Installing the RPP Trail Torch and Six Shooter LED light bars onto an Axial Yeti

One of the easiest updates you can make to any RC vehicle is to stick lights on it. Sure, you can go all scale and have fully working brakes, sidelights, headlights and indicators; or you can keep things simple and just add front (and/or rear) lights that are always turned on. It’s a very quick way to make a stock RTR vehicle look a bit different to all the others, plus it helps you know which way the vehicle is pointing once it’s on the other side of the field…

I’m going to keep things simple and go the easy route with my Yeti, so I bought the Trail Torch (with roof rack) and Six Shooter light bars from RPP. Those links go to the kits that include the mounting hardware – you don’t need anything else, except maybe a servo extension cable or Y-harness (I’ll explain why later). I’ve chosen the light bars that are mainly white LEDS with with blue LEDs on the ends – this fits in with the white and blue colours of the stock body shell, as well as the blue hop-ups I’m adding, but other colours are available.

I’ll go over each installation separately, and then cover wiring it up at the end – this is the same procedure for both kits.

Note: Before doing any of this, check that your light bar(s) work by plugging them into the receiver (the access panel is on the underside of the buggy) and turning on the power to the Yeti – if they don’t illuminate, check you have the plugs inserted the right way around!

Installing the Six Shooter onto the bumper

Open up the bags, and you should have the following:

• The light bar
• Two L brackets
• One mounting plate
• Four small screws
• Two medium screws
• Six silver hex nuts
• Two large screws
• Two black hex nuts

Start by mounting the two brackets onto the plate, using the four small screws and four of the silver nuts – the brackets go under the plate (see pic below) and the screws go in from above.

Next, position the light bar between the brackets; it doesn’t really matter which way around as the wire is long enough to reach the receiver box from either side. Use the two medium screws and the two remaining silver nuts to mount the bar to the brackets – the screw heads should be on the outside, and the nuts should be behind the light bar, but don’t tighten them fully yet.

Lastly, use the two large screws to bolt the plate to the two large holes inside the Yeti’s front bumper – put the plate over the holes and feed the screws down through the plate and the bumper holes, and then screw the nuts on from underneath. You can angle the light bar upwards to give you easy access. Once you’ve tightened the nuts, you can adjust the light bar to the desired angle, and tighten the screws holding it to the L brackets.

See the last section for instructions on wiring it up.

Installing the Trail Torch and roof rack

Open up the bags and you should have the following:

Roof rack

• The roof rack
• Four black screws
• Four black plastic spacers (you may need to separate them)

Light bar

• The light bar
• Two L brackets
• Four small screws
• Two medium screws
• Two washers
• Six silver hex nuts

You can mount the light bar above or below the roof rack; I chose to mount it underneath as it offers some protection in case of a rollover. There isn’t an obvious “top” or “bottom” of the rack; however I noticed a very slight chamfer to the edges and chose to have the narrower face as the “top”.
Mount the brackets to the roof rack first as shown below (make sure they’re the right way around – screws on the inside).

Fix the light bar to the brackets using the larger screws, washers and nuts (washers on the screw head); nuts on the inside. Don’t tighten the nuts fully just yet. For neatness, mount the bar so that the wire can be routed down the passenger side of the windscreen – that’s the side of the buggy where the receiver box is.

Test fit the rack on top of the buggy and adjust the angle of the bar as desired. I’ve chosen to angle mine slightly downwards to illuminate the surface in front of the buggy. Once you’re happy, tighten the nuts.

 

Remove the screws holding the roof panel of the buggy in place.
Take one of the four longer screws that came with the roof rack, and push it through one of the four holes in the rack; add a spacer to the screw below the rack, and then push the screw through the roof panel and into the hole in the frame. Screw it in about halfway. Repeat for the other three screws. In my pictures I’ve actually fitted a replacement roof panel made of Delrin, which is why my roof is thicker than normal.
Once all four screws are in place, tighten them all down.
Lastly, feed the plug end of the cable between the lean of the bodysheel and the cockpit insert, and use cable ties (or black tape) to secure the cable to the side of the frame.

See the last section for instructions on wiring it up.

Wiring up for power

The last step is to get power to the light bars- they’re not much use otherwise! Again, this is pretty simple, although it’s the most fiddly and time consuming part of the install.

Both these light bars come with servo-style plugs; all you need to do is plug them into a spare channel on the receiver. If you’re using the stock receiver then you’ll only have one spare channel to plug in to, so you’ll need a Y-harness (also known as a splitter) if you want to use both light bars. If you’ve fitted your own receiver then you may have two or more spare channels you can use. If you’re just using the roof-mounted light bar, then you should consider using an extension lead, so that if you need to remove the body shell you can easily detach the power cable.

First, flip the vehicle over and, on the underside, remove the four screws securing the access panel for the receiver. Then follow the instructions for whichever light bar(s) you are installing:

Wiring up only the Six Shooter (bumper) – always-on option

Feed the cable through the bumper mount and behind the ESC, using cable ties to secure it if necessary.
If you hold a torch underneath the buggy, you should be able to see the hole you uncovered when you removed the access panel for the receiver (if you haven’t done this, do it now). Using a screwdriver, poke the plug through that hole so it comes out of the underside of the buggy.
Look at where the existing servo cables feed into the receiver box – you’ll see a white rubber bung. Ease it out partway and remove the small piece of plastic that’s blocking a gap where another cable can feed through.
Feed your light bar cable into the bung where the piece of plastic was (you can stuff excess cable into the receiver box to keep things neat), and ease the bung back into place.
Insert the plug into a spare channel on the receiver – the negative (black) wire should be closest to the outside of the receiver box.
Turn the Yeti on; the light bar should illuminate. If it doesn’t, check the plug is inserted fully, and is the right way around.
If you’re happy, replace the access panel (be sure to check the rubber seal is still in place on the panel).

Wiring up only the Six Shooter (bumper) – easy disconnect option

Connect the power cable to a servo extension cable at least 10cm long, then follow the steps above – by connecting the extension cable to the receiver instead of the light bar cable, you can easily unplug the light bar cable from the extension plug whenever you want. If you don’t do this, you’ll need to open up the receiver box every time you want to unplug the light bar. The picture below shows the free end of an extension lead that has been connected to the receiver.

Wiring up only the Trail Torch

Connect the bar’s power cable to a servo extension cable at least 10cm long, then follow the steps above for the “Six Shooter – always on” option. By connecting the extension cable to the receiver instead of connecting the light bar cable to the receiver, you can easily unplug the light bar cable from the extension plug whenever you want to remove the body. If you don’t do this, the body will be permanently tethered to the chassis by the light bar’s power cable.

Wiring up both light bars

Use a servo Y-harness (this has one servo plug at one end, and two servo sockets at the other) and follow the steps above for the “Six Shooter – always on” option.
You can then simply plug the two cables into the Y-harness, and unplug them whenever you want. You might want to wrap the connections in something waterproof if you’re likely to run through deep water.

Alternatively, if you have a receiver with at least two spare channels, you could wire the Six Shooter permanently and use an extension lead for the Trail Torch – although it is a bit of a faff to feed two extra cables into the receiver box. The choice is yours.

Lastly, here’s an example of how the lights look once it’s all finished…