RV Improvements

Mr. Merk

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Yesterday, my boss asked me about upgrading the lighting on his 2004 Travel Supreme 40DS04. Actually, he asked about replacing the fogs with "LED - something bright as poop," but I'm hoping to provide him with useful information instead.


It appears that they take Mack CH Series headlamps and 9004 bulbs but unknown lower fog lamps.


I'm wondering if the best bet would be to backdate the lamps to sealed beam and replace with a Peterson, Truck-Lite or JW Speaker lamp. Hopefully there's a usable replacement for the lower fog lamps as well.

The tail lamps are aftermarket '95-'12 Ford Econoline. He sent me a link to some eBay trinket LED tail lamps. I told him to get some NEW OEM Ford lamps from our inter-company Ford Dealership if they are still available, and that we might be able to improve the bulbs.

Today, he's been looking to update the docking lights and remote controlled spot lamp. We also may be able to install one of those Hella 350 light-bars in between the front lamps.
 

Mr. Merk

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It appears that the -'94 Econoline tail lamps are physically the same but have amber signal lenses which I understand to be safer than the all red variation. Can anyone confirm if these do, in fact, share the same fitment?
 

-Virgil-

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Ooh boy. I hope your boss can be helpfully steered away from the bad ideas he's putting out. I'd send him to Dan Stern if I were you; he sounds like he might benefit from a direct 1:1 conversation with an SME (because otherwise it's just "Yeah, yeah, you found ideas on the internet...so did I").

My take: you're definitely barking up the right tree thinking to install the sealed beam brackets and bezels and putting in something good. Fog lamps will be redundant with good headlamps, but he can have them if he really wants them. A Hella 350 is good, a 470 is better (because it's bigger/has more LEDs/puts out more light), and I imagine you wouldn't have any lack of available space for it on that vehicle. Both are made in USA by JW Speaker.

Tail lamps could be upgraded by swapping in the stock-type '92-'95 Econoline units (amber turn signal), that is if he's willing to do the rewiring needed to separate the turn signal and brake light functions. It's likely quite possible he can have LEDs, too, just not the way he's thinking of.
 

Mr. Merk

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Tail lamps could be upgraded by swapping in the stock-type '92-'95 Econoline units (amber turn signal), that is if he's willing to do the rewiring needed to separate the turn signal and brake light functions. It's likely quite possible he can have LEDs, too, just not the way he's thinking of.

You must have been typing your reply as I asked my last question! What is the current best solution for 3156 and 3157 bulbs? I have the ZEVO in the reverse lamp of my Sierra and honestly don't care for them although he might.
 

Alaric Darconville

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I would replace every clearance lamp and sidemarker lamp with LED versions from, say, Peterson Manufacturing, Truck Lite, or Grote. This not only reduces the power consumption of the lights, and ensuring every light on down their respective line has good voltage, it also means the lenses will all be uniformly nice and shiny and properly translucent and that none are burned out (it's possible that even on a vehicle that age, even if not used very frequently, will have some sort of problem with those lights).

The '92-'95 Econoline rear lamps might be a nice easy fit, and with the separate yellow turn signal, improve safety-- but the Econoline is less than 80" wide. Do the Econoline lamps meet the apposite requirements for vehicles 80" or wider? I don't have that data available; it makes sense if you're going to replace the lamps, you might as well be 100% sure you're doing an improvement. Sure, you'd be essentially preserving the mistake Travel Supreme made, but if you're going through the route of doing additional wiring to support the disincorporation of those functions, you might as well put in some turn, stop, and tail lamps meeting the requirements for vehicles 80" (2032mm) or wider.

And, while not required, a CHMSL would be a good addition.

Finally, a rear fog lamp would add more safety than front fog lamps.
 
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Mr. Merk

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It turns out the vehicle already has the 92-95 lamps so we won't have to do any modification to use those.
 

lightfooted

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You must have been typing your reply as I asked my last question! What is the current best solution for 3156 and 3157 bulbs? I have the ZEVO in the reverse lamp of my Sierra and honestly don't care for them although he might.


I can vouch for the Sylvania LED replacements for 1157s and 3157s in red. They actually are red LEDs and are only about 20-25% brighter than standard incans. The 1157 types have been in my '01 VW Passat for about a year now and work flawlessly.
 

-Virgil-

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The (only) good LEDs to try out would indeed be the Zevo 3157 Red for the stop/tail lights, 3156 Amber for the turn signals, and 3156 White for the reversing lamps.

Remember to verify compatibility in the particular lamps being used -- they work well in some lamps, OK in others, and badly/not at all in still others.

The lamps themselves are probably aftermarket, which is much less of an issue than it is with headlamps (and you don't have a choice anyway, at least not with new parts; the genuine Ford lamps are obsolete/NLS). Do they meet the requirement for 75 square centimeters of effective projected luminous lens area? The stop lights certainly do. The turn signals probably do. But even if they don't...there's really not much you can do about it; these lamps are what the vehicle is designed to take, and it would require a lot of hassle and work to install anything else.
 

Mr. Merk

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Update:

Talking with Daniel Stern, it looks like the only readily available option is NEW Hella OEM Mach headlamps with the Philips XT 9004 bulbs.

Adding a couple Hella 470s for aux high beams.

Replacing the crappy driving lights mounted in fog location with Hella 500 fogs.

The new E-series 92-95 tail lamps will get ZEVO brake and reverse LEDs.

Hopefully he'll buy the relay kit from Stern and get someone that knows what they're doing to install it all. Then we'll aim it here at Mercedes.
 

Mr. Merk

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Just in!

The 2020 Mack pi64 has the same headlamp frames but with what appears to be a truck-lite LED lamp and LED signals. Waiting for prices now.
 

-Virgil-

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Are you sure they're the same form factor? They're a similar design, but look like they might be a "flatter" front without as much of a horizontal rake angle.
 

Mr. Merk

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Not 100% but Daniel thinks we may be able to get the frames (inexpensively) for either style and then add the new lamps.
 
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