Poll: How much do you drive at night?

[Dav L]

Originally Posted by EZRider800

I have a 2006 Holiday Rambler with those really small round headlights. They were ultra modern at the time but they don't put out much light at all!!! I wish I could find something that would brighten them up. The lenses are not cloudy. But the whole light is only about 3" in diameter. Wonder how I could fix this?

That sounds like you have a Projector lens which is excellent. What might not be as excellent is the wiring to ensure full 12 volts and ground is available to the bulbs. Something easy to check with a voltmeter. If bad, then either fix the ground or buy an aftermarket relay kit with the correct ends on it for your headlight bulb type that makes the installation easy.

Another likely possibility is you could use some new LED bulbs. A zillion to choose from. theretrofitsource.com can help you determine a good bulb once they see which projector you have and your current bulb.

Recommend you to take some pictures of what you have and check the wiring. See if you can remove the bulb and take a picture of the cable end and the bulb mount. don't touch the portions that are inside of the bulb housing. Even LED bulbs can get ruined with small amounts of fingerprint residue.

[dkoldman]

Actually I had never heard of anyone complaining about lights on their RV? I guess I could see that, although none of the options applied to me, but I voted anyway

By personal preference, we try to avoid driving at night... maybe you should conduct poll asking Why do you avoid driving at night?

1. Safety ( something happens on road way and you have to stop and get out)
2. Safety ( Lights of other vehicle coming from the rear or passing)
3. Safety ( May get sleepy - not a professional driver)
4. Dark ( when you get where you want to go, it is too dark to see, or do anything
5. Bugs ( cleaning bugs is a pain)
6. Site seeing (miss out on seeing the countryside)

[R.Wold]

Originally Posted by HarryStone

Properly aim your headlights, and replace the crappy halogen bulbs with LED

At this point I am leaning toward replacing my fog lights with some very focused driving lights since the low beams will do fine for fog and the fog lights are switched so I can easily manage what would other wise be too-bright driving lights. I have no reason to believe the headlights are improperly aimed, but I do know my night vision sucks these days. I’ll be calling the tech folks at theretrosource to see what they have to fit the fog light holes.

[Dav L]

Originally Posted by R.Wold

At this point I am leaning toward replacing my fog lights with some very focused driving lights since the low beams will do fine for fog and the fog lights are switched so I can easily manage what would other wise be too-bright driving lights. I have no reason to believe the headlights are improperly aimed, but I do know my night vision sucks these days. I’ll be calling the tech folks at theretrosource to see what they have to fit the fog light holes.

You could do that but here are some generalities:

Driving lights are best higher mounted than lower. This both gets further distance and also doesn't blind oncoming traffic.
Fog lights must be mounted low to cut under the fog for penetration.

Driving light beam pattern is tight and focused far ahead. A fog light is wider.

For mine, I added another set of headlights up high on the engine hood. Took some time to figure out what and where they would fit and how to mount and then the actual work to cut the holes and not make a mess of it.
These lights were actually intended for snowplow work and have heaters on the lens to keep them from freezing over (not that RVs are used much in the snow). They have both a High and Low beam.

The standard headlights were gutted, cleaned, polished, clear coated (UV protection) and LED high beam projector and LED projector low beams were stuffed in the original housing. That took quite a bit of time to figure out what would fit.

The fog lights are Hella rounds to fit the original locations. I have them aimed more to fill in more width closer up.

I would put all concentration on Low beams. That's what gets used due to oncoming traffic. I hardly ever get to use the High beams.

A projector lens with a solenoid High / Low gate works best because then you can use Bi-Xenon bulbs. Bi-Xenon take a few seconds to warm up to full power. Same bulb is used for High and Low and the solenoid just blocks the top side to create the Low beam that doesn't blind oncoming traffic. But the bulb stays on so no lapse of lighting when the bulb is turned on. If you are looking for good lighting, Bi-Xenon is it. Expensive and a pain to install. I ended up taking them out and putting top quality LED bulbs in their place as I had a durability issue and was out of time to figure out why the Bi-Xenon were dieing so quick.

[R.Wold]

Originally Posted by Dav L

You could do that but here are some generalities:

Driving lights are best higher mounted than lower. This both gets further distance and also doesn't blind oncoming traffic.
Fog lights must be mounted low to cut under the fog for penetration.

Driving light beam pattern is tight and focused far ahead. A fog light is wider.

For mine, I added another set of headlights up high on the engine hood. Took some time to figure out what and where they would fit and how to mount and then the actual work to cut the holes and not make a mess of it.
These lights were actually intended for snowplow work and have heaters on the lens to keep them from freezing over (not that RVs are used much in the snow). They have both a High and Low beam.

The standard headlights were gutted, cleaned, polished, clear coated (UV protection) and LED high beam projector and LED projector low beams were stuffed in the original housing. That took quite a bit of time to figure out what would fit.

The fog lights are Hella rounds to fit the original locations. I have them aimed more to fill in more width closer up.

I would put all concentration on Low beams. That's what gets used due to oncoming traffic. I hardly ever get to use the High beams.

A projector lens with a solenoid High / Low gate works best because then you can use Bi-Xenon bulbs. Bi-Xenon take a few seconds to warm up to full power. Same bulb is used for High and Low and the solenoid just blocks the top side to create the Low beam that doesn't blind oncoming traffic. But the bulb stays on so no lapse of lighting when the bulb is turned on. If you are looking for good lighting, Bi-Xenon is it. Expensive and a pain to install. I ended up taking them out and putting top quality LED bulbs in their place as I had a durability issue and was out of time to figure out why the Bi-Xenon were dieing so quick.

Lots of good stuff to think about - thanks! I also like the idea of using the fog light location for floods to fill in. One of the things I struggle with is seeing the peripheral area on tight turns. I ran over a median once making a left turn in the bay star. Never even saw it. Fortunately it had banked curbs instead of square ones, so it wasn’t a bad jolt but it did illuminate the issue...

[tommar]

Originally Posted by dkoldman

By personal preference, we try to avoid driving at night... maybe you should conduct poll asking Why do you avoid driving at night?

1. Safety ( something happens on road way and you have to stop and get out)
2. Safety ( Lights of other vehicle coming from the rear or passing)
3. Safety ( May get sleepy - not a professional driver)
4. Dark ( when you get where you want to go, it is too dark to see, or do anything
5. Bugs ( cleaning bugs is a pain)
6. Site seeing (miss out on seeing the countryside)

Thought I'd give my 2 cents worth.... Many of your points are well-taken. But... driving at night means a LOT less traffic. And I hate traffic and the crazies that come out like flies to honey! If you're in a rural area, drunks driving home from the bar is IMHO a low probability but can happen. In the city, at 2 a.m., can be a problem. Sleepy driving, for me, is a non-issue because I've planned for it and slept a lot in the hours prior to starting to drive and have lots of coffee handy! Usually, when I make a planned night-time drive, I'm planning to arrive at my destination when it is light outside. Or, my destination is so far away, the night-time driving is designed to spread out the trip--again so when I arrive, it is during the day, maybe the next day, or even two days away! At my age, just months from being 70, my eyes have aged. This means that headlight quality is critical which is why I upgraded my headlights. The jury is still out on if the upgrade is sufficiently good to make me feel comfortable driving the rig at night. Sightseeing: Depends on what's between point A and point B. Examples: There's not much to see in wide swathes of Texas. In Ohio, only if you like seeing miles and miles of corn growing. But out West (which I've really not seen much of) or Cali, etc. I would definately plan on day driving only. Anyway, thanks for the input in your post; made me think and then decide to post myself!

[Crasher]

How times have changed for us. 55 years ago, the DW and I would drive 1500 miles in our car stopping only for food, gas and restroom breaks. Mostly because of time restrains, but also because we didn't have the money for the trip and motels. Very few interstates in the early 60's and many towns to slow for. We would leave mid afternoon to be fresh for the night driving and get to our destination the evening of the next day. Now, in our late 70's, I drive only in daylight hours. My wife reads and keeps me in treats and drinks. At the end of 500 miles we stop. The headlights are on all the time, but have no idea if they are good at night or not. Probably not, as they are mounted pretty low.

[AveryF]

Like many of the respondents, I can't remember the last time I drove our motorhome at night but it has nothing to do with our headlights - we just like to plan our trips so we are at our destination and set up long before sunset. The only time I can even remember turning on our lights is when driving in the rain.

[OldDoggy]

We always try to make our next stop by “Happy Hour”. We go 250 to 300 miles at a time and plan to be parked and set up well before headlights are needed. The rare times we have run out of daylight, because of weather or a late start, no problems driving by headlight.

Just Another Old Doggy, Don

[winniman]

I dont drive at night as a general rule because it is much more unsafe to travel at night. It has little to do with the headlight. The few times we tried to push on through, we had bad luck. We hit freezing rain on the road in Washington State, and were lucky not to die. We hit a piece of a driveshaft lying on the road in California. It cost us a tire, and a lost day, not to mention 4 hours on the side of the highway waiting for a tire service. Two trips to Newfoundland, and we only saw three moose. Everyone there told us not to drive at night, and we didnt. Driving after dark in summer usually means it is past 10 at night. If something happens, everything is closed, or you have to wait extended times for help. To each their own. We have not had good luck driving at night. Your survey doesnt have a spot for people who just prefer not to drive at night.

[dieselclacker]

Don’t drive as much at night as I would like. The issue I have is led lighting from oncoming traffic. Lots of poorly aimed and ultra bright led headlights out there. Lots of self installed cheap conversion bulbs that give no consideration to on coming vehicles. Just blinding white blobs of light, not beam focused at all. What ever happened to federal lumen specifications for vehicle lighting. I usually limit my nite time driving to a couple of hours in the early AM.

[pduggs]

Originally Posted by Dav L

No prob.
Yes, the thread was started because of how many folks have posted about headlight problems, questions, upgrades. I was just curious on as a percentage is it significant of all owners. The Poll results so far is saying its very significant. Over Half of respondents (quick look).

So, lets list places we find fixes.
I have NO connection with the supplier:

http://theretrofitsource.com
that's where I bought the majority of my lighting components. They treated me excellent and provided high quality components (most made in China ) But wasn't cheap. But good seldom is.

https://www.jwspeaker.com/products/j...xoCPHQQAvD_BwE
Another place that has good stuff.

I had these installed. Huge difference. I hired a local automotive electrical shop for the install. Really gives the coach a more modern updated look.
https://www.spyderauto.com/product.p...O-YD-FS05-HL-C

[Don PV Beach]

If you are driving at night it’s important to start off with clean headlights to help with visibility. Dirt kicked up from other vehicles, exhaust fumes, bugs, even pollen while in campsites, can all accumulate on your headlights and lessen the range and clarity of your lights. Many vehicles these days have plastic headlight covers so it is important you use a product that will clean plastic without scratching as so many abrasive products, even some of the liquids, will. There is a product out there that will safely clean your headlights, whether glass or plastic, using only RV wash soap & water.

[R.Wold]

My Bay Star had regular old rectangular sealed beam headlights with the mounts cobbled together in what looked like an afterthought and what amounted to a total pita for changing bulbs.

After examining the headlights on the Ventana, I found it has a more current style with easily changed bayonet style bulbs in a fixed housing. So I’ll pull one, get the number and see about cross referencing for a bulb that will provide better down the road and peripheral lighting.

Anyone already have that info?