We’ve been slowly but surely converting our entire RV to cool, energy-efficient LED lighting. Today we’re featuring one of our favorite upgrades so far: our RV’s headlights.
When the topic of LEDs comes up, RVers most often talk about interior lights. Of course those are important for boondocking, since they use so much less power than incandescent, halogen or even fluorescent lights. They also put out a lot less heat, which is just as important when camping off the grid in a hot climate.
We generally prefer to drive during the day, but our work schedule sometimes dictates staying on the road after dark, especially during the winter when the sun sets so early. We’ve been pretty unhappy with the performance of our stock halogen headlights for a long time.
You may recall that we upgraded our car’s headlights to HID a couple of years ago, and we’d considered doing the same thing on the RV. Even though we were happy with the light output from them, we held off, due to the additional wiring that had to be run, and a ballast failure.
So when Steve from M4 started offering LED headlights, we were all ears. We’ve now had such a great experience with the LEDs (almost as easy to install as direct incandescent replacement bulbs, but with light output similar to HIDs) that we’re ready to share how happy we are with them. As you’ll see in the video, the installation couldn’t be much easier, and the light output is so good, we literally comment out loud about how great they are every time we drive at night.
It’s been so good in fact that we’ll be replacing our car’s HIDs with LEDs soon, so stay tuned for an update!
Visit M4products.com and enter the Coupon Code “RVGEEKS5”
at checkout to receive a 5% discount on your entire order!
Or Go Directly to the M4 Headlamps Page:
m4products.com/headlamps
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Featured & Related Products:
- M4 LED Headlights (save 5% with coupon code “RVGEEKS5”)
SAM WANG
Saturday 31st of March 2018
I just drove my 2017 Thor Outlaw 37BG for the first time at night (it's maiden voyage), and I was scared to drive with so little visibility. I found this web site and really want to try these lights. I contacted Steve, but he does not have vehicle specific information. Does anyone know if these will fit my RV without modification? I will check the clearance the next time I pick it up - I store it about an hour away from my house.
TheRVgeeks
Saturday 31st of March 2018
Hi Sam! It's not uncommon for RV headlights to be dim. We can't tell you specifically what bulb you'll need for your Thor (or if you'll need modifications), but it's not hard to find it. When you're at the RV next, and you've checked to be sure that there's clearance behind the headlights for the LED heatsinks... just check on the headlight housing itself for the bulb number. If it's not imprinted right on the housing, you can remove one of the current bulbs and look at it for a number. It will either be a 9000-series number (9003, 9004, 9005, etc) or an H-number (H1, H2, H3, etc). With that number you'll be able to determine the correct replacement bulbs from M4.
Hope this helps!
William Zoromski
Thursday 9th of November 2017
I've watched all of your videos. They are extremely informative! This is one I had to do. I ordered from M4. The headlight change is dramatic. I did one at a time and could see them side by side in the driveway. Amazing. I can't wait to get on the road to see the difference now. The folks at M4 were extremely polite and professional. They really go out of their way to help. I was so impressed by them. I've purchased the 18" tubes and will be replacing them this weekend. Following your video of course. :). Thank you for all you do to make these improvements so easy
TheRVgeeks
Thursday 9th of November 2017
Thanks so much, William! And so glad you're as impressed by the headlight upgrade as we've been. We still remark every time we drive at night with the RV... it's just so much more light! And the 18" fluorescent tubes are practically works of art, they're so beautiful! It's almost a shame to put the diffuser on the fixture and hide them, LOL! Hope you like 'em as much as we do!
J.C. Cuevas
Tuesday 3rd of October 2017
I love your videos! I am a new motorhome owner. I own a 2004 Fleetwood Discovery and would like to upgrade my very poor original headlights to LED lights. Fleetwood could not tell me what are the original headlights in order to replace them. Because of this and other poor tech support issues, I will not purchase another Fleetwood product. Could you guys help me figure out Fleetwood "secrets" in order to safely drive my motor home at night? Your MP4 lights conversion seems to be the way to go. Fleetwood tech support could not even tell me what brand headlights in my motorhome unless I purchase the regular inefficient lights from Fleetwood. Can you guys help me out? Many thanks.
TheRVgeeks
Tuesday 3rd of October 2017
Hi J.C! Thanks for the nice comment! And sorry to hear that you've had difficulty with Fleetwood's technical support. We're kind of surprised, as we found them to be quite helpful back in '03 and '04 when we had our Bounder Diesel. It shouldn't be hard to figure out what M4 LED bulb you need for your Discovery... you should be able to find the existing bulb number imprinted on your current bulb. It will likely be a 4-digit number in the 9-thousand range (like 9003, 9004, etc). So you'll need to get access to one, or both, of the headlights to check the bulbs themselves.
In the (very unlikely) situation where you can't find the number on one of the existing bulbs, you might have to turn to fellow Fleetwood owners to see if anyone can help you out. We've found the brand forums on iRV2.com to be especially helpful in that arena. You can search the Fleetwood Owners forum to see if someone else has already posted that answer... and if they haven't, it's free to join & post your own question. Someone there will surely know (or you can see if you can get the replacement bulb # from Fleetwood or from a dealer).
One note... the LEDs have a fairly large heat sink on the back of them and require about 2" of clearance behind the headlamp assembly to fit. Before ordering, check that you have at least that amount of space so you know you'll be OK.
Let us know how you make out!
PatrickA51
Sunday 20th of August 2017
About the first or second week inJuneI upgrade my headlights on my 2005 Jamboree 26Q to the M4 LED Head Lights. What a difference. Just as great as the NightHawk Tow Bar and EZ5 Base Plate!!
TheRVgeeks
Sunday 20th of August 2017
It's so good to hear that your experience with M4 and Roadmaster is as positive as ours has been. Great companies with great products. Thanks for sharing your experience, Patrick! :)
Rob
Wednesday 7th of June 2017
Thanks. I appreciate it. I watched the video again and saw where you covered that. I'm not sure how I missed that the first time.