work lights

[NMFP]

Hello Everyone:

Has anyone installed work lights on their wood mizer sawmill?  I have an LT40 Super Hydraulic and I am wondering about installing a couple worklights that i can use for sawing at night or when it starts to get dark.  One reason is that I have a contract with a town close by to saw logs and I can do them when it is dark or in the evenings but I am not allowed to run a generator.  I asked them if I had lights on the mill, would that work?  and their answer was yes, as long as its not a generator!

So, my question is... which lights are best, where did you mount them and were they effective?

Thanks in advance for the help!!

NMFP

[Magicman]

Redbeard has lights on his TK, but I doubt that the power is supplied by the sawmill.  I have also seen pictures of lights on LT40's. (make a search for lights)

Your problem is going to be maxing out your sawmill's alternator.  LED's draw less amperage but are expensive and sometimes the actual light is inferior.

I understand noise ordinances and some contractor generators running at 3600 RPM are very noisy, but a Honda EU2000 inverter generator will supply ample power for lights with very minimum noise.  Much less than the sawmill engine.

[redbeard]

Most of my sawing is at night especially this time of year. My set up

   is stationary. So lights are a permanant fixture on my cover. I really enjoy night sawing except when I lose track of time and before I know it its getting close to eleven and I have to go to work at 6:00 am.

[Brad_bb]

First, you need to know the capacity of your alternator, how much you are currently pulling, to know what you have left to work with safely.  Then we need a review of worklights, Led and others.

Redbeard, what are the specifics on your lights, how are you powering them?  Are they appropriate, or oversized?

[Tom L]

Redbeard has lights on his TK, but I doubt that the power is supplied by the sawmill.  I have also seen pictures of lights on LT40's. (make a search for lights)

Your problem is going to be maxing out your sawmill's alternator.  LED's draw less amperage but are expensive and sometimes the actual light is inferior.

I understand noise ordinances and some contractor generators running at 3600 RPM are very noisy, but a Honda EU2000 inverter generator will supply ample power for lights with very minimum noise.  Much less than the sawmill engine.

I agree with MM on this one, an EU2000 is a very quiet machine especially if you run it on economy mode, that thing in your pickup bed with a few light stands next to the mill would be a lot quieter than any mill engine running even at idle. I've had mine now for 7 yrs and run it when the power goes out in the house, it is one great little gen set.

if even that is too much, I know for boats I can buy led strips and lights that draw very little power
and throw a nice amount of light.

[Papa1stuff]

Does a generator make more noise than your mill?

[redbeard]

First, you need to know the capacity of your alternator, how much you are currently pulling, to know what you have left to work with safely.  Then we need a review of worklights, Led and others.

Redbeard, what are the specifics on your lights, how are you powering them?  Are they appropriate, or oversized? I put in a Rv site years ago wth power water and sewer. It has 60 amps and pleaty of juice for lights and power tools. Its not 3 phase so cant run any big motors.

[NMFP]

Papa1stuff:

No, the mill is louder but there is a noise ordinance that indicates that I can only run one stationary engine at a time per worksite.  I know the ordinance is rediculas but I must work within those parameters.  There is no exception!

I purchased LED lights for my tractor a year ago and they work well but I am wondering if anyone has installed them on an LT40 or woodmizer mill and wondered how they worked out for sawing purposes.

Thanks,
NMFP

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

Here is what I have done. I have done a lot of crappy fishing in the past at night. I have run 4 big, 12 volt lights from a deep cycle boat battery. My lights burned until the sun came up.

The next day, just charge your deep cycle battery and your ready to saw again.

You could build EL CHEAPO 2 x 4 stands for your lights and not have anything connected to your mill at all.

[VictorH]

It seems I have read where some folks tap into the battery charging line that comes directly off the engine.  It is not used with the Alt. so it's a "free" power source.  It should power several LED lights.  I think when I do this I will add a lawnmower battery just to get a nice steady current.

[reride82]

I agree with POSTON,
the winch on my trailer is powered by a deep cell battery that I use all day and then charge when I'm done. You can even set it up to charge off your truck when you're done at the job for the night. Mine is charged off of the 7-pin connector for my trailer, so once I have the trailer loaded I charge the battery when I'm driving down the road. I would imagine that lights won't draw what a 7000 lb winch draws.

[Slabs]

Don't know if this would work for the milling but I wanted a "background supplement light" for my digital camera and found a 300 lumen led unit at Lowes that works on 12 volts.  I sprung the $22 for one to try it and found that it was for AC power but would accept DC  in either polarization and work well drawing about 4/10 amps.  The alternator on a hydraulic mill wouldn't even feel 3 or 4 of those.  A question might be "will it tolerate the vibrations of the mill"?  AT $22 a clip it might be a chancey attempt.

Good luck.

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

  AT $22 a clip it might be a chancey attempt.

Try it.....it might work. I mean somebody had to discover BLOWFISH were poisonous.  :D

[NMFP]

Thanks guys.  I have leds lights on my tractor and they are super bright and only  6 amps each draw.  The nice thing is that I can have the lights on the tractor for a long time when its not running and it does not run the battery down much at all.  As for the alternator on my mill, I replaced the factor alternator with a 90 amp compact alternator a few years ago and it eliminated all of my electrical issues I was having.  All of the tins fit exactly and you would never know its not the factory alternator.

[Ironwood]

LED's should be more vibration tolerant and last WAYYYY longer than conventional lights. LED technology is growing leaps and bounds. There are some REALLY good Maxxim brand rubber grommeted 1.5" or 2" ones used for "work lights". I have several samples here and I am going to use them for truck bed "worklights". High candle/ lumen count and VERY effiecent.

Ironwood