Canopy Lights

[Bindian]

Brandi, when you installed your toolbox, did you put anything between the box and the fender, like maybe some rubber washers? Helps prevent rust if air can get between them.

Brian,
The box has 4 small indentions a little smaller then a quarter, like 4 little foot pads. I sunk the bolt holes there. This gives the box an air gap. Should I go ahead and mount rubber washers? I can cut them out of a rubber check.


Mud,
Thanks!
hugs, Brandi

 

[MtnViewRanch]

Brian,
The box has 4 small indentions a little smaller then a quarter, like 4 little foot pads. I sunk the bolt holes there. This gives the box an air gap. Should I go ahead and mount rubber washers? I can cut them out of a rubber check.


Mud,
Thanks!
hugs, Brandi

Since you don't wash your tractor on a regular basis, you might get away with that. I used blue rubber grommets to bolt my box down. Hey, did you find a fire extinguisher yet ? Mine has a pretty good metal bracket and is mounted on the side of my ammo, uh tool box. Do you have Costcos down in Texas? That is where I get my extinguishers.

 

[Bindian]

Since you don't wash your tractor on a regular basis, you might get away with that. I used blue rubber grommets to bolt my box down. Hey, did you find a fire extinguisher yet ? Mine has a pretty good metal bracket and is mounted on the side of my ammo, uh tool box. Do you have Costcos down in Texas? That is where I get my extinguishers.

I don't think we have a Costco down here. I haven't been looking everyday. I need to try Walmart.
hugs, Brandi

 

[Jim_S]

I don't think we have a Costco down here. I haven't been looking everyday. I need to try Walmart.
hugs, Brandi

Try Sams Club. About the same as Costco.

Jim

 

[mobilus]

I need to take a cue from you and get some forward lights on my tractor as well. The headlights are too low for loader work and I find myself jockeying the bucket up and down just to see!

Great work!

 

[urednecku]

........white PVC on my tractor? I don't think so. It will clash with the red paint. Besides, PVC left in the sun becomes brittle. I guess I could make a stainless steel bracket at work.
hugs, Brandi

Ever hear of spray paint? They make it in about any color you want. just lightly sand the shinny finish off, and spray on a couple of coats. And thick walled pvc will last several years in the sun, and is cheep to replace if it does crack. I carried a preasurized water ext. in the back of my pu for about 10 years, slid in a piece of 8" pvc bungied to the front corner, right behind the cab. I had to quit the volunteer FD about 6 or 8 years ago, but that piece of pipe is still not cracked.
Stainless will work too, but is more expensive (IF you have to buy it.) and harder to work with.

 

[Bindian]

Ever hear of spray paint? They make it in about any color you want. just lightly sand the shinny finish off, and spray on a couple of coats. And thick walled pvc will last several years in the sun, and is cheep to replace if it does crack. I carried a preasurized water ext. in the back of my pu for about 10 years, slid in a piece of 8" pvc bungied to the front corner, right behind the cab. I had to quit the volunteer FD about 6 or 8 years ago, but that piece of pipe is still not cracked.
Stainless will work too, but is more expensive (IF you have to buy it.) and harder to work with.

Urednecku,
I knew someone would say paint it. I don't want PVC or anything "tacky" on the Big RED Beast. Thanks anyway. At work, I can get stainless out of the scrap bin behind the floor shear.
hugs, Brandi

 

[Archdean]

Urednecku,
I knew someone would say paint it. I don't want PVC or anything "tacky" on the Big RED Beast. Thanks anyway. At work, I can get stainless out of the scrap bin behind the floor shear.
hugs, Brandi

Ahem!! Now that was "tacky"

 

[Bindian]

Ahem!! Now that was "tacky"

Archdean,
Well, I threw in the "respect" symbol and it is my tractor. So let's change the subject...........
hugs, Brandi

 

[Bindian]

Well Y'all,
I am going to have to modify my front work light installation. With the 2 front and 2 back work lights on at the same time, the back 2 round lights seem to be a little dim. So I will install a switch between the front and back lights. That way when I am on the backhoe, I can turn the front lights off. I might even wire a switch in the back lights to turn them off while doing loader work. These switches will be on the canopy frame.
hugs, Brandi

 

[Archdean]

Well Y'all,
I am going to have to modify my front work light installation. With the 2 front and 2 back work lights on at the same time, the back 2 round lights seem to be a little dim. So I will install a switch between the front and back lights. That way when I am on the backhoe, I can turn the front lights off. I might even wire a switch in the back lights to turn them off while doing loader work. These switches will be on the canopy frame.
hugs, Brandi

"" I removed the factory plow light from the fender brace and wired the canopy lights into the plow light's wiring."" and then you said ""Any new lights will be wired in with the cowl lights, which are above the hood and just in front of the steering wheel."" And still later you said ""I didn't wire them into a switch as I planned. Instead I wired them into the aft work lights. It was way simpler this way. I can switch on all four work lights or the cowl lights, or both the cowl lights & all four work lights. ""

Your dim lights are a direct result of overtaxing the amperage available from your alternator by tapping into an already near max circuit!!

You have done a good job with the mechanical part but you set yourself up by asking too much from an underpowered alternator that like all tractors is adequate for OEM equipment but just BARELY!!

My recommendation is to wire all auxiliary lighting directly to a relay that draws it's power from your Battery hence bypassing your alternator !!

Let your alternator charge your battery as needed and save yourself a very costly replacement expense,, Plain spoken fact follows next: You are about to fry your electrical system!! If you wire your lights as I suggest the only negative will be that your battery runs down, but long before that happens it will be time for bed anyway!!

 

[Bindian]

Plain spoken fact follows next: You are about to fry your electrical system!! If you wire your lights as I suggest the only negative will be that your battery runs down, but long before that happens it will be time for bed anyway!!

Dean,
Yes, it will fry the electrical system if I leave the lights on as I have them wired now.
hugs, Brandi

 

[SPYDERLK]

Dean,
Yes, it will fry the electrical system if I leave the lights on as I have them wired now.
hugs, Brandi

yeah, but it wont have anything to do with the alternator. The problem is too much loss in wiring or switches. A digital voltmeter will tell you. Connect the leads from the point power is going into a component, wire, switch, connector, etc. to the point where it is coming out of that component. That will tell you the voltage being lost between the points.
No way you are overtaxing a 500W alternator - the batt supports it in parallel anyway. You just want to make sure you are not cooking a switch or a connector somewhere. Using the switch to energize a relay is a good idea.
larry

 

[Archdean]

yeah, but it wont have anything to do with the alternator. The problem is too much loss in wiring or switches. A digital voltmeter will tell you. Connect the leads from the point power is going into a component, wire, switch, connector, etc. to the point where it is coming out of that component. That will tell you the voltage being lost between the points.
No way you are overtaxing a 500W alternator - the batt supports it in parallel anyway. You just want to make sure you are not cooking a switch or a connector somewhere. Using the switch to energize a relay is a good idea.
larry

Larry, I respectfully disagree and if in fact her tractor has a 500 watt alternator as you said and I don't doubt that you are correct and as I said earlier most tractors have very small alternators!

Watts Divided by Volts = Amperes (amps) and in your example that is about 40 amps (barely adequate for anything but basic things, consider that most low end autos have a 110 amp alternator and a heavy duty pickup will weigh in with a high output version from 150 to 250 amps!

By adding high amp draw lighting like she did will damage the rectifiers in her alternator and that means a new one and unless she draws those excess amps directly from her battery as I originally suggested she will have to replace that little 40 AMP alternator often!

 

[SPYDERLK]

Larry, I respectfully disagree and if in fact her tractor has a 500 watt alternator as you said and I don't doubt that you are correct and as I said earlier most tractors have very small alternators!

Watts Divided by Volts = Amperes (amps) and in your example that is about 40 amps (barely adequate for anything but basic things, consider that most low end autos have a 110 amp alternator and a heavy duty pickup will weigh in with a high output version from 150 to 250 amps!

By adding high amp draw lighting like she did will damage the rectifiers in her alternator and that means a new one and unless she draws those excess amps directly from her battery as I originally suggested she will have to replace that little 40 AMP alternator often!

Basic things on a diesel tractor can be pretty limited. Like maybe 1 Amp to hold the fuel cutoff open. I guess we could double that to cover other stuff for sure. So, about 2A against the 45A alternator rating. So lets say we have 30A for lights to leave a comfort margin. That is six 60W lights. Thats triple the headlight wattage a car uses to illuminate to distance required for safety at high speed. Plenty to light a tractor work area and 13A to spare. Cars have many systems that are elec power hungry - ignition, ac comp clutch, fans, many lights, computer, and etc for the newer cars. This isnt the case on an open cab tractor. If the Mahindra alternator is of competent design it will almost surely go 10yrs at the light average loads and the shorter term moderately higher loads applied for lighting in the nite cool.
larry

 

[Bindian]

Larry, I respectfully disagree and if in fact her tractor has a 500 watt alternator as you said and I don't doubt that you are correct and as I said earlier most tractors have very small alternators!

Watts Divided by Volts = Amperes (amps) and in your example that is about 40 amps (barely adequate for anything but basic things, consider that most low end autos have a 110 amp alternator and a heavy duty pickup will weigh in with a high output version from 150 to 250 amps!

By adding high amp draw lighting like she did will damage the rectifiers in her alternator and that means a new one and unless she draws those excess amps directly from her battery as I originally suggested she will have to replace that little 40 AMP alternator often!

Archdean,
The lights are not high draw lights. The alternator is a 45 amp. The way I will finish wiring it with an extra switch between the front and back lights will only add one light in the plow light circuit at any one time. Car and pickup alternators have to be high amp rated to run every system on you car or truck like huge sound systems, power windows, window defrosters, heat our seats, cruise control , that tractors don't have. If a light circuit get overtaxed and dims because of too much amperage draw, the wires will get hot. This has not happened with the way I have the lights wired now. So, with any disagreement or problem....check the wiring diagram.
My Ops manual has a wiring diagram for the Scuttle and Plow lights. Funny thing.........it has the lights wired into a 25 amp fuse directly into the battery via the key switch. Battery being key word here. Not a symbol of an alternator. Matter of a fact..........all the circuits show power from the battery, not the alternator. I guess we are not thinking Indian enough here. Another interesting thing is that the low and high beam headlight circuit only uses a 15 amp fuse. So the Scuttle/Plow light circuit is designed to take more amps. So it would seem I am wired into the correct circuit. I just don't want to run the front and rear work lights while running the scutter lights. Six lights are just too much and not needed all at once. So I will stick with my first thoughts on wiring a switch up in the canopy to run either front or rear lights, not both at the same time.
Also, the 7110 has the same alternator amperage rating as my 6520 of 45 amps. How can my three extra lights hurt my system when the 7110 has an air conditoner, heater, AM-FM cassettee, front and rear windshield wipers. I think it is more of what Larry stated about voltage drop
hugs, Brandi

 

[Archdean]

Had you stated this at the beginning : " My Ops manual has a wiring diagram for the Scuttle and Plow lights. Funny thing.........it has the lights wired into a 25 amp fuse directly into the battery via the key switch. Battery being key word here." Doc would of saved a lot of bandwidth!

It really is not a funny thing at all, it's purposeful on their part to protect the system.

My use of the term "High Draw" was simply to differentiate the lights from a dash light etc.

Enjoy your tractor!

 

[Bindian]

Doc would of saved a lot of bandwidth!

It really is not a funny thing at all, it's purposeful on their part to protect the system.

Dean,
If no one shared what they were doing or even the mistakes one made, what would be the use of this forum's bandwidth? When I say Funny thing......That is tongue in check meaning I was on the right track. Call it a gut feeling it you want. Some folks call it experience. I checked the Ops manual after the fact, looking for a fuse list and remembered the diagrams in the back. So I was working off of a gut feeling. I never said I was an electrician.
hugs, Brandi