During last year’s 5,400 mile Grand North American Tour and Shakedown Journey in my 1994 Class A Holiday Rambler, I noticed that the headlights didn’t appear to have much of any “reach”, about all they illuminated was the stripes on either side of the lane. Visual inspection while pulled off along the road found the headlights illuminated and I figured they were out of adjustment, anyhow about the only times I drove any distance at night was through LA and Dallas, both cities at 2am. However, large cities have well illuminated highways and I could’ve seen the roadway just fine with no headlights at all. Today I did a closer headlight inspection and noticed water in two of the old style sealed beam bulbs. I decided to go ahead and replace all four sealed beam headlight bulbs. Upon removal, what I found was that the 21 year old headlights (assuming they’re OE) had no reflective material on the backsides of the lights, it had all flacked off. No wonder the headlights had no reach! The new headlights are much better.StevePS Maybe some wonder why I publish my trials, tribulations, and “fixes” here but I like to share the things I learned. I feel that others may have had the same problems and now perhaps they'll have answers too.

I have a 1993 HR Navigator and have had the same problem with limited light. As you mentioned, our headlights are of the type where you can replace the bulb only, so the reflective material can get dirty and/or oxidized, and water can accumulate. Replacement of the whole light assembly is a preferred solution.I also have fog lights as well as a roof light, that with the high & low beams, will really light up the road ahead.

I found that I needed to install fog lights on my 97 Bounder when it was about 6 years old to get effective nighttime light on the roadway. Good to know that my eyes where not going bad, but it probably has bad headlamps!I will replace them before my next big trip, and see how it helps. I know with my headlights, the covers are very fogged up, and look scratched! Good luck,Fred.

While checking the lights, check VOLTAGE at the lights with the engine running. Many are at least a volt lower than chassis battery voltage.Often very minor rewiring and an under $10 relay can get you battery voltage to the lights. It is amazing what an extra volt can do for lumens!

wolfe10 wrote:While checking the lights, check VOLTAGE at the lights with the engine running. Many are at least a volt lower than chassis battery voltage.Often very minor rewiring and an under $10 relay can get you battery voltage to the lights. It is amazing what an extra volt can do for lumens!Yepper Sir, there's been many-a-thread about low voltage to factory headlights. There's been a few on here that have either re-wired them with larger GA wires or, they've wired in a relay so that the headlight switch only activates the relay and the relay has ultra-large gauge wires to power up the headlights. Those that have done this, claim some pretty substantial results. I still have yet to check that voltage on mine, just another project. Scott

Geocritterkeep on posting, there's plenty of us soaking up your knowledge like a sponge.

Another annoying problem solved | Good Sam Community

12 Replies

wolfe10
Explorer
Feb 09, 2015
turbojimmy wrote:
And I have plenty of voltage. Alternator is new and it flirts with the high side of the gauge (18 volts) under a load.

You need to put a digital voltmeter and verify. If voltage at the battery is more than 14.2 VDC, you need to find the cause and fix it.
turbojimmy
Explorer
Feb 09, 2015
Golden_HVAC wrote:
I found that I needed to install fog lights on my 97 Bounder

I did the same on my '84. I couldn't see a thing at night so I added fog lights. The fog lights light up the road better than the headlights. It has old-school, sealed beam halogen units. Probably with the reflective material flaked off. After reading this I'll be looking for new ones!

EDIT: And I have plenty of voltage. Alternator is new and it flirts with the high side of the gauge (18 volts) under a load.
JumboJet
Explorer
Feb 09, 2015
Geocritter wrote:
PS Maybe some wonder why I publish my trials, tribulations, and “fixes” here but I like to share the things I learned. I feel that others may have had the same problems and now perhaps they'll have answers too.

And thank you for doing that. That is why I come to this forum and others. Many members share helpful information.
AllegroD
Nomad
Feb 09, 2015
Thank you. Please keep posting. How someone found and solved an issue may help some of us. I believe tat that is what this forum is for. Think about using a more desriptive title, though (i.e. Dim headlight problem solved). I sometimes have to prioritize what I read.
John_Wayne
Explorer II
Feb 09, 2015
If your driving at night your in to big a hurry on the road by 9:00am in the RV park by 4:00pm no need for lights.
jerseyjim
Explorer
Feb 09, 2015
Noticing that sometimes I had water in a headlight shell (and in some marker lights) over the years, I found the lens for some was plastic. So I drilled a 1/16 dia hole somewhere in the bottom of the lens...and no more water.
just my 2 cents.
BigRabbitMan
Explorer
Feb 09, 2015
In my case it was poor ground connection. With a '76 unit all ground connections are suspect. The right side had a poor connection from the factory and the other one simply needed the connection cleaned up. Made a significant difference. I have now also converted to the relay system, but have yet to operate it with the new system.
late_bloomer
Explorer
Feb 09, 2015
Geocritter
keep on posting, there's plenty of us soaking up your knowledge like a sponge.
FIRE_UP
Explorer
Feb 09, 2015
wolfe10 wrote:
While checking the lights, check VOLTAGE at the lights with the engine running. Many are at least a volt lower than chassis battery voltage.

Often very minor rewiring and an under $10 relay can get you battery voltage to the lights. It is amazing what an extra volt can do for lumens!

Yepper Sir, there's been many-a-thread about low voltage to factory headlights. There's been a few on here that have either re-wired them with larger GA wires or, they've wired in a relay so that the headlight switch only activates the relay and the relay has ultra-large gauge wires to power up the headlights. Those that have done this, claim some pretty substantial results. I still have yet to check that voltage on mine, just another project.
Scott
wolfe10
Explorer
Feb 09, 2015
While checking the lights, check VOLTAGE at the lights with the engine running. Many are at least a volt lower than chassis battery voltage.

Often very minor rewiring and an under $10 relay can get you battery voltage to the lights. It is amazing what an extra volt can do for lumens!