Headlight conversion

[jeffwit]

The headlights on my 06 Winnie Tour leave a lot to be desired. The highs work pretty well, but the lows stink. I replaced the bulbs and cleaned the shields, but no improvement. The aiming seems fine, just dim. The bulbs are H9.
Has anybody come up with a good solution to this? Silverstar does not make a H9 replacement. I've looked a little at the HID replacements, but got confused about whether or not I would need a projector.
The way we travel dictates that we travel fairly often at night, so only driving during daylight is not an option.

Thanks,
Jeff

[Razzman]

Well the first thing i would do is check the voltage at the headlamps, i'm guessing you'll be nowhere near the require voltage needed. This is not uncommon, especially in MH/RV's as they age.

The end-all solution is not changing the bulbs, but to add relays into the headlight circuit to ensure 14.4 at the headlamps. Once you've done that you will be amazed at how well they work. At that point if you want new bulbs to get more light the go for it. Do it before and all you may end up doing is cooking your headlight circuit. I have done relays on a few vehicles and they truly do give the circuit max volts.

Read here for more:
http://www.mgexperience.net/article/...elays_revb.pdf
Daniel Stern Lighting Consultancy and Supply

[Sky_Boss]

Jeff...I feel your pain! The H9 was actually considered an acceptable replacement for the H11. There are no brighter version of the H9 to be had.

My DSDP has the same problem and I even replaced the canisters Hoping new lenses and better aiming would help. NOPE.

RAZZMAN...

Thanks for the info...gonna have to study that closely.

[jeffwit]

How do I test the voltage? Everything I'm reading says I need negative to battery ground and positive to light assembly. My multimeter doesn't have leads nearly that long.
Also, should I be looking for close to 14.4 at the light assembly?
Sorry if these are stupid questions, electric systems tend to flummox me a bit.

[malexander]

Any chassis ground will be fine. You don't necessarily have go directly to battery neg.

[Razzman]

Exactly as stated, just use a good chassis ground. Read the voltage at the headlight terminal and see what you get.

[akeyzoo]

Remember that 14.4V was mentioned above, but that you will only have a shot of getting that voltage with the engine running. Obviously have the lights ON when you check the voltage.

[Fred Cooper]

I agree that your problem is probably low voltage to the headlights.

If you're considering an HID conversion, don't upgrade to relays to give more voltage to the headlights until you've looked at the HID conversion wiring. The one I did will have it's own wiring requirements and use the existing headlight wiring as a "trigger" circuit only and the low voltage won't make any difference.

Fred

[Dutch Star Don]

jeff.....My coach is a Monaco, but same issue. Here is a link to what I did. I got my advice and parts from Daniel Stern. He was a great help.

I also added Hella FF75 driving lights in place of the OEM lower driving lights. With the headlight upgrade and driving lights, I'm no longer overdriving my lights at 60-65 mph.

[jeffwit]

Don,
Thanks for the reply, but the link didn't show up. I'd like to see what you did.

Thanks

[rmk800ak]

Hi guys new to the forum. Just bought a 99 Allegro bus 39ft and had a really yellow lens on both head lights I started looking for new lens I called Tiffin and they wanted $90 plus freight for each I looked locally here where I live and nothing. I was then walking around the coach and saw a number on the bottom that got me thinking is that the part number? so I googled it and wala its a head light from a 94-98 ford mustang gt sweet Amazon had them for 30 bucks a piece free shipping ! I ordered different ones cause im going with HIDs but still thirty bucks. Maybe yours is the same? im sure they use a cars light so they don't have to produce a custom one? Lot cheaper that way.

As far as HIDs go there is two places you can get great deals one is DDM tuning very cheap for leds and HIDs and some other things. I went with DDM this time. If you are worried about not having projectors I would go with Retro Solutions they have bulb capping for a extra charge that takes the glare out of them so they won't blind people. Then you won't have to buy new a new set of lens.

[Romeo]

Here's a link that discusses why and now to add relays to your lighting circuit.

Daniel Stern Lighting Consultancy and Supply


We have also discussed this topic in other threads on IRV2, so you might like to search for "headlights" or something similar.

[Sky_Boss]

Originally Posted by Romeo

Here's a link that discusses why and now to add relays to your lighting circuit.

Daniel Stern Lighting Consultancy and Supply


We have also discussed this topic in other threads on IRV2, so you might like to search for "headlights" or something similar.

Looking at the information is very interesting. The first hurdle to me is following how to measure voltage drop. All the information in the link suggests car based approach where the battery is close at hand for the most part. Never mind the question on whether we would make a measurement at the chassis battery or house battery sets. Granted, it would seem most likely that the chassis battery set is most logical.

So...

The first step of diagnosis is the voltage drop measurements. How would we do that given some of us have nearly 40' between the batteries and the headlights?

Any thoughts?

[mel s]

Originally Posted by Sky_Boss

There are no brighter version of the H9 to be had.

Call JC Whitney at 866-529-5530.
A few years ago I got brighter/higher wattage H4 headlamp bulbs from them, (which are not approved by the DOT for on-highway use).
The improvement is unbelievable.

BTW, the higher watt/illegal H4s were not shown online or in their catalogs.


Mel
'96 Safari