Bright & Dim headlight question

Mine is a 1997 and I converted all the lights to relays. It was the end of my headlight problems and on high or low they are now much brighter cecause of the direct voltage.

There was a mod (trying to find it) which addressed this like MoutainAir said. I talks about the voltage drop in motorhomes going from battery to switch and back out to lights. The answer is a relay to switch the 12VDC at the headlight and the switch operating the relay. Found the article! Headlight relay mod
This may not fix your problem but should help at least a little :D

In the UK, my 1960 Austin had 100W high beams and 72 watt low beams. When we moved to the US, I was concerned that if I drove above 45 mph at night, the wind would blow the wimpy headlights out. I think they were 48W/36W.

It's common with RV headlights that the transparency (which usually isn't glass) gets discolored and that cuts down the amount of light that actually gets to the outside. I've solved the problem by not driving the MH after dark!

tkranz wrote:
When I recently bought a 1998 Winnebago Vectra (Freightliner), the headlights were wired as follows:

Headlights dim = one bulb in each headlight assembly is lighted (dim bulb)

Headlights bright = the other bulb, just one, the "bright" bulb is lighted - NOT both bulbs

My local mechanic tells me this is normal and the way it is supposed to be.

I have seen this on all sorts of vehicles, Cars and trucks both. In fact the car I used to have the same lamp was used in both high and low beams (They are not called "Dim" and "Bright" any more and have not for years.. The biggest reason for this is back in the days when you had only one lamp on each side it was not uncommon for the HIGH beams to be like 36 watts (The "Brights") and the lows... 52, as memory serves.. That is much brighter)

The car I used to have the same lamp cartridge was used for both. Makes stocking spares easier.

That said, I have also seen many cars with a double filiment lamp in teh HIGH/LOW beam lamp and of course a different (HIGH only) in the other lamp on the 4 eye system.

So it is done both ways..

To find out which you have for sure take a look at the wire side of the lamp. Each lamp has only 2 wires.. Then it's working as designed.

(On the all 4 light up on high you will hae 3 wires to one lamp)

Your mechanic is right, but you can rewire it to make it like you want. Just up the wire size and put in a relay to take care of the add load on the system. The bulb will not last as long due to heat if you run on high beam a lot.

Just like it is. DW's car is wired with one or the other bulb powered. If you want more light consider cleaning and polishing the head light lenses or changing to LED head lights. Both items are relatively inexpensive to do.