Headlights issue!!!

[wal1809]

Well fella bus nuts I got a headlight issue.  I thought I had the driver side lights burned out so I went to the auto store and got 2 new ones.  Plugged them in and no change.  My first thought was a ground issue.  I got home and opened up the front panels and got to the rear of the light panels and whether it was a ground issue or not I don't know. 

The lights have never been very bright at all.  I always had to drive with the brights on because I simply could not see.  I suspect I purchased the bus with this problem. 

Back to the issue.  I found the ground spot and cleaned the area with sandpaper until I got silver metal.  I greased it and replaced the grounds wire.  At the same time the wire to the light had been installed with butt connectors.  I am not a fan of butt connectors.  I cut them out and soldered the wires and  resealed them.

I cleaned the post where that wire receives power.  I checked in coming power at 12 volts.  Whatever I did in there got all four lights working.  I just don't think they are correct.  When I dim the lights it is really bright on one side of the bus.  When I turn on the brights then I get a reverse effect.  It is really bright on the other.  Also when I say the opposite side is dim, I don't mean the position of the dimmer switch I mean it looks robbed of power.

Any thoughts and suggestions would be greatly appreciated. 

[luvrbus]

That is a relay problem on your Eagle it lost the ground on the relay or the relay its self is bad under the drivers window in the panel .
I don't have the manual with me so maybe some other Eagle owner can tell you which relay if not I can Monday.
When you find your problem check and make sure the regulator is set to 13.8V with lights on and they will be brighter

good luck

[rv_safetyman]

Wal1809, it is always good to tell us what bus you have.  Good practice to put that info in your signature.

Clifford says you have an Eagle.  Depending on the model the wiring could be different.  On my Eagle 10 each headlight goes through a fuse that has lots of potential for poor connection.  If you twist the fuse it sometimes makes the connection work.  However, you are much better off to run heavy wire to relays close to the headlights and then have the relays activated by the wires from the fuses.  That way the fuses only have to carry a small amount of current.

Jim

[Van]

Jim, his is an 1984, I think that is a 10 also?

[wal1809]

Thank you guys for jumping on the problem fellas.  Sorry for not throwing in the bus information.  It is a 1984 Silver Eagle 10.  I will check back tomorrow when I het into the office. 

Anybody headed to the rally in Franklin, Tx?  If I can talk my wife into it we are going to stop by for a bit.  We both want to go but the white bass run is in full swing at  Lake Somerville.  If I can get her away from the fish for a few hours we will head up there.  I is ou about an hour up the road.  I would think it would be great to see some you fellas.

[desi arnaz]

how did you find a woman that likes the bus and to fish? wow she must be a gem!!

[wal1809]

how did you find a woman that likes the bus and to fish? wow she must be a gem!!

LOL I met her in a bar 10 years ago.  She blew me off for a while, but since I am irresistably charming she had to marry me.  She loves to fish, duck hunt, goose hunt dove hunt you name it.  The only thing that holds her back is the cold.  When it is very cold it hurts her upper jaw.  We were fishing down near Mexico in the Lower Laguna Madra and she got hurt really really bad.  While on the boat ( in motion) she got hung up in a kite boarder's rope.  To make a long story short it broke her upper jaw off from behind the k9 teeth all the way up to below the eye sockets.  She was in the hospital for 9 days in Harlengen, Tx.  We were lucky and a reconstruction surgeon (reported as the best in world) happened to be there.  She lost 2/3 of her upper lip and her cheeks were cut 5 times all the way through.  That doctor was absolutely amazing.  When you meet her you probably won't even be able to tell she was in an accident.  Here she is last year just outside of Yellowstone park on a fly fishing trip.

[Dreamscape]

Anybody headed to the rally in Franklin, Tx?  If I can talk my wife into it we are going to stop by for a bit.

We'll be there in the blue Eagle! Looking forward to meeting some new busnuts!

Paul

[wal1809]

Alright fellas back on track.  I got up early because when there is a bus problem I just don't sleep well knowing we are headed to the lake this weekend.  Here is a pic of the panel under the driver window.

[wal1809]

If you can see int he pic they used butt connectors.  I will eventually cut everyone of them out and solder the joint.  I have fished salt water my whole life and trailer wires suffer the worst when it comes to salt water.  I have resorted to either replacing the trailer lights yearly or soldering each connection. covering the soldereed connection with lilquid tape and then slipping heat shrink tubing over the liquid taped joint and shrinking it until the liquid tape comes out of the ends.

[wal1809]

soory about the double post.  Thats  what happens when the boss man is trying to talk to me on Monday morning and I want to fix the bus. 

There are 5 little black boxes in the upper right hand corner of the picture, partially blocked by the shadow.  The middle black box has a tag on it that says headlight.  Would that be the animal I am looking for?

[belfert]

Butt splices aren't the end of the world if done properly and with the right parts.  I only use the heat shrink ones that have a sealant in them.  They are more expensive, but worth it in my mind.  You can buy them at Napa, but they are much less expensive at waytekwire.com or delcity.net.

It is best to try to avoid butt splices, but not always possible, or the previous owner already installed butt splices.  When I rebuilt the wiring harness for my rear lights I needed to split one wire into multiples.  Theymake heat shrink butt connectors that are specifically designed to take one wire on one side and two wires on the other side.  I choose to use those instead of other options.

[wal1809]

That is good information right there.  I just had to deal with corrosion for so many years I had to figure out a better way to skin that cat.  I have no problems with salt water and corrosion on the connections now.  Instead of grounding to the trailer I run an independent ground wire back to the front of the trailer instead of trying to make a ground right there at the rear.

[rv_safetyman]

Sorry to hear about your wife's accident.

I blew your photo up and it looks like your bottom row of circuit protectors are breakers.  Mine are the terrible glass fuse type.  The attached JPG is from a CD manual for models 10/15.  The four breakers/fuses in the lower left hand corner are for the 4 high/low beam circuits.  I am not too sure how much you can blow up the JPG if you download it, but the wire numbers for those connections are 11-14.   Since you apparently have breakers, the likelihood of loose connections is less, but you may have some breakers that are getting old and crotchety.  

You can test the locations by applying voltage to the bottom connection of each breaker with a jumper wire and the headlight for that circuit should go on.

Jim

[luvrbus]

Wayne, like the splices or not that PO did a first class job redoing the panel you won't find many in a 84 model Eagle that looks that good. 
I see a few things I would have done different but not many 



good luck