.
In my case I simply pulled one of these lines back up to the front and used it to switch my relays that were directly connected to the battery. Made the install much easier than I was expecting.
j