Club 80-90 Forums

Sorry if this has been discussed before. Which is better, converting headlamps to LED, or using the campervan culture new wiring kit with extra relays?.philmcC

Try clean the earth crowns first or swap out old and tired wiring before spending out money on the above.

Have you tried using Osram night breaker bulbs?

There are many culprits for poor headlamps.....

• Standard tungsten bulbs. You can change for "conversiontype" H4 halogen bulbs. Take care, most H4s have a different fitting but the conversion type are correct, legal, and work well.
  
• Corroded reflectors and foggy lenses. New headlamp units required in both cases obviously.
  
• Tired connections on the old wiring as previously suggested.
  
• Poor earth connections on the crowns as previously suggested.
  
• The switch is a candidate for a poor connection and voltage drop, and can get hot as a result, even melting if things get bad. Correctly fitted relays for both dip and main beam should divert the heavy current away from the switch.
  
• The length of the wiring via the switch as designed produces excessive voltage drop. Correct wiring of relays direct from the fusebox with short, heavier duty cables will improve things dramatically.
  

I've done all of the above except new units, but don't have any experience of the relay kits available. It looks like they should do the trick if installed correctly.
LEDs are illegal unless installed to a mass of regulations.
 

There was a tread on here Re upgrading wiring with relays to remove the load on the headlight switch and running a heavier duty supply wire from the battery to supply the power side of the relays, but I can't remember when. I have done this on mine and use the 'Osram Nightbreaker' bulbs, although I rarely drive the camper in the dark I am always pleased to see how good the lights are now more like a modern car( should add that I have an SA grill with the extra round main beams, but the light output was improved dramatically by changing to relays and heavier duty supply). not sure if the CVC mod has battery cable to lower the volt drop.

Stair tread or foot tread?

I got a loom upgrade with relays from slaughterhouse customs. Much much better than before

R0B wrote: ↑27 Apr 2023, 17:09 Have you tried using Osram night breaker bulbs?

I can second that.

Night breakers made a huge difference to the light output on my other cars.

To coin a phrase - the difference is night and day.

Unless you really are totally useless with wiring, dont bother paying the big money for a pre-made loom, it’s probably only half a hour longer to make it up from components as you do the job and 1/4 of the price .
The diagrams are simple and you will know its been done safely and right , not bodged up by someone paid peanuts to put it together and sold at a huge mark up

The info is all here

The relay upgrade is the single biggest improvement to can make to these vans lights , and then adding nightbreakers is the cherry on the top ….. no point putting night breakers in without knowing they have the correct working voltage .
From memory , just 0.5v drop results in 40% less light output .

I dunno, I'm pretty handy with wiring and soldering over the last 30 years of adult life, but I got a premade headlight loom for a land rover. The quality was excellent, ceramic sockets etc, and saved me a lot of time. I was more than happy for the £25 or whatever it was.

But yes, a good upgrade for sure. I have headlamps from powerful.com. a few choices on there. Plastic lenses, but good reflectors and they perform well. The full beam is particularly impressive. They're only £35 ish a pair. Mine are about 8 years old and one of them has started to pit a bit on one of the reflectors. But whatever

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Thanks for all the comments, much appreciated. Will go ahead with the loom upgrade and new bulbs.philmcC