I was looking in Tampa Florida Craiglist and found a service that sells HID headlghts for a Class A motorhome. I have complained about my headlights the 11 years I have owned it. Even changed them out when the plastic lens became cloudy.Anyone had experience relacing the headlights with HID's?

No need to order from a vendor specializing in motorhomes if you know which auto/truck/van your headlights came from, or know what your replacement headlight bulb specification is.There's a lot of info in this link over on the IRV2 forum.info on HID conversionFred

This is the kind i have in my truckhttp://www.lumenshid.com/After have hid light I will never be with outThey are brighter,whiter and they shine widerCall/email Chris or Mike they will set you up with the proper light set up

I had sylvania silver stars I put in a couple years ago which were better than the stock ones but still not good. So a couple days ago I installed these www.amazon.com/Hipro-Power-5900K-Super-Headlight/dp/B003FPF22IAnd they are much brighter

I have hid bulbs in my tow vehicle(Yukon xl), and in my daily driver(Chrysler pacifica). Both vehicles came from the factory with halogen headlights. In the Yukon I have a plug and play kit (hid bulbs in original halogen reflector) with a relay harness (uses trucks headlight socket as a trigger for the relay, which has a fused ignition hot only connection to the battery. This removes any extra load from all of the vehicles oem wiring. Normal hid bulbs draw only 35 watts, but spike much higher initially to ignite the bulb. This can sometimes damage the vehicle wiring or other components in the headlight circuit. The relay harness protects the vehicle's wiring and ensures that the hid ballasts have full power from the battery. With that being said, these plug and play kits are illegal for on road use. A halogen fixture is not designed for the light of an hid bulb. The light is not focused where it should be, and causes a lot of glare for other drivers. Install and use at your own risk(your illegal, non DOT approved headlights may be blamed in case of an accident). Hid bulbs have specially designed fixtures, most of which are projectors. I searched Tampa area craigslist and found the ad you are referring to. That outfit is selling you a plug and play kit.My Chrysler Pacifica came with oem halogen headlights, but an hid option was available from the factory. I originally used a plug and play hid kit in the halogen reflector headlights, but the output was terrible. The low beam was scattered and not focused where it needed to be, and the high beam lit up the tree tops instead of the road. I took the halogen headlight assemblies out and put in aftermarket oem replacement hid projector assemblies I found on ebay. The output is amazing with a proper projector, but xenon hid lights do have a shortcoming, they do not light up a wet road surface very well.I think a proper hid projector headlight combined with a good halogen fog and/or driving light is best.Those hipro bulbs show that they run at 100 watts. Normal halogen headlights run at 55 watt low beam and 65 watt high beam. You may soon be replacing a melted headlight socket, wiring or switch, bcm, and/or headlight housing. I know because I have done it!:S I have had to replace melted sockets, multifunction switch, and have burned the coating off of the reflectors. It was quite dangerous when the multifunction switch burned out because the headlights suddenly quit while driving at 55mph. That was in a ford f150. I ran 80w/100w bulbs in a jeep for years and had no problems at all.I have purchased all of my hid parts on ebay. I have purchased several plug and play kits from $35 to $80 and have not found the higher priced kit to be any better. I have replaced a couple of bad ballasts (ebay sellers did warranty them). The bulbs sold in this price range sometimes need minor adjustment to fit, and do not expect oem quality or reliability. you may have to tinker with the kit a little more often than oem parts. In the Yukon I carry the original halogen bulbs in the glove box just in case the hid kit fails for whatever reason when away from home.If your vehicle had a oem xenon hid option available from the factory, you could get all of the parts needed for a direct swap either new or from a recycler. If not, there are guys out there that will retrofit hid projectors into your headlight assembly. It takes quite a few hours labor and will cost a lot more than the $169 pnp seller from craigslist.There is a whole lot of info on the hidplanet forum about all types of automotive lighting.http://www.hidplanet.com/forums/forum.php?s=a44da84fa3460bec5efc6b07bc87f546some good info at Daniel stern lighting, toohttp://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/tech.html

Do you drive enough at night to justify the cost?Doug

HID headlights for Motorhome | Good Sam Community

vacuumbed
Explorer
Feb 03, 2014
I did this to my 1996 Monaco Executive. To do it right, it can be a lot of work. I did a retrofit. Here is the link to my thread on this. Clicky
calvin5445
Explorer
Feb 03, 2014
I replaced the std square lamps with the 6 x 4 projector halogen lights that are now available. says they are 60 watt. When you switch to the high beam the lights begin to flash on and off. the relays click in and out. What is the cause?
calvin 1989 Crown Royale Monaco
ryanallie1
Explorer
Jan 31, 2014
Hi All.

Sometimes its not your "Light Bulbs" at all. If you lens ae in god condition and not all scratched up, it just might need the "Ground Wires " cleaned up where it attaches to the RV. Frame.

I though I needed two new lights when bought our Motorhome, and it only had 12,061 miles on the Motorhome. That's pretty soon for light to be going out, with so few miles.

It took me all of about 15 minutes to remove the "Ground Wires" and clean then, and also clean the spot on the Frame where the wire are bolted onto.

A lot of "Bare Motorhome Frames", sit at a Motorhomes Factory before they even get to them. So you can count on a lot of wires being in pretty bad shape by the time the Motoehome is actualy done being built.

Having a "Good Proventive Maintenance Programe" will mostly take care of most of your Electrial problems.

We don't have "HID Lights" on our Motorhome, and we wouldn't waste the money for them. As we see more than far enough ay might with no problems at all.

Keeping "Good Grounds" and "Tight "Connectons" keeps light burning biright and clear. Take good care of your RV, and your RV will take care of you.

Good Luck. Happy Travels. Dan & Jill. and to small "Yorkie Kids" who love to travel as much as we do.
kevden
Explorer
Jan 31, 2014
cobra350 wrote:
Also if they are illegal wonder why my 2012 Ford Edge came with them from the factory and they are not projectors.

That is why I stated "Hid bulbs have specially designed fixtures, most of which are projectors."
There are halogen reflectors and halogen projectors, and there are hid reflectors and hid projectors. Projectors have been more common with hid, though.
bob_b1
Explorer
Jan 31, 2014
kevden wrote:
bob_b wrote:
Jagtech wrote:
Typically the cause of poor lighting on a MH is poor connections or inadequate wiring, causing voltage drops to the headlights. An easy fix for this is to rewire the headlights using relays. Makes a world of difference. You would likely need relays if you change up to a higher wattage bulb, as well; no bulb works very well on 8 or 9 volts.

X2 !

Upgrading my wiring was the best solution. My headlamp switches kept burning out and I had dim lighting. Now the headlights are relayed straight from the battery. While I was at it, I added some Silverstars for some extra insurance. It turned night into day.

Like many other motorhome owners, I made the wiring harness myself, but I would have gladly bought one. This is such a common problem, you would think that a relayed harness could be purchased. Mark Lemonis are you listening? :)

Try eBay.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/120897726984?redirect=mobile

Wow! Where were these when I converted mine 10 years ago? Nice! Thanks for the link.
wny_pat1
Explorer
Jan 29, 2014
doc brown wrote:
alkillion wrote:
I swapped my bulbs oout for Sylvania Silverstar Ultra. Best/brightest bulb I have found.

x2
Then you need to try the Osram Silverstar 2.0 bulb.

Yes Osram and Sylvania are the same company, but no, their Silverstar bulbs are not the same bulb. And you can go even brighter with their Night Breaker Plus, but you will not get the life out of it that the Osram Silverstar 2.0 will give you.

And so much of this lighting thing is not about brightness!!! It is all about bulb design, reflector design, and lens material. And our transportation manufacturers are way behind in that field. We could learn much from the Europeans and their e-codes, but our DOT will not let them do it.
wny_pat1
Explorer
Jan 29, 2014
Why not a LED conversion? JW Speaker 8700 Evolution LED High/Low Beam Headlight.. Do it right and you will not be blinding the rest of us!
doc_brown
Explorer
Jan 29, 2014
alkillion wrote:
I swapped my bulbs oout for Sylvania Silverstar Ultra. Best/brightest bulb I have found.

x2
cobra350
Explorer
Jan 29, 2014
I have HIDs in everything I own and if you buy the proper bulbs and adjust the lamps they wont blind anyone. I have never had anyone flash lights at me and I have had someone else drive towards me to verify that they are not to bright. If you use 35 watt and 6000K or lower in a housing with a reflector that covers the bulb and adjust them they work fine. They also draw less power not more except for the initial firing of the bulbs. Its like everything some people abuse the privilege by going overboard.Also if they are illegal wonder why my 2012 Ford Edge came with them from the factory and they are not projectors.
mlts22
Explorer
Jan 29, 2014
I see those misaligned HID bulbs all the time. The college kids love the blue or even purple glow of them. Makes me glad my daily driver has autodimming mirrors (rear view and side mirrors.)

HID bulbs need a complete projector kit. To me, I'm not that much of a fan of the neon blue, so I'd rather wait until there is a LED upfit or just not bother. I can pay 400 bones for a complete kit, but my current ride's headlights are good enough.

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