I did an upgrade to my headlights. It will probably be more than most will do, but there are a couple of things everyone can do.
I contacted a guy named Daniel Stern who upgrades headlights Daniel Stern. I've had his website in my favorites for years and use it for reference. I told him what my isuues were and asked what could be done.
1st...He said the headlight lens on my model and year and several others are a 1997-2002 Buick Century. Even though it was a GM fixture, Monaco used aftermarket knock offs. He named several brands and mine was first on the list and one of the worse. He sent me Federal tests done in 2004 that showed the quality of the lens refraction and fit finish was below Federal guidelines, yet they were still being sold. You can buy one of the new knock offs to replace your fogged lens for about $69.00 - $88.00. The GM ones are $405.00 for both. I went for the whole deal and changed out the lenses.
Note: The lenses, new and old have two adjusters on both lamps. I always thought there was just one. There is one closest to the generator that is visible. This is the up/down adjust. Back in the corners are a second adjustment that is directly under the upper aluminum brace. You need to drill a 1/2" or larger hole in the brace so you can o
insert a torx head down through the hole to adjust the right left movement.
Note....Both the old and new lenses have leveling bubbles built in.....I never new that...the bubble cover is on top of the lense in the center, but is hard to see when it gets old. I asked Stern about these and his opinion was they were useless, but might be a good starting point.
2nd...The wiring is undersized for the coach. He recommends that you add relays and upgrade the wiring. This is the part of the upgrade I would recommend to everyone. His kit is $95.00. You could probably piece the parts together, but some parts would be difficult to find. The kit includes (3) relays and holders. (2) ceramic high beam and (2) ceramic low beam sockets. It comes with (2) adapters that plug into your your stock headlight sockets to do the conversion without cutting any of your stock wiring....these trigger the relays. The kit also includes connectors, but no wiring. I picked up the power for the relays from the run bay and mounted the relays inside the big black box.
Here is the neat part about this. With his kit, there is a relay that keeps the low beams on when you turn the high beams on. This was a FANTASTIC improvement on a dark road.
3rd.....I had added SilverStar bulbs to my coach and seemed like I got some improvement. Daniel Stern hates them and says that any bulb you buy that is not clear (SijverStars are tinted blue) is being toned down by the tint and is not a good thing. He doesn't sell bulbs, but recommended some Phillips bulbs from Amazon Amazon bulbs in the appropriate size.
Results.....I had a difficult time finding a level area, with a wall and 60' of space to park and back the MH off 25' for adjustment. I did a preliminary adjustment at 11:30 at night (tired) and the went for a drive. There wasn't "oh my gosh" results, but I wasn't overdriving the lights at 65mph.
The big improvement was the low beam/high beam upgrade. I could really light up the highway. I will drill the holes for the other adjuster this week and aim them again when I'm not tired.
The total project was.....hold on.....$600.00. I would recommend to most to do the wiring kit and new bulbs. If your lenses are shot, you may want to at least buy the aftermarket ones to get clear lenses again.
Hopes this helps.....I'll update this week after I find a better wall and can adjust the right/left adjustment.
Don & Mary
2005 Monaco Diplomat 36SKT
400 Cummins
2012 Chevrolet Silverado LTZ CrewCab 4WD
2013 Polaris RZR 800 LE
Many of the Monaco coaches used "left over" parts for their headlight and taillight assemblies. My Monaco uses the headlight assemblies from a BMW 700 series. My coach already had a headlight relay and I just had to buy a wiring harness to keep the low beams on when the high beams were activated. It does make a huge improvement to your lighting at night and because it only activates the low beams, it does not affect oncoming traffic vision.
Who drives at night...... I thought headlights were there just to signal truckers they could get back into my lane.....learn something new everyday........Dennis
Dennis and Debi
Monaco Executive M-45PBQ Quad Slide
525HP Cummins ISM 6 Spd Allison
Chevy HHR W/ ReadyBrute
Fourth Year Full Timing Click here to view our travel blog
Executive wrote: Who drives at night...... I thought headlights were there just to signal truckers they could get back into my lane.....learn something new everyday........Dennis
I thought the same. In all the years I've been rv'ing, from our p/u, tt, and our mh....I don't think I've ever driven at night. We typically leave around 9am to 10am drive to noon and take a break, then drive again from 1pm to 3 or 4pm. That's it.
Of course, with the mh we've always been retired, so time is of no essence.
Anyway, good info and I'll definitely bookmark it just in case I ever want to upgrade my headlights.
Ron
Ron & Sandie
'08 Safari Simba SBD35 CAT C7
Toad: 2011 GMC Terrain SLT2
Tow Bar: Sterling AT
Toad Brakes: Unified U.S. Gear
TPMS: Pressure Pro
Member of: GS, FMCA, Safari Intl, CAT
I have purchased from Daniel Stern, Lighting Consulant, in the past and would deal with him again. Have dealt with him for over 10 years now. I can vouch for his integrity and lighting knowledge. He is extremely knowledgeable when it comes to vehicle lighting.
Yep, didn't know he was still around, he used to be active on the Volvo forums 12-15 years ago. He got me turned on to E-Code lighting. You can't go wrong with either his advice or one of his kits.
'99 Alpine 36SDS/8.3 ISC 330 Cummins
Or
'05 Lance 845
'06 Super duty SC/SB 6.0
Upgrades include: StabilLoads, Air Bags & Timbrens,Swaybars
Usually towing an '01 Wrangler, lifted/locked on 35"s or a mildly built '98 Cherokee on 33"s (only one locker)
rgatijnet1 wrote: ... coaches used "left over" parts for their headlight and taillight assemblies.
I think this is mostly urban legend. What the OP found out is much more common: cheap aftermarket knock offs by companies like TYC. Not that there aren't some real OEM lights out there, my Adventurer has real Ford Focus Wagon taillights for example, but knockoffs out number those cases I'm sure.
And speaking of TYC, is that who made the "Century" headlights?
rgatijnet1 wrote: ... coaches used "left over" parts for their headlight and taillight assemblies.
I think this is mostly urban legend. What the OP found out is much more common: cheap aftermarket knock offs by companies like TYC. Not that there aren't some real OEM lights out there, my Adventurer has real Ford Focus Wagon taillights for example, but knockoffs out number those cases I'm sure.
And speaking of TYC, is that who made the "Century" headlights?
(I have good friend in the business, he runs a lab that does the photometric tests shown in the report above. He's warned me about TYC...)
I've got no idea what you are talking about when you say "urban legend". Are you saying that when I contacted Monaco parts, and they told me my headlight assembly was from a 2000 BMW 700 series sedan that it was just a myth? The parts have the BMW number on the back, the headlight lenses are embossed with "Hella" and I was able to order a new lens direct from a Hella source. Hella lighting products are not cheap aftermarket knock offs.
I should add that a complete brand new headlight assembly, for a 2000 Buick Century, is less than $100 directly from GM, and it is NOT TYC. Being charged $600 to "fix" the problem was a great sales job and the problem should have been taken care of for hundreds less.
* This post was
edited 06/10/12 06:41am by rgatijnet1 *
Nope, not saying yours are knockoffs, just like my taillights, they are real. In general though, I think most lights in the RV industry are cheap replacements and folks don't realize it.
Executive wrote: Who drives at night...... I thought headlights were there just to signal truckers they could get back into my lane.....learn something new everyday........Dennis
Hi All.
X2. Right on as usual Dennis. I gave up driving at night many years ago, as I suffer from a bad case of Night Blindness.
Everyone has a certain amount of Night Blindness in the right conditionss. But mine was so bad, I had to turn in my Class A License after 15 years, as an OTR Trucker.
It just wasn't worth killing someone. So we start early in the AM, and we are off the road way before dark, and completely set-up for the night.
We would rather be safe than sorry. Good Luck. Haappy Travels. Dan & Jill
Offline
