Lighting Revisited

Past Problems:
* ROPS mounted work lights attracted bugs in warm weather and probably because I wear glasses, provided glare year-round. This was true with halogens and LED's.
* LED's mounted on the ROPS and cab roof made it difficult to see where the cut / uncut grass met. I'm guessing it has to do with the angle of the light hitting the ground and the LED color temperature?
Rear-facing lights aren't as important in this case. They are just there to see trees and other things I don't want to back into.

What works now:
* Forward-facing lights are mounted in the grille guard. Being mounted much lower makes the light hit the ground at a sharper angle and makes it easy to see cut / uncut. Kind of like seeing how wavy vinyl siding can look when the sun hits it at a certain angle.
* Side lights mounted low make it a lot easier to see exactly where I need to turn. I just added these after a 10:00PM finish earlier this week. There were a number of times I needed to back up so the front lights could light up where needed.


Had it out for a trial run last night and am very happy with the results. Depending on schedules and weather, night mowing is fairly common for me.

Bmyers said:

Curious, does the cab tractors come with the wires already ran to the blank spot next to the switch for the rear lights?

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Mine did and I believe that's common. I used the Kubota switch (plug n play) but used LED lights.

Mowed tonight and snapped a picture looking through the right door. With the revised lighting it is easy to see all around the tractor. Before adding the side lights (mounted in the tube of the FEL frame) it was difficult to see where where I need to swing the tractor to line up on the uncut grass when making a turn.

Mine had the wiring all ready to go. There's a connector that simply plugs into the switch. At the rear of the roof the work light wires were wrapped in black tape with the wires going to the rear flashers. They have small connectors on the ends that plug into the factory lights. I snipped them off and spliced them to the tails on the Maxximas.

The roof didn't need to be removed for the installation. It was possible to work through the switch hole after popping the blank (rubber plug). There are other connectors in there for defrosters, etc. I tested continuity between the wires at the back of the cab roof and the connector to find the right one.

I used Maxxima MWL-42 LED floods instead of the factory lights. I've been using these for years and love them. They throw much more light and without the light/dark spots the factory lights do. As I noted before, the real ticket for front lights for mowing is the pair mounted low on the brush guard. For me the light needs to hit the grass at a low angle to get a good definition and see cut vs. uncut.

I finished mowing last night around 9:30 and it was a real joy to be in the cab and see what I was doing with A/C on and have all the bugs outside

Since the first post the front factory lights at the roof have also been replaced with Maxximas. I needed to make a small extension tab to mount them due to the roof overhang in the front.

https://www.thetrailershoppe.com/product/maxxima-rectangular-work-light-1-200-lumen-clone

SidecarFlip said:

Not sure why anyone would mow at night but whatever blows your dress up I guess......................................

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Can't always schedule mowing for 5:45PM til 7:00PM on Tuesdays