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I have been surfing some threads lately; a lot of people have come up with some good ones. One that caught my eye was adding
lights for lawn mowing at night. Good idea; but poses a question? Adding lights causes amp draw. Would too high watt lights be too much for the charging
system? I know inital draw is starting; and goes away. Then you have the clutch that has a constant draw (don't know how much) but has to be some.
Then adding lights causes more amps draw. My question is can the charging system handle that much? Then saw another thread about an attachment
for weedeating (Peco) Good idea? I read the thread; a good design; saw it on a bigger scale. They use them in Germany to cut around telephone poles
and posts along the highway. Then I read that it had a 10-30 amp draw. Again; can the charging system keep up? I do know that if you jump a dead
battery on a car and let it charge by itself; you will fry an alternator Any answers? T

T J Blazek said:

I have been surfing some threads lately; a lot of people have come up with some good ones. One that caught my eye was adding
lights for lawn mowing at night. Good idea; but poses a question? Adding lights causes amp draw. Would too high watt lights be too much for the charging
system? I know inital draw is starting; and goes away. Then you have the clutch that has a constant draw (don't know how much) but has to be some.
Then adding lights causes more amps draw. My question is can the charging system handle that much? Then saw another thread about an attachment
for weedeating (Peco) Good idea? I read the thread; a good design; saw it on a bigger scale. They use them in Germany to cut around telephone poles
and posts along the highway. Then I read that it had a 10-30 amp draw. Again; can the charging system keep up? I do know that if you jump a dead
battery on a car and let it charge by itself; you will fry an alternator Any answers? T

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Blazek,
I just installed a Blazer Baja Off-Road Halogen Driving Light Kit(from Advance Auto Parts) on my Gravely Pro-Turn XDZ 152 for < $40 total. Since Gravely sells a light kit for this mower(for $125, plus installation), I never gave any thought to the draw on the charging system(or Gravely wouldn't sell a light kit). I figure I'll only run the lights with the mower engine running, so it really shouldn't affect the ability of the generator to keep the battery charged as it was designed to do. I think you are being "overly-cautious" since even the cheapest lawn tractors come with headlights installed.

Couldn't agree with you more! However You mentioned a key word; ALTERNATOR! Most riders and ZTR's only use a stator for charging; if you had a alternator; it wouldn't make any differecce. My idea of hanging 2 35 watt lights on and just mow away. But that is a constant 6 amp drain; the charging system on mine is 15 amps. I was thinking about some LED lights and mount them on a magnet base; and run a inline switch with clamps for the battery.They might get in the way when cutting along fence lines or what ever. But you are definitely right.T

Since I was the guy who ordered the peco z-trimmer, thought I would weigh in here... Peco asked me up front what my exact model mower was to establish as to if it would work. So while i will be carefull to watch for battery drain, since it will only be used for a fraction of the time the mower is in use I am not too worried about it. But you do raise good points. I will let everyone know how well it works.

Thanks for the reply. After I made that thread I thought about just adding another independent or a bigger battery. The independent one would just operate attachments only; would be portable. With a bigger battery you are still using the stator for charging.I guess its atoss up either way. Thanks again. T

T J Blazek said:

Thanks for the reply. After I made that thread I thought about just adding another independent or a bigger battery. The independent one would just operate attachments only; would be portable. With a bigger battery you are still using the stator for charging.I guess its atoss up either way. Thanks again. T

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Blazek,
A separate/independent battery for accessories is one thing, but wouldn't it be "dangerous" to install a "larger" main battery(other than a "normal" mower battery) in a garden tractor/zero turn mower....one that has much higher CCA rating(probably more dangerous for the mower's electronics than the amp drain of accessories)???

I doubt increasing battery size would matter, as long all the wiring is sized correctly and fused as it should be. Years ago I bought my kid a garage sale little ride on electric jeep... it did not come with the battery or charger. I fixed it up by adding a lawn mower battery.. worked great, added a pigtail to it to connect up a normal automotive charger. Only down side was the thermal breaker would pop from time to time... since the run time was 3 times what it should have been. Freakin' little jeep was like the everready bunny! It would run forever, right up until the thermal breaker would trip. Let it sit for 10 min and it would run for another hour. I never changed out the breaker because it was sized correctly for the existing wiring and changing it would mean it would be less safe. The thing with electricity is... devices use as much current as they need.. the 35 watt light is a 35 watt light because it uses x amount of current at y amount of volts. power(wattage) = volts times current. Wiring is sized for the amount of current. Not the voltage. Fuses are put in to protect a fault condition that causes the device to use more current than it was specified and configured to use. Ohms law is your friend. So even thought I gave the jeep much more current capability via the much larger battery... the motor did not use more current, it used what it was designed to use... although the breaker still tripped over the much longer amount of time it would run.

I agree with tx. 12 volts is 12 volts; the bigger battery just has more amp capability. The battery in my PU is huge by comparison; but it is still only 12 volts. I looked online at Advance AP; they have a set of LED lights I'll get next time I go to town. Thanks for the reply tx.. T

Welcome, good luck... let us know how it turns out.

T J Blazek said:

I agree with tx. 12 volts is 12 volts; the bigger battery just has more amp capability. The battery in my PU is huge by comparison; but it is still only 12 volts. I looked online at Advance AP; they have a set of LED lights I'll get next time I go to town. Thanks for the reply tx.. T

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TJ,
Here are the details of the light kit I installed on my Gravely from Advance AP(a halogen kit):
Ended up costing me a total of $36.72 plus tax and some misc materials for wire routing & securing(nylon wire clamps & screws and nylon cable ties). I'll post pictures of the light kit and rocker switch below and here are the details of the materials, including the installation materials:
1)Blazer "Baja Tough" Driving Light Kit(55watt Halogen) Part#DF1088B-$19.99 which includes the necessary wiring and hardware for installation.
2)AutoCraft 30amp Rocker Switch(Red LED) Part#84840-$8.49
Both of the above purchased at Advance Auto Parts
3)Scotch(3M) Outdoor Mounting Tape(Two-sided adhesive tape holds up to 5lbs)-$4.27
4)Liquid Nails Adhesive(Home Projects For Extreme Temperature And Conditions) Part#LN-201-$3.97
Both of the above purchased at WalMart. The light kit came with mounting screws, but the best place to mount these lights was on the front of the gas tanks on each side just above the rear tires. Even though the plastic gas tanks are pretty thick I didn't want to take any chances. I cut the Scotch Adhesive tape to fit the inside of the light bracket(two pieces and two layers) and applied a small amount of the Liquid Nails on the light bracket, mounted the first two tape pieces to the bracket, applied a small amount of the Liquid Nail to that and applied the second set of pieces to the first pieces. Then I applied a small amount of Liquid Nail to the second layer of tape and pressed/mounted to the mower. I know this may sound a little strange....but it looks GREAT and it would take a crowbar to get those lights off my Gravely!!!!! I will post pics below of the light kit & rocker switch(drilled a hole in the plate where alll of the controls are at for the mower and it mounted easily).
Once I have a chance, I will take some pictures of the Gravely with the lights mounted and post them. I think you'll agree it looks like a professional installation!!

Saw some of those at a parts house DJ; would definitely light up a grave yard. I have been looking online and haven't found what I'm looking for yet; but I'll keep looking. Show pics when yours are mounted; locations are interesting to see.T

T J Blazek said:

Saw some of those at a parts house DJ; would definitely light up a grave yard. I have been looking online and haven't found what I'm looking for yet; but I'll keep looking. Show pics when yours are mounted; locations are interesting to see.T

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T J,
Will do...got the Gravley gassed up(non-ethanol only for that baby), the battery juiced up and the tire pressure checked(about all that was needed with only 5.4 hours on it last Fall) & the string trimmer serviced last weekend. Now, if the Middle TN's "winter's last hurrah" weather would get back to Spring I'll coax the Gravely out of the garage and post some pics to show off my Christmas presents(the new sunshade and driving lights on it) as well as the new(matching red) 6x10 Lone Wolf heavy duty tube rail utility trailer I bought a couple of weeks ago. I'm pretty happy with my new big boy toys I invested in for my upcoming retirement!!!

Sounds like somebody is anxious to work up a sweat. Woke up this morning; it was 31; supposed to hit 70; just right for grass cutting. While on my 2nd cup of coffee; I saw a a add on the tube about a LED flashlight(30) bulbs for $15; buy 1 get the second one free; just PFS. Then I remembered that Kenny showed a pix of a Cateye light he put on his snow blower; used 3 AA batteries. Still thinking about the magnet mount; I am thinking about rechargeable flashlights; will look into it. Just a thought? T

T J Blazek said:

Sounds like somebody is anxious to work up a sweat. Woke up this morning; it was 31; supposed to hit 70; just right for grass cutting. While on my 2nd cup of coffee; I saw a a add on the tube about a LED flashlight(30) bulbs for $15; buy 1 get the second one free; just PFS. Then I remembered that Kenny showed a pix of a Cateye light he put on his snow blower; used 3 AA batteries. Still thinking about the magnet mount; I am thinking about rechargeable flashlights; will look into it. Just a thought? T

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Yeah, I had someone suggest the high-end "bicycle lights" powered by a rechargable battery, but a visit to a few bicycle shops and seeing how tiny(and expensive) they are(the real good ones set you back $30-$40 apiece) they didn't seem to be the best option for a ZTR mower. So I decided to check out a few auto parts stores and Wal-Mart to see what kind of 12-volt lights were available and found a plethora of options(all pretty reasonably priced). I'm pretty happy with the ones I got for ~ $40!!

T J Blazek said:

Saw some of those at a parts house DJ; would definitely light up a grave yard. I have been looking online and haven't found what I'm looking for yet; but I'll keep looking. Show pics when yours are mounted; locations are interesting to see.T

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T J,

Well I finally posted some pics of the final product(the Gravely Sunshade and Advance AP Driving Light kit I installed over the winter). Posting the pics was prety painful, so if you want to take a look see, go to the link below(you may have to scroll up sevearl posts from the bottom of that thread to see all of the pictures...I couldn't get them all to upload in a single post). I think you'll like what you see for what it cost me!!!

http://www.lawnmowerforum.com/gravely-ariens-forum/879-gravely-ariens-owner-check-read-first-5.html

Does look good. As I said; it"s interesting to see how and where you mounted the lights. My problem is I have about 600' of barbed wire fence and the third wire down would probably eat the light up. I've done some checking; and you're right; those rechargeable lights are pricey; especially for the amount of use they would get. Also like the sunshade; I saved the one off the old rider. All you need is a cooler and you are ready to "Rock and Roll." T

T J Blazek said:

Does look good. As I said; it"s interesting to see how and where you mounted the lights. My problem is I have about 600' of barbed wire fence and the third wire down would probably eat the light up. I've done some checking; and you're right; those rechargeable lights are pricey; especially for the amount of use they would get. Also like the sunshade; I saved the one off the old rider. All you need is a cooler and you are ready to "Rock and Roll." T

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Wow, maybe you oughta consider trimming that 600' of barbed wire with a string trimmer(a lot of walking I know), because if you mounted your lights like I did and there's danger of them hitting the barbed wire I would guess there is also a high chance of scratching the whole side of your lawn mower as well. Of course on my ZTR the cutting edge of my deck is 4"-6" more to both of the sides of my mower than my lights(don't know without "seeing" your mower).

So... I finally got my peco z-trimmer Z-Trimmer (ZT-3000) | PECO . And immediately hit a snag. The peco is designed to mount on the outside curve of the deck (opposite from the chute). Well on my Country Clipper there is a lever that facilitates releasing the deck to slide out from under the mower right there. I had to come up with a fairly rough proof of concept to mount it. It works, I took a piece of plywood and made it so it bolts to the deck and then the peco mounts to it just forward of the lever. It works, though now I want it to be a quick disconnect soo... more work to do.

In any case as a trimmer around and under trees, it works great. As a edger, it is hard to control, part of that may be that I have a joystick equipped ztr instead of the traditional lap bars. Also I have been remiss in edging for quite awhile so once I get it cleaned up, maybe it will be easier. Overall it is very easy to use and manage as a trimmer, as an edger, it will take some practice. Also, something I had not thought about at all is... what happens if you lift the arm to raise it with it turned on? Well it has a safety switch that disables it. Ask me how I know?