Tail Light(s)

Sometimes we mow until dark. We have to mow next to the street a distance of 400 yards. We have working headlights but the riding mower does not have factory tail lights. Need to install tail lights so that on coming traffic can see the mower at night. But, I want to install rear lights that do not cause charging or other electrical problems. Is there a generic kit I can get? Should I use LEDs for their low amp draw? Can I wire it to the battery terminals with an on/off switch mounted in the dash? Or should I use battery powered lights or reflectors/reflector tape?
See mower specs. below. Thanks.

Poulan Pro 300 EX Riding Mower Brigss and Stratton 18.5hp I/C, 42" cut, 6 speed. Model No. PB18542LT Product No. 960420088 Maintenance Level: 00; Briggs & Stratton Engine 18.5hp 500cc I/C Model No. 31N707 Type: 0301 B1 Build Date: 03/09; Charging System: 3 amp Battery & 5 amp Headlights with no regulator.

All of these type solutions will work. Least expensive is reflectors, next is L.E.D. lights powered by a watch type battery as these are available at most places that sell bike accessories. They also have several modes of operation such as flashing, steady etc.You also could get L.E.D. tail lights wired through a switch to your battery and the power draw would be minimal and not cause any battery issues. These are available at most auto part stores.

Bought a 4 inch "running board" sealed red LED light. Bought a red illuminated 3 prong rocker switch (I could not find a lighted 2 prong rocker switch). Planned to use a "T tap" connection and connect a wire to the existing power supply wire that connects to rocker switch and connect other end of wire to the light (suppose to be grounded when mounted) that I center mount below the seat on the flat metal area between the tires. When I turn on the rocker switch to the headlights I want the rear light to turn on at the same time and go off at the same time.

Existing headlight switch is composed of a red wire and a black wire that connect to a 2 prong non illuminated rocker switch. I tried the new lighted switch with 3 prongs, but I am doing something wrong. I have tried mutiple combinations of connecting the 2 wires to 2 of the 3 prongs. I can get the switch to light up when I turn it on but the actual headlights will not come on. OR I can get the headlights to come on but the switch will not light up. How do I get the switch to light up when I turn it on AND get the headlights to come on????

most headlights on mowers like your at "AC" powered not DC powered. Does your headlight work with the engine not running? If so it is probably AC powered and you do not want to be connecting your (I believe 12 volt) led lights to them. If they are DC powered, then you need to connect them in parallel. in other words neg wire that is going to the head light will aldo connect to the neg wire to the led light and positive wire that goes to the headlight to the positive wire for the led. I dont see a need for another switch. Other option and epecially if you have an ac powered headlight is to connect the positive and neg from the battery to the leds and then use the switch in circuit for the positive wire.

Caveate for the headlight test ... if the key is wired to turn off all power to the mower then the headlight still may not work if the enging and key are off. use a volt meter to determine if it is ac or dc. set the volt meter to dc and check for voltage with the headlight on .. if no output change it to ac and you should see something if ac lights.

the 3 prong rocker switch is a single pole double throw.. meaning it is 2 seperate switches... use the middle connector to either of the outside connectors to use it as a single throw single pole switch.

And if I totally misunderstood the question... oops!

Thanks for your comments.

With stock set up, the headlights will only come on if the engine is running. Even if key is turned to run but the engine is not running, the headlights will not come on. After engine is running, you can turn switch on and the headlights come on.

The 4 inch red running board light has 6 led lights. It has a built in negative wire that is grounded once it is bolted down. It only has a power wire running from it (mounted it in center rear and it looks good).

The original rocker on/off headlight switch has only 2 blade type connectors connected to a red and black wire. The new rocker switch is an on/off switch that has 3 blade type conntectors. I only have a power wire and a ground wire coming from the mower.

I tried differenent combinations of connecting the mower red and black wire to the new 3 connector switch. With the engine running, I can get the switch to light up but the headlights will not come on, OR I can get the lights to come on but the switch will not light up. I need to know how to connect the red and black wire to the new 3 connector switch so that after the engine is running and I turn switch on, the switch will light up and the headlights will come on.

Then, I was going to run the power wire from the running board light to the new headlight 3 connector switch and use a "Ttap" to connect to the mower power wire connected to the new switch.

When you bought the switch it should have came with instructions on how to wire it up.
Three prongs one is power in one is power out and one is a ground so the switch will light up

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The switch and the lights did not come with instructions in the package or on the package.

Fixed it. Mower had a black and red (actually it is orange) wire connecting to original unlighted headlight switch. I put the black and orange wires on 2 of the three prongs on the new lighted headlight switch. THEN, I ran a wire to the negative post on the battery, to the 3rd prong on the new lighted lighted switch. It worked! When I turned on the new switch, it lights up AND the headlights come on. Therefore, I moved on to hooking up the rear led tail light.

Since the led running light is grounded when bolted down, I ran the only wire coming from it to the orange power wire. Wrong move. The led light stayed on even with the switch off. Then I realized I should connect it to the black wire since power does not go through it until the switch is turned on. So, I used a "T tap" on the black wire and connected the wire running from the led light to the T tap. It works great.

Now when I turn on my only light switch, it lights up red, my headlights come on and my new led red tail light comes on. When I turn the switch off, the headlights and tail light goes off. I drove it at night and re started it many times. My headlights are still bright and the new led tail light is brighter than I expected. So far, none of the wires have melted and my battery seems fine. haha!

NOTE: I replaced stock non illuminated headlight switch with a 3M Illuminated (Red) Switch Part No. 03891NA ($2). I added a Blazer 4" Sealed LED Running Board Light (Red) Part No. CW1531R (6 LEDs) as a tail light ($7). Bought both from Wal-Mart. The switches at auto part stores did not have a wide enough lip to cover rectangle opening all the way. I already had connectors, wire and tape.

.....although the tail light is bright enough, I am considering putting two smaller LEDs on both sides of the center mounted tail light just because it looks so good. Not sure if charging system can handle a few more LEDs.

Thanks for the help.

See below for pic of tail light in day time and a pic of tail light at night time :biggrin:

Man i like that tail light idea. As a kid my dad had an old Montgomery Ward riding mower that i used to play around on. I mounted a pair of 2" round tail lights to a couple of holes that were on the rear flange between the wheels and wired them to the headlight switch. Your LEDs are a much better idea. Nice work.:thumbsup: