More candlepower?

[Tom]

We rarely drive the coach at night, but our very late start today left us with little choice tonight. The headlights on the coach are about as bright as a couple of candles. I recall having a similar problem with the old coach, and adding a couple of spot lights and a couple of fog lights. But that was 20 years ago, and headlamp technology has advanced considerably since then.

Has anyone else had this problem, and how did you solve it?

TIA

 

[Ron]

I have heard similar complants on different manufacturers coaches.  Somewhere an explanation was given that the light just appear to be dim due to the lights being much lower from the drivers field of vision.  We always thought the 88 Bounder lights were dim.  Haven't really driven much at night so can't comment on how the Eagle lights are.

Get an early start tomorrow and do the driving before sundown. Have a safe trip.

 

[Tom]

LOL Ron. I'd still like to solve the problem before we need to use the headlights again.

 

[Carl L]

The headlights on the coach are about as bright as a couple of candles. I recall having a similar problem with the old coach, and adding a couple of spot lights and a couple of fog lights.

Be careful about adding spot lights -- that can get you a ticket if you drive with them on.    Are your head lamps halogen?

 

[Ron]

I do remember one guy telling me while checking into why the lights were dim on his coach he found the voltage at the lights to be less than 10 VDC. ?His dealer and manufacturer didn't give him any satisfactions so he rewired the headlight circut. ?Didn't ever hear if he corrected the problem though.

Nicer driving during the daylight you get to see more. ;D ;D

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

There is almost nothing you can add that will materially enhance the road lighting except fog lights and they only help in the fog.  Using spot lights while driving on the road is illegal as well as discourteous to other drivers.

Check the voltage.  Have the headlights aimed properly  - they probably just stick the assembly in the front cap at the factory.  Finally, go out on a empty road or parking lot and see how much they actually light up at a distance. Put something a 150 feet or so away and see what you see.  You might be surprised that they actually work much better than your perception suggests.

 

[John From Detroit]

LOL Ron. I'd still like to solve the problem before we need to use the headlights again.

Suggestion.... Some night, have an observer standing outside the motor home look at the lights as they shine upon a target (IE: Tree in the campground)

Do the same with your toad, same distance, same tree, same conditions. 

Note any differences.

NOTE: There are some headlights, that are brighter due to more modern technology.  Some of these are replacements for some older headlights.  Alas, I can't give you bulb numbers but any good auto supply should be able to illuminate

 

[Tom]

Be careful about adding spot lights -- that can get you a ticket if you drive with them on. Are your head lamps halogen?

Oops, thanks Carl, didn't realize they were illegal. I won't be adding them then. Not sure if they're halogen or not; I'll check in daylight.

 

[Tom]

....he found the voltage at the lights to be less than 10 VDC.

Interesting Ron. The thought of low voltage occurred to me as were driving last night, but I (maybe naiively) dismissed it. I'll get thye voltmeter out, probably after we get to Moab. I still need to get the problem fixed for the times when we have little option.

 

[Tom]

Thanks Gary. I won't be adding illegal lights. As for being discourteous, my intent was to have them aimed low so we can see immediately in front of the coach, much less discourteous than high beams coming in the opposite direction that folks don't dim.

One comparison we had last night was when we were alongside truckers going in the same direction; There's no doubt in my mind that their lights were miuch brighter. Adjustment is definitely out of whack, but doesn't account for what I was seeing. I'll re-visit the low voltage possibility that I considered and dismissed.

 

[Tom]

Thanks for suggestion John. Maybe I could get a bunch of folks to line their coaches up in the field at Moab one night and we can compare headlights. BTW the coach is less than 2 years old. Compared to headlights on our cars, the lights on the coach feel like those old oil lights they used to use on very early automobiles.

 

[Jim Johnson]

I had the same problem when I bought the Dutch Star.  The first time we drove at night was like driving without any lights at all.  There had been a lot of discussion on different forums about the DS lights about that time.  I took it back to the dealer and told them if they did not fix it I was going to take it to DOT and let them see them.  Newmar put different headlights in it which made a world of difference.

 

[Tom]

Thanks for returning my sanity Jim. Do you happen to know which lights they installed for you?

 

[Karl]

Tom,

Also check the headlight ground wires;  loose or corroded, that is the number one cause of dim headlights along with corroded pins on the headlights themselves. Also, headlights are not fused, but use a circuit breaker which can increase in resistance with age. It's usually on the headlight switch itself, so you may try bypassing it with a short piece of #12 wire and see if they become brighter.

 

[Tom]

Thanks Karl, I'll add them to the checklist. I'll have plenty of time at Moab 

 

[John From Detroit]

There is almost nothing you can add that will materially enhance the road lighting except fog lights and they only help in the fog.  Using spot lights while driving on the road is illegal as well as discourteous to other drivers.

There are also "Driving Lights" these are wide flat beams and are often mounted lower than the regular headlights (except on off road vehciles where they mount them higher, on the roll bar usually)  Properly adjusted they provied a good cross between high and low but without blinding other drivers.  I used to use one of those, center mounted on one car where I was not happy with the lights.

Only time I had a problem is a cop who had to be educated as to the law (he thought 3 headlights was illegal... It's not, at least not where he was working, 1 is, but 2,3,4 or six is legal

 

[Tom]

"Driving Lights" these are wide flat beams and are often mounted lower than the regular headlights

That's how I was going to mount the "spot lights" (below the bumper), but I guess they're illegal anyway.

 

[Ned]

We hate "driving lights" as they are rarely aligned properly and are at least as blinding to oncoming drivers as high beams. There are times when I wish for a really, really powerful laser.

 

[Tom]

Well, the driving lights (aka headlights) on our coach wouldn'/couldn't blind you Ned  ;D

 

[Smoky]

Sounds like my problem Tom.  Except I am fixing my problem on May 10 by going under the knife.  Once I get rid of the cataract in my right eye, I expect night driving to improve a hundredfold.  ;D

anyone know the recovery time on cataract removal.  I am scheduled to fly out to Montana a week after my operation to establish my new domicile.