led lights

[acahti]

i want to put on extra lights on my argo. have any of you ever used led lights?
i also want to put on some top bar lights those might be normal lights

[kahn]

Lights!!!

I use LED lighting on my road tractor. They are very dependable and take a lot of abuse. They are more expensive but you will get much more service out of them.

Hint: you can get cheaper led's but you will get what you pay for.

As for drive lights - I recommend halogen sealed beam or possably a small base with a H3 bulb.

Good Luck - Let us see what you come up with.

[acahti]

yea my idea was to put on two or three extra lights on the front of the argo.. then during the winter when i use my argo for trapping i would have two more lights on the hard top.. i will only have the hard top on for winter. it gets to hot during the summer...

[kahn]

Also Keep In Mind

Also, the charging system on these machines is not designed to run a bunch of accessories at once. You may consider upgrading the charging system or possably adding a deep cycle battery with a limiter switch.

Where are you located and what do you trap?

[acahti]

i want to put in a extra deep cycle battery.. but what is this switch you are talking about?
and do you have any idea what it would take to upgrade the charging system?
i would not be running the lights that often.. just when i get to the traps on the line. and when i go threw some of the more dangerous creeks ect...

[kahn]

Battery

The switch has another name - I forget - somebody will know. It's purpose is to allow for a second battery to be wired in line but the voltage does not come back thru the system. It also alows the charging system to maintain the second battery. Mike will know for sure the proper name. But if you are going with a deep cycle, I would put it in a craddle and just charge it with a maintenance charger and remove it when you don't need it.

To upgrade the charging system will depend on which route you go. Adding an alternator can be done with a kit from Argo. Not sure of the mechanics involved or the price.

[acahti]

thanks for the help.. i love this argo. they are amazing fun.. i dont know how i ever ran a trapline without one.

[chapy]

I put the factory alternator on my bigfoot and it only took a few hours and I was up and running again. Now I can plow using the winch, factory lights, and a set of fog lights I installed, and haven't killed the battery yet. The kit included every part needed for install and it was around 350-400 bucks. I can't remember the exact price. I think it was worth it. Hope this helps

[Jeff t-boss]

A good thing about LED lamps is that they draw alot less amps that incandescent (Regular) bulbs. You could probably add the lights you want and not exceed your charging system capabilities as long as you are useing LEDs. You might also consider a simple switch that will switch from the leds to regular lights.

[Swamper]

The switch Kahn is refering to is called a battery isolator. This will allow the lowest charge battery to be charged first, but does not allow voltage to go back and forth between the batteries.
I run the standard Argo lights up front with a pair of H3 lamps on top of my cage. I also use a deep cycle battery and have not had any problems with keeping the lights bright or discharging the battery. I own an 83 6x6 with a new B&S 16hp.
I agree about the LED's not needing much power to run them. I use them for my taillight on my Harley and the vehicles we build where I work use LED's quite a bit also.
Cheers,
Al

[kahn]

Thats it!!!

An Isolator switch!!! I was trying to think of that all night. Thanks Swamper!!

[swampdonkey]

the idea of the switch is to charge both batts and isolate one battery so as when you go to crank it over and have been running alot of elec items at low idle you have a battery that is ready to turn it over

[coosaridgerider]

i want to put in a extra deep cycle battery.. but what is this switch you are talking about?
and do you have any idea what it would take to upgrade the charging system?
i would not be running the lights that often.. just when i get to the traps on the line. and when i go threw some of the more dangerous creeks ect...

Hi acahti,You can get a battery control switch from a boat dealer that will allow you to charge up to 3 batteries .

[jpswift1]

i want to put on extra lights on my argo. have any of you ever used led lights?
i also want to put on some top bar lights those might be normal lights

I run LED taillights on all of my 6 wheelers and on my Hustler 980 I have LED amber lights in the lower tub and 35 Watt halogen lights on the factory Hustler pushbar/bumper. I recommend LEDs to everyone. They're very bright, they last a REEEEEEEEEEALLY long time, they're much more resistant to shock and vibration compared to standard bulbs, and they don't wear down the battery and work the charging system very hard. This is very important for our machines since most of the rigs don't have very large alternators on either the 2 stroke, or the V-twin 4 stroke engines.