How many headlamps

[Slow ride]

I have a 2001 Caribbean and was wondering if this era coach with the four headlights if all four lights are on with the high beams on or only the two inside come on. I purchased the coach with the highbeams not working and I determined my column swith is bad. I was going to bypass the coulumn switch but want to be sure I can run all four lights at the same time without burning something up.

[bullheaded]

Best way to have the lows on with the highs is to use a Bosch 30 amp relay...use the high beam power wire for the sense wire on the relay..relay will use it's own power wire from the battery for the high beams.

[Theberrys]

Freightliner wired my 99 Tradewinds for all four lit when bright but National didn't hook it up for some reason. I added wires to the unused element of the low beams from the high beams and haven't had any problems. The fuse installed is large enough and the wires are plenty big enough. Here is a picture of the changes I made. The added wires are installed very close to the headlights. Access was through the front of the coach from the outside. I added 16AWG wires and spliced into the heaver wire in the harness. I found splices from the harness to the headlight connectors and the unused elements were six inch stubbs off the headlight connector.

Dick

[Engineer Guy]

There's some detail perhaps worth checking out on this issue above:

...but National didn't hook it up for some reason.

Way back when, we would 'tweak' Headlamp wiring for Desert/night use. There were Laws regarding how many total Watts and/or Headlamp Filaments could be lit simultaneously on Road. To this day, I as understand it, you can have Fogs + Low Beams, but not Fog + Lows + Highs simultaneously. Too many total Watts of lighting. This could be why the wiring was not hooked up. Maximum lighting allowed varies State-to-State, and is enforced State-to-State w/o regard for the Home License of the Vehicle.

That said, the wiring above is a very elegant solution, and I hope the wiring, etc., stays cool and the 4 Headlamps pump out the light for safer driving. When I'm gassing up at the same time as a LEO, I ask them about such stuff to get a straight answer as they see it/enforce it...

[Slow ride]

Thanks all for the info provided. I think the Freightliner set it up for four lights but National didn't wire it that way is what I'm looking for. Due to the column switch being expensive, I attempted to bypass it with a switch at the dash. I now have low beams; flip the switch I get all four on (which looks like 4 low beams) and when I flip the column switch (which isn't supposed to be working now) I get high beams only. Not sure whats going on but it works. I wiring is good size so it should be okay.

[TomTheOilMan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Theberrys Freightliner wired my 99 Tradewinds for all four lit when bright but National didn't hook it up for some reason. I added wires to the unused element of the low beams from the high beams and haven't had any problems. The fuse installed is large enough and the wires are plenty big enough. Here is a picture of the changes I made. The added wires are installed very close to the headlights. Access was through the front of the coach from the outside. I added 16AWG wires and spliced into the heaver wire in the harness. I found splices from the harness to the headlight connectors and the unused elements were six inch stubbs off the headlight connector. Dick

Dick, I changed the 4 headlamps (walmart) because those lamps made in India were junk, now I'm going to work on the wiring, thanks Tom

[Theberrys]

Tom

I also replaced mine with Wagner H6054 bulbs. These were 65 Watt and I felt more comfortable than using higher wattage bulbs.

Just keep the new wires as close to the bulbs as possible and splice into the heaver Freightliner harness. I found the fuse in the headlight switch a real pain to access. Each element draws about 4 AMPS, measured on my bench so with all four on, the brights will draw a little over 16 AMPS, a 30 AMP fuse would be appropriate.

Dick