another led question

[darrenjttu]

How big wattage led light can I put on my tractor if I have a 40 amp alternator?

 

[woodlandfarms]

40 amps X 12 volts = 480 watts.

But you need to include your other draws. What is your goal? Front and rears? Fronts?

IMO I would not exceed 200 WATTS total LED. Hydraulic Solenoids pull a lot of juice so give yourself headroom.

 

[mecan]

I would think pretty decent. I have a 180watts bar and it draws under 9 amps. No expert here though, sure someone more knowledgeable will be along soon with a real answer

 

[darrenjttu]

I'm just looking for front lights. I really light the light bars. Any suggestions?

 

[mecan]

Found a 180watts curved led with a generic harness from amazon for 65ish. Like the curved because it throws a little light to the side too. . That is with the front bar no headlights

 

[k0ua]

One thing to take into consideration is are you going to disconnect your incandescent lamps? Is so you could save quite a bit of power there.

 

[darrenjttu]

I might as well not use the front headlights. I have one bulb out anyways.

 

[mecan]

Don't have mine disconnected but don't use the headlights. Put a switch for the front bar and another for the back one

 

[woodlandfarms]

There are some new LED lightbulbs that are high output.... If I had your tractor with 40 amps I would put a lightbar on, ROPS High (meaning up as high as your ROPS or mounted on your ROPS), and I would replace the lightbulbs with the new high intensity LED. They will put light on and under the bucket, which a lightbar will miss.

I personally order my LED lights out of china. After a lot of research it turns out that no LEDs (the bulbs) are manufactured in the US and very few housings are manufactured in the US.

Not afan of buying chinese, but when there is no choice, not a fan of being gouged by US distributors who just change labels.

a 40 WATT (actually consuming 40 watt) LED Light bar is so so so much more bright than a conventional bulb of the same wattage consumption.

Can you put up a link for the light bar you are mentioning? The better designs have the center in SPOT mode, and the edges in FLOOD. do not buy SPOT LED housings, really a bad decision...

Oh and just do yourself a favor and plan on spending money on a second light bar pointed back. Once you get these LED lights on you are going to be amazed.

 

[George2615]

I have 2 - 22" LED combination spot / flood light bars. One front, one rear. Separate switches for each. But, I have an 85 amp alternator. I do use the cab driving lights with the LED's driving after dark or when plowing snow. Also run flashing LED strobes, 4 way flashers and an LED rooftop beacon flasher. I've never used the headlights mounted in the hood. Here's a link to the ones I bought.

22" inch 120W LED Light Bar Flood Spot Combo Work Lights 4WD Ute Offroad SUV ATV | eBay

 

[jclaudii]

Remember, you can also run more wattage than your tractor alternator can supply as the battery will make up the difference and begin to discharge as if the engine was not running. Just remember to turn them all off and let tractor idle or hook up to charger if you can not do that. I use a site called Online Shopping for Cool Gadgets, RC helicopter & Quadcopter, Mobile phone, Fashion at Banggood.com (I know bad name) but have ordered a dozen or so things from them and some of the stuff ships from a warehouse in North America reducing shipping times in half...and shipping is free or order it from china and save a few bucks more and wait about a month! Either way, you will see some cool stuff you may just want to try out, I have ordered alot of their electronic components. PM if you want to signup and order something, I think they have a rewards program for getting new customers that may reward us both!

If you look in your manual for your headlight bulb number, type that in google with LED at the end and I'm sure you can replace those as well, which will buy you some more watts to spend elsewhere.

here is there "offroad led" section I typed in the search box offroad led - Buy Cheap offroad led - From Banggood Some prices are good, but not sure on the bars.

 

[CCWKen]

Not particularly good prices there. You can get the same lights from Amazon for about half the price, free shipping and the proven full backing of Amazon.

But I agree that the alternator is not the limit of current draw. Your battery will make up any difference. What IS a limit will be the wiring and the circuit protection.

 

[Looking4new]

You might be better off money wise (using the difference between the Canuck Buck and the US buck) buying your lights from https://montrealimport.com/en/. Sure they are in Montreal,Quebec, but that is where the dollar savings might be had. I think the exchange rate right now is around 25%+/-

 

[varmint]

No matter how you go, 200 watts of LED is plenty for lighting up anything in driving range for a tractor. Plenty! I limp by with only 90 watts, front and back combined, and wouldn't really want any more light than I have. Not even 10 amps. But then, I don't have a cab heater, radio, flashers, or misc. other current draws.

 

[Threepoint]

I would think pretty decent. I have a 180watts bar and it draws under 9 amps. No expert here though, sure someone more knowledgeable will be along soon with a real answer

Mecan, I'm no expert either, but how can this be? In a 12v system, a true 180w of power pulls 15 amps, derived from Ohm's Law. I'm wondering if the power of some LED work lights is exaggerated a bit by vendors on the rationale that the higher light output in lumins of the LEDs compared to, say, halogen, justifies it. :scratchchin:

 

[k0ua]

Mecan, I'm no expert either, but how can this be? In a 12v system, a true 180w of power pulls 15 amps, derived from Ohm's Law. I'm wondering if the power of some LED work lights is exaggerated a bit by vendors on the rationale that the higher light output in lumins of the LEDs compared to, say, halogen, justifies it. :scratchchin:

You have to wonder about that. Ohm's law is kinda rigid for DC circuits, it is pretty hard to break. I have a small flashlight that has a 1 watt Cree LED in it, and it is pretty dang bright for just a small flashlight that runs on three AAA batteries. The LED lighting revolution is pretty amazing.

 

[CCWKen]

Actually, it's a little less than 15 Amps since the alternator is running at about 14.5 volts. That is your circuit voltage so 180 Watt draw becomes 12.4A. And most of the LED lights now best any halogen in whiteness and lumens. As already mentioned, they are BRIGHT!

 

[skyhook]

You might be better off money wise (using the difference between the Canuck Buck and the US buck) buying your lights from https://montrealimport.com/en/. Sure they are in Montreal,Quebec, but that is where the dollar savings might be had. I think the exchange rate right now is around 25%+/-

Thanks for the link.

 

[varmint]

Curious, I looked at montrealimport, and right away, noticed that the basic 27W round light was almost $30 Can., which isn't such a deal. You can find them by the dozens for under $17 US with a little internet research, mostly from eBay. Maybe importing from China into Canada isn't the painless deal it is here in the states, but I would hope it would be, for the sake of our Canadian friends.

 

[Looking4new]

I have found through the school of hard knocks that whatever price an article is in US dollars you can double it and that will be pretty close to the price in Canuck buck$, what with shipping+duty+price gouging for the importer+sales tax.