Calling JohnT & Others- Wiring Tractor Lights 4 Fall Dis

Hey guys......I went out and bought some hay bales and some pumpkins wanting to make a neat fall display. While I live in the city and the tractors are about 100 miles away; it isn't convienent to park one in my yard. I rememberd we also had an ole Scarecrow that we used in the garden I might fix up. Upon loading these items last night; I thought...HEY...why not pick up a Farmall Super A Grill, a couple of Teardrop Lights, and an ole Mule Drawn Turning Plow; and use it in the display somehow. I brought it all back with me, and now I have ideas....BUT I could really use some good ideas from you guys as well!!

JohnT and other electrical gurus: I would like to use the grille and the lights and make a "faux" tractor somehow....don't know how yet....and I'd like to have the lights burn after dark. I would rather them burn like a 6 volt tractor OR like you'd put em on low beam of a 12 volt tractor so they aren't too bright in the yard facing out. How can I do this??? Using an old extension cord would help....or buying the materials from Lowe's to make a harness to plug into the household current would be easy and reliable. I COULD go and buy a 6 volt battery or use my boat 12 volt battery; but I have no way to charge it and don't want to drain it every other night until the end of November.

IDEAS???

i would get two night light bulbs and a dimer switch
and rig them to an extension cord

How could I do that and still use the teardrop lights? The lights I got are complete, but I don't know if they work because I haven't tried them. It isn't nothing to get them a working though. Could I install 2 night light bulbs in the teardrop housings and just do it the way you said?

The key here is to forget about using the original bulbs, or any 6V or 12V solution for that matter. It just isn't practical because you'll either need to come up with a DC power supply, or you will be running down a bunch of batteries.

Use Christmas tree lights or a night light inside the housing. Then all you have to do is plug it in.

The bulb won't just screw into the socket in the housing. You will need to do some modification. I would just remove the whole reflector and the terminal block, then line the housing with tinfoil or something else shiny as a makeshift reflector. Then all you have to do is feed the cord for the night light through the hole in the back of the housing.

Use outdoor-rated lights and a GFCI outlet or extension cord.

I found several ba15 base bulbs on the net for 120v operation, and fit into the socket.
I would use 12 volt bulbs 1156 bulbs and a battery charger to reduce the voltage to non life thretening. The 12v wire from the charger could come from inside (14-2 romex would work) and the lights would look good. A 6 amp charger would be all that is needed. Jim

Great idea Matt....now I see where you all are going when you say use different bulbs. I will try the foil concept.....I'm just worried about cramming a bunch of christmas lights in there and make it look "good" without the look of a bunch of small bulbs. I will see what I can come up with. The more I think about this project....the more ideas I have. haha.

Now I am thinking I should have grabbed an old steering wheel and a hood to match the Farmall Super A grille. I am probably gonna make the scarecrow drive the "tractor". Would any of you have any good ideas or pictures of some decorations such as this?? I am guessing I would make the tractor body from the hay. What about the wheels?

Hey guys....I went to Lowes and bought some light sockets for candleabra bulbs and found some "night light" bulbs to fit. I will wire them up to a male extension cord plug and run it out the back of the Farmall Teardrop housing. I think it should work great!!

Now......I'm stumbling on what to use for the rear tires of the tractor. I am cutting the fronts out of plywood and painting them black, but the rears (about 3 1/2 to 4 ft. tall) would use too much wood. Round Hay bales are out of the question too.....haha, that's already been brought up!

1/4" plywood cut to 8" wide strips in the 8 foot direction when joined with a 2" lap joint will make the tire. use tree lights to weave the spokes. Paint on the lugs. Jim