LED Wiring questions

Light bars installed; was LED Wiring questions

I've bought two small cheap LED lightbars off Amazon, one 36 watts that will face forward, and one 18 watt that will face backwards. I know nothing about electric wiring--can I just splice the + and - of each light bar together and connect them to the wiring harness that way? I think this means I'd be wiring them in parallel, and especially since they're different wattages, I don't know if that's ok.

Second question: They're going under the top of my ROPS, which I need to raise/lower each time I use the tractor in order to get in into my garage. All the flexing of the wire has me a little concerned, especially when the weather turns cold. Any type of wire I should look for in this application? The wiring harness I bought isn't long enough, so I've got to buy something to extend it regardless, and want something that will last. I was just planning on using wire ties to attach the wiring to the outside of the ROPS, leaving enough slack for raising/lowering.

Thanks for any advice!

Jack

Thanks for all the help!

Here are the lights I used:

Forward facing:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CL0ZPUC/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1


Rear facing:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B018273VOE/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1


Attached with two sets of these magnets:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008H40U10/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I used the wiring harness that came with the first of the above light units--it includes a relay and a fuse, and best part of all is that the switch is a perfect fit for the hole in my dash where the cruise control would be, and I don't have cruise control.

For wire, I went to the local Ace Hardware, and they had some very nice looking cord rated oil and water resistant, and highly flexible. But $.99/ft seemed too much, so I bought a two prong 25 ft round power tool extension cord for $7.50. I ended cutting off the male end of the cord and soldering it to both sets of wire from the two light units, so they can be removed without too much hassle.

My tractor stays inside, so I'm not super worried about waterproofing, though I do hope to use it to move snow, sometimes in the dark where I'll be using the lights, of course. I've taped the plug joint with electrical tape. All the other connections are soldered and covered with heatshrink, and sometimes more tape. I did use wire loom as recommended.

Hardest part by far was routing the cord underneath the tractor. Thought that would have been fairly straightforward, but space is tight underneath, and getting to the dash was kinda tricky.

Overall, I'm very happy with how it turned out. I wasn't looking for screaming bright, but enough to move firewood and snow in the dark. I was expecting a little more light up front than what I got, but it really is plenty for my purposes, and probably too much when I'm off the tractor putting wood in the loader.

Thanks again for the assistance. Here are the requisite pics:

Re: Light bars installed; was LED Wiring questions

spjohndro said:

Thanks for the post. May I ask how you attached the magnets to the ROPS? Did you screw directly into the ROPS or attach in a different way?

Click to expand...

The magnets are bolted to the mounts for the light bars with machine screws and nylock nuts. It's magnetism that holds them onto the rops. Used the tractor quite a bit this week and the lights haven't moved at all. Very happy with the magnets.