How satisfied are you with the headlights on your Newell?

[tuga]

How satisfied are you with the headlights on your Newell?

I have some friends who have Prevosts (XLs) and they are not happy with their head lights. They purchased upgrade for around $3,000.

I am satisfied with mine; just wanted to know since many of you seem to drive at night if you are happy with yours.

[Dom Ferris]

How satisfied are you with the headlights on your Newell?

I have some friends who have Prevosts (XLs) and they are not happy with their head lights. They purchased upgrade for around $3,000.

I am satisfied with mine; just wanted to know since many of you seem to drive at night if you are happy with yours.

I would be interested in headlight upgrades. I'm not to fond of the light the current setup puts out. I would take an aftermarket HID conversion kit for our Newell if available.

Dom

[btmoore]

Tuga, I have heard many complaints about the XLs. With composite headlights like you have, if they are aimed properly and kept buffed clear, they are great!

[larryweikart]

Not happy at all with mine. Looking to update this fall.



Luxury Coach Lifestyle, also known as s by far the greatest website, forum, message board for Newell owners, gurus of all luxury brand motor homes. Period, end of story! You will love this community no matter if you own a Newell Coach, Prevost Conversion, Walker Coach, Wanderlodge, Foretravel, Marathon, Liberty, Featherlite, Millenium Coach and so forth...........

[MrE]

I would be interested in headlight upgrades. I'm not to fond of the light the current setup puts out. I would take an aftermarket HID conversion kit for our Newell if available.

Dom

Dom,

There are a lot of upgrade options available depending on how much money you want to spend. If you haven't done it already you will want to place relays as close to your headlights as possible to reduce voltage loss from stock wiring. This needs to be done no matter what other options you want to pursue.

Not sure if anyone on this site has tried LED headlights, but J. W. Speaker Corporation has a plug and play replacement for 1A1 and 2A1 headlights that sounds interesting. Headlights - Products - J.W. Speaker Corporation (http://www.jwspeaker.com/products/headlights/#product=100160)

jw speaker led model 8800

Description off their site was

1,300 Raw Lumens (http://rd.bizrate.com/rd?t=http%3A%2F%2Ftracking.searchmarketing.com%2Fc lick.asp%3Faid%3D1353526111&mid=27622&cat_id=456&atom=10037&prod_id=&oid=4313097405&pos=1&b_id=18&bid_type=0&bamt=1a9e249efd0899d6&cobrand=1&rf=af1&af_assettype_id=10&af_creative_id=6&af_id=6784); 850 Effective Lumens
Available in a 12-24V DC configuration
Hardened glass or UV-resistant polycarbonate lens options
Rugged solid state LEDs can withstand shock & vibration
Long-lasting LEDs mean never having to replace another bulb again!
Die-cast aluminum housing provides maximum protection
Low profile mount
Plug & play replacements for 1A1 and 2A1 sealed beams in most applications
Also available in a variety of mounting assembly configurations:
One high beam or low beam headlight (http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?_nkw=headlight) in a single bucket assembly (Model 8801)

http://www.jwspeaker.com/images/266.jpg

[express1]

Is this plug and play for what year... I have a 96 and would upgrade to these if they fit.. Anyone?

[MrE]

Is this plug and play for what year... I have a 96 and would upgrade to these if they fit.. Anyone?

If you have 1A1 and 2A1 4x6" sealed beam headlights they will fit.

[farmell]

I was thinking some years of Newells used Ford pu composite headlight and those are probably different than the standard used for years 4 x 6 inch ones.

[Richard and Rhonda]

Search this forum for headlight upgrades. You will find a ton of info, wiring diagrams, and even before and after pictures.

Before you spend any serious money, upgrade to relays and make sure you are getting the full voltage to the lights. If you are running 13.7 with the engine running, you should have at least 13.5 at the bulb. Anything less and the light intensity goes down very very quickly.

Please do not put HID bulbs in the stock housing. It does generate a lot of light, but it also blinds oncoming drivers because of the glare of the mismatched bulb and reflector.

[MrE]

Richard is correct, you will need to replace the stock housings with projector housings if you want to upgrade to HID. When replacing with HID or LED do your research, there are a lot of cheap (China) products being sold that have problems and you won't be happy with them. A quality product will have a beam pattern that makes the most effective use of the light without blinding oncoming drivers, won't flicker, and will last at least as long as what you are replacing.

[Neweller]

Richard is so right about upgrading stock lighting housings with HID type bulbs with reflectors design for OEM (stock) bulbs. We ran into problems years back marketing bulbs to the automotive industry and had to spend a lot of money doing the proper research & development. A lot of products hit the market and do not meet DOT compliance and thousands if not millions of one product can be sold before the issue is deemed non-compliant.

Jon thanks for adding some additional clarifications as to quality concerns. Design is one thing and effectiveness is another. Know what you are buying! I have a case of great looking conversions that don't work all that well. I have been giving them away to guys to use for their show cars.

[RH "dickie" barker III]

tuga.
i have only one long trip at nite. from chattanooga,tn to houma,la. lights seemed fine. 2009 45'QS
dickie

[Neweller]

Hi dickie, nice to see you are enjoying your P2000i. Your coach ought to be pure excellent driving at night with the HID projectors. You still running the dealership in LA?

[paultracy3]

i use hid bulbs in my coach , they are super bright , sorry if you think im a d&%k , but i need too see !!!!

[jWolfe]

Exactly Paul!!!

[MrE]

i use hid bulbs in my coach , they are super bright , sorry if you think im a d&%k , but i need too see !!!!

why would we think you were a dork just because you want to be able to see?

[Neweller]

Jon I believe Paul was just making sort of a joke. I hope anyway. I used plenty of highend superwhite bulbs with great success. Paul has a newer coach with a more advance projectory than your standard rectangular, round or Ford p/u housings like on pre-2000 Newell's. So, many superwhite bulbs will work much better than standard.

There are plenty of aftermarket bulbs that work better than stock. It really has to do with which direction to move on the Kelvin scale. I have experimented with several different bulbs and prefer going higher within the whitish/blue scale. Some people go lower since there vision sees better with more yellow. I always liked the HID's on the Lexus 450 the best, even better than say BMW, Mercedes or Cadillac.

[MrE]

Ken,

I got it, just being a smart a**, sorry. :bawling:

I've been in a situation before that made me VERY uncomfortable. I was in a 40' motor home heading from I5 to the Oregon coast on a dark rainy night on a narrow windy road with practically worthless headlights and all the road lines were old and wore out. 20/20 hindsight tells me that I should have pulled over for the night, but my machismo dictated that we needed to meet our friends on the coast for a dinner.

(I did replace them with new sealed beams the next day.)

[Neweller]

It's OK Jon, don't run out of blinker fluid on us.

Oh man do I know what you mean about seeing in the rain on a dark curvy highway, but is there anything worse than being snow blind? A full on blizzard where the darn wipers are frozen even with alcohol added to the window wash. I have been in some haphazard situations at least a half dozen times. :cursing:Except I wasn't cursing or

getting angry, I was more likely sh***** myself.:blushing: