Headlight Modification Instructions by Dick Mason
http://www.masonclan.org/Motorhomemods/ftheadlights.html
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I hope I have done this right so many of you can enjoy this really simple solution.
Find the power wires for the high and low beam filaments in the plug going to the outer headlights and swap them!!
This makes the high beam filament on the outer light come on when the low beam is selected.
Now you can aim the outer lights where you want them for low beam and when you select high beam the low beam becomes a great fog line finder and the inner headlights can be aimed for high beam preference.
If you like, feel free to upgrade the bulbs to Zenon to make more light per watt and they last longer than halogen.
Foretravel does a great job of wiring so higher wattage bulbs are fine and don’t tax the relays.
I found the Zenon give enough light that crazy high wattages like 100 watts are not necessary.
I have been told that Sylvania bulbs are the longest lasting and I believe they are, from recent experience.
The reason the headlights are impossible to aim is that they were designed for a Ford pickup.
The mounting height is much higher in the Ford application and the angle difference between high and low beam is fine.
When you mount the lights as low as Foretravel does the angle difference stays the same between high and low beam, and if you set high beam where you like them, then the low beam is too low.
If you adjust the low beam where you like then the high beam is too high!
My solution works very simply and effectively.
Get the bulbs of choice and go out some night on a lonely straight road, plug and unplug, aim and aim again and in 1/2 an hour you will be pleased. Chip Fisher 2/28/05
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A new 30 amp 12-volt multi-purpose relay has come on the market:
www.switch-smart.com I purchased two of them.
Clever, can be used for a lot of different things and is waterproof.
Relays allow you to bring a larger wire directly from a 12 source
on your main circuit breaker panel near the front door and close relay with
original headlight switched wiring at the lamp area.
Which will allow the bulbs to be powered without any voltage drop.
Also, the inner lamps are the same as the outer and use a high/low beam bulb but the low beam is not wired.
Making use of the inner low beam and having 4 low beam bulbs will brighten the scene.
There are several bulbs that promote themselves as being brighter.
You may want to tweak the headlight adjustment which is not hard to do.
Make sure front plastic lens is clear. Barry L. 3/17/08
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You could bump up the wattage, or put silver stars in there.
If you relay the headlights to supply a battery feed instead of going through the light switch you should increase output about 10-15%.
Take your battery feed off the power post behind the dash, run some good 10 or 12 gauge wiring to the headlights of the relays. Dave Head
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I decided to try out my theory of boosting the voltage to my headlights.
I used one of the larger extra wires that runs the length of the coach, to go from the 4th lug of our battery isolator (which puts out about 1 volt more than the ones that charge the batteries) to the headlight area.
I then took 2 simple relays (I only did the low beams), so as not to lose my headlights if the alternator quits. When the engine is not running, my headlights work off the batteries (as normal), but as soon as I start the engine, the relay switches and my headlights are getting 14.6 volts. via larger wires.
My tests on the stock set up, I have less than 12 volts to the headlights when turned on, mainly due to the loss between the switch and the undersized wires.
Anyway, my low beams are now brighter than most of the vehicles on the road. Prior I could hardly see at night. I do carry a spare set of bulbs. I figure it may shorten the life of the bulbs, but I am only slightly over the recommended 14.2 volts. it this had not worked, I was planning on hooking to the alternator lug of the battery isolator, which would have given me another .5 volts +, but this seems to have done the trick.
Cost about $10 for the relays, and I used some old #10 wire from an old extension cord to connect the 2 lights together and run from behind the dash (where the spare wiring loom ends) to the headlights.
This is a cheap alternative to expensive new headlights. And it works. Bob 96 U320 11/1/09
There are several key factors to HID retrofit.
1. A leveling system is critical to prevent blinding drivers. I will be putting these in my Cadillac and Audi eventually. The Cadillac has a rear leveling system built-in, and the Audi has euro headlights, which have a vacuum leveling system with manual adjustments built into the headlamp itself.
My Jetta is already upgraded to factory Bosch Euro HIDs with manually controlled leveling motors in the headlight (the European models have an automatic leveling system built-in, but the wiring and sensors aren’t installed on US models). Most automatic systems (including the VW) – are NOT active systems. They only level at startup. So although our Foretravel airbag leveling system isn’t exactly ‘light speed’ in response like the new HWH system, its still better than most cars with factory HID lights. I talked to a friend about doing an HID upgrade on my 93 U280 – he laughed and said forget it – they are just mounted too high.
2. A quality reflector and cover. Factory HID systems use a projector beam lens to focus properly and a clear glass or poly ‘cover’. Newer cars use a quality reflector and clear cover to focus on the Xenon beam. Older cars use a shaped reflector and a lens built into the glass or plastic ‘face’ to shape the beam. Our Ford truck headlight uses the latter system. I still need to speak to James about his system and upgrading it to HID. They are quality Bosch projectors, and with the 18″ height change it could well be they are TOO high for an HID.
US headlight standards are archaic. We have the worst headlight rules and regulations in the world. Euro regulations allow very little ‘scatter’ which produces glare. They have sharply focused beams with a sharp cutoff across the top – on a dark road my Audi headlights have a ‘bow-tie’ looking beam – wide at the sides which give great side lighting, and narrow in the middle so as to not blind either oncoming drivers or drivers in front of you. Flip the high beams on and a separate 100 W spot erases that ‘bow-tie’ and lights up the road for 3/4 of a mile. I have probably used the high beams about 10 times in 10 years of Audi ownership. There’s hardly anywhere to use them!
You would never want to install projector-beam hids into the ‘old style’ headlight. You would be creating a ‘double focus’ which would produce intense scatter and glare. In the newer style, non-lens cover headlights, you could install the projector beam hids – this would be optimum for focusing but is much more expensive and requires a lot of cutting a modification to the headlight. Most people just put the correct non-projector hid kit in (like the link I provided), which replicates the original beam design with more light of a higher quality. These will work with the ‘newer style’ and the older style. The amount of scatter you get depends entirely on how good the original design is.
It’s also critical with HID headlights to keep the headlights clean. That’s why most European cars have headlight washer systems. Glare and scatter increase enormously with dirty headlights.
Daniel Stern lighting provides detailed information on lighting systems. He actually does not advocate HID lighting at ALL – mainly because in the US we’re by and large really pretty pathetic when it comes to maintaining our cars, cleaning and aiming headlights properly, etc. Billy Bob will spend 4,000 dollars to put a 10-inch lift on his Ford 4×4 and never even think of re-aiming his headlights
I can’t say for certain that HIDs will work well in the Ford headlight. If not, I will take them out and use them in one of my other cars before I would subject the drivers around me to excess glare. I do expect more scatter than on my Audi or Jetta, and even the Cadillac. However the low mounting point in this case is a huge plus. The HID beam is generally flat even through a crappy US-designed lens.
Once you have driven a car with properly aimed HID headlights you will be hooked. The difference is absolutely amazing.
Another recommended improvement for fog lights – check out the Hella Micro FF (square) or DE (round) projector fogs as a replacement for the standard Hella fogs. They are marvelous… Dave Head 95 U320C SE 40