LED lighting on ROPS

[Chugbug]

I'm nor so much an electrician and have looked at every thing on the Web so my questions will be easy I hope. Recently purchased a blazer LED kit. It's has 12 3 watt LEDS (1900 lumens ) and pulls 2.4 amps. I'm going to hook into the wiring harness at the back of my BX25. I will be putting a 15 amp fuse online and will find a heavy duty LED rocker switch. Is there a need for a relay??? I'd like to find a way to turn it front to rear, mostly rear suggestions? Any good videos out there. I've looked everybody loves to show off their work but don't get to see how it was done. Thanks everyone.

 

[DuckSlayer1017]

You don't need a relay if your switch is rated for 15A. Most switches are not so you use a relay.

 

[Sysop]

Could do as I did, I found it saves a large hassle of getting switched power to the rear.

Replace the fender mounted work light with a small LED. Route power up the ROPS from there and hook in the additional lighting. All will come on with the factory work light switch. If you're smart, you got the smaller pods that can be pointed where needed rather than a the light bars that are bracketed on both ends and not adjustable.

I made that mistake at first, put one on top facing forward and on me on bottom facing rear. They worked and made a lot of light, but put a lot of light in places it wasn't needed and attracted a great many bugs. I've since switched to a pair of smaller lights that can be rotated or tilted so they can be used front or rear, right or left, up or down. A much better solution for real work. The only thing the bars excelled at was parking at the corner of the garden on cool evenings to do some night time hand-pick harvesting, to light up the garden and attract the bugs over to the tractor and away from me. The new lights should do fine at that too.

 

[newbury]

<snip>I'd like to find a way to turn it front to rear, mostly rear suggestions? <snip>

I, and several others here, have mounted them on magnets. I used "112 LB Holding Power Neodymium Cup Magnet w/ Thread Stud MCHN-40MT". Real easy to swivel around.

 

[Chugbug]

Thanks that's what I was looking for. Mostly need it for the back special during the winter.

 

[Chugbug]

Mines a 7" so it mounts on both ends but I an make a base for it so I can use the magnet

 

[s219]

I think a 15A fuse is too high, plus it won't protect thinner wire that you're likely to be using -- you'd need 14GA wire for 15A fuse to offer protection, and I doubt these lights need 14GA. Make sure the fuse is equal to or lower than the ampacity of the wire. I'd use a 5A or 10A fuse with 16GA wire.

 

[Chugbug]

Sysop I was going to use the open wiring harness at the rear of the tractor and using a in line fuse and buying a higher rated amp switch. Any sugesston would be greatly appreciated! !

 

[TheeKb]

Could do as I did, I found it saves a large hassle of getting switched power to the rear.

Replace the fender mounted work light with a small LED. Route power up the ROPS from there and hook in the additional lighting. All will come on with the factory work light switch. If you're smart, you got the smaller pods that can be pointed where needed rather than a the light bars that are bracketed on both ends and not adjustable.

I made that mistake at first, put one on top facing forward and on me on bottom facing rear. They worked and made a lot of light, but put a lot of light in places it wasn't needed and attracted a great many bugs. I've since switched to a pair of smaller lights that can be rotated or tilted so they can be used front or rear, right or left, up or down. A much better solution for real work. The only thing the bars excelled at was parking at the corner of the garden on cool evenings to do some night time hand-pick harvesting, to light up the garden and attract the bugs over to the tractor and away from me. The new lights should do fine at that too.

Pics?

 

[Sysop]

No pics, but the general idea is that the smaller LEDs combined shouldn't exceed what the original work light circuit was made to handle.

 

[dodge man]

It's not the greatest set up, there might be reasons it's wrong, but I just jammed a wire in the positive terminal on the battery. I have a fuse near the battery and a switch I cut a hole in the cowl area for, then hid the wire under the floor mat.

 

[TheeKb]

If u ever have a chance take some pics I'd love to see em. Thinking about mounting a set laterally to my rop bars on each side. Would be nice to mount facing forward too but I think it would blind me

 

[Juiced06GTO]

The worklight is probably only rated at 5A from Kubota, thats what mine was on the B2601, you cant just drop a bigger fuse in unfortunately. Attached are pictures on how I did mine. Aux fuse panel off the battery, w a 30A fuse, then two separate 7.5A fuses for the front and rear lights. I uses waterproof switches off Amazon made by Rigid rated at 15A so I didn't have to bother with a relay. Hope that helps.

 

[TheeKb]

Nice! Looks clean too! I'll use this for sure. Just gave to figure the mounting a bit bc of cover. Maybe I could add some spacers? Or just go under the bar... decisions decisions

 

[Juiced06GTO]

I fabbed up a bracket out of flat stock and secured it with some 3" square u bolts from tractor supply. I slipped a piece of rubber gas line over the u bolts to provide a little cushion and to keep the bolts from moving around. I welded mine up, but you could probably do the same thing with nuts and bolts.

 

[dodge man]

Yes, I have one facing forwards and one back. They do kind of blind you if you turn your head the right direction, probably worse since I wear glasses. I'm not sure where else to mount them.

 

[rdinatal]

Think about branches, etc. if you mount above the ROPS. I mounted mine below and I'm glad as branches seem to hunt them out!.

-R

 

[Fallon]

Never ever put in a bigger fuse unless you validate every single spec of wiring in that circuit is rated for more amperage. Otherwise your wiring could melt before the fuse.

I put some undersized fuses in my new setup because even though the wiring was good for 10+ amps I shouldn't have ever pulled more than 5@. So I stuck in 5@ to be cautious.

Sorry about the crap URL, but can't get the TBN one on my phone easily.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...aH-TbnJ34bH7W66Zw&sig2=b6T7TIjqzJD3utgynMSCsA

If your lights will use less than the 15?@ of the aux circuit, use that. If not, you need to add a circuit. If you start getting above 50% of the rated capacity of your switch, or above 10@ it's in your best interest to put in a relay. Extra work, but saves your switches from burning up & minimizes voltage drop. Given how LEDs work & requiring a regulator it's a lot less important than with old halogen bulbs that would be a lot dimmer. Less voltage drop means you are less likely to exceed your alternator capacity though.

 

[dodge man]

I actually thought of mounting mine below the ROPS but the blinding affect is worse for me that way. I mounted mine more towards the right side of the ROPS due to the fact when I mow the left side is closer to trees and such. That seems to help.

 

[Sysop]

I never upsized my fuse. The stock fuse was a 10A fuse with sufficient wire gauge, 10A equates out to 120W of usable power. The 3 LEDs combined are less watts than the OEM 55W worklight. I'll be fine.