Head Lights and running lights always on???

[Freightliner]

Something that been buggin' me since we first took delivery two years ago is the fact that our headlight and running lights are always on... I understand the Mercedes chassis has daytime running lamps, but they are usually just the headlights or another bulb in the headlight assembly.

But all of the solera's lights are always on to the point that the headlight switch position makes no change to the illumination of the lighting. Is normal in everyone's unit? Or is there an issue with ours?

[JLeising]

Same on our unit. 2012 Mercedes chassis. Causes the Magnadyne to think it is night and go dim when the engine starts (unless you disconnect the "blue wire" to the Magnadyne).

[Freightliner]

Magnadyne. Damn there it is again.... Our unit has a crappy Jensen unit that is sub par to say the least. It has blue backlighting and if you attempt to dim the dash lights to anything but full brightness they will blink randomly rather then dim. VERY, VERY annoying while driving. Better off just leaving the dash lights on full brightness..

I think a DRL bypass is in order for our unit.... note to self:"Google DRL bypass on 2010 Sprinter"

[hkreck]

When I had my DPI the guy showed me the lights are always on unless I turn the light switch then you can turn the head lights off but the running lights stay on. I can of perfer the lights on hopefully it helps people see me coming.

[F and E Damp]

It's a Canadian requirement to have headlights come on automatically whenever the vehicle is moving. Most RV manufacturers take the easy way out and make it standard on everything they make, so that Canadians who buy their products don't have an issue and it saves them having to make different equipment standards for the two markets.

In the early 1950's Volvo came out with a DRL concept that put the headlights in series, when the headlights weren't actually switched on, so that each unit saw 6 volts instead of 12. On 6V they were much less bright, but you could tell by the larger area of light that the vehicle was moving. When you actually switched the headlights on, they went into parallel mode, each getting 12 volts and giving full brightness.

The worst example of DRLs I ran across was early 1990s GM cars. I flew into Wichita on a business trip late in the evening and got a rental Chevy Cavalier. When I turned the key, the headlights came on at full brightness and the instrument panel lit up. I drove about 30 miles to my hotel and got a couple of overtaking vehicles give me the finger as they passed.

In daylight the next morning, I noticed a sticker on the instrument panel, in very small white letters on a clear background that said "When the daytime running lights system turns on the headlights, it does not turn on the tail lights". You couldn't even see that sticker in the panel lights! I'd driven 30 miles in the pitch black on a freeway, in the rain, with no tail-lights on! Thanks to the sharp reactions of Kansas drivers, I didn't get rear-ended, but no thanks to those encephalophallics at GM who designed such a stupid system.

I haven't bothered yet to figure out what my GT has. The lights do come on whenever it's running, but I don't know how they work. We very rarely drive after dark, so it hasn't been an issue. The headlights are so wimpy that I'm afraid they'll blow out if I go above 55 mph! I think there are gerbils in there lighting candles.

[papap]

My 2011 has lights on all the time also.

[bclemens]

Originally Posted by F and E Damp

It's a Canadian requirement to have headlights come on automatically whenever the vehicle is moving. Most RV manufacturers take the easy way out and make it standard on everything they make, so that Canadians who buy their products don't have an issue and it saves them having to make different equipment standards for the two markets..

We don't do anything with this...it's a Mercedes thing. Blame them. For Ford we have to physically have the Daytime Running Lamps programmed into the computer by our local Ford dealer (for Canadian units). We certainly wouldn't go through all that trouble just to "save us the trouble". We build a lot more US units than Canadian. Mercedes is European and that's just what they do. I am told all the Ford's are switching to DRL's as well.

[F and E Damp]

I understand what you guys do, but our '02 F53 was sold in the US market and has the DRLs. Since we rarely drive at night, I really don't care whether they're on in the daytime. They're so damn wimpy, I don't think I'd be comfortable driving in the dark anyway. I fear the auto-igniting candles would blow out at anything over 45 mph.

When we emigrated from the UK in 1968, headlights there were typically 100 watts main beam and 80 watts dipped beam. My '68 Falcon had 48W/36W. I replaced the bulbs with JC Whitney halogens with 96/72. Made a hell of a difference at night.