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Headlights not working??
Roger Milne:
So, it's a little more in depth than just not working, but I'm trying to eliminate the easy stuff first before I ask more deeper technical assistance.
So the previous owner has trashed the wiring on this RV. In an attempt to upgrade things over the years he's cut and spliced wires throughout the electrical system. I'll leave it at that for the moment, but will digress in another post about his hack job.
So headlights don't come on at all. Parking lights do come on and so do turn signals.
Before I ask the obvious, I will throw out there part of the potential issue was his cutting wires for the Low and High beam lamps, in order to install LED bulbs over the halogens and what appears to be aftermarket headlight units. Although the wires he cut seem to only be in order to facilitate the plug differences, NOT the functionality of the lamps themselves.
My question at this point in the trouble shooting, is this??
According to the wiring schematic, it's pretty straight forward via a couple different fuses (which I've checked) to the smart wheel then to a couple VCB blocks to a 5 pin connector at the headlight units. again barring his cutting, the DRL block is hanging in the wind, in the front bay area where the generator is.
So the wiring schematic shows the DRL block in parallel to the wiring circuits for the Low and High beams, so if he disconnected it from the original headlight units, would this cause any issues with the operation of the lights or is the fact the new lamps aren't being used as DRL's not a factor.
I need to eliminate the fact the DRL circuit isn't somehow affecting my diagnosis, before I move to the next issue in the troubleshooting.
Sorry this is a bit long winded for such a short and easy question, but it'll help fill in the gaps when I ask the next couple of questions with my train of thought and troubleshooting.
Carl Boger:
Roger,
I'll give this a shot, but we have different coaches. On mine the DRL's are on a separate switch and I don't have a smart wheel.
I would start by going to the headlight plug ends and verify if there is 12 volts there or not. I would work backwards form there to the splices, they could have been done poorly and no longer pass electric current, or at least not enough. From there back to the electrical panel under the drivers area and the solenoid, working back toward the switch in the smart wheel.
Have you verified that the bulbs have not burned out? Tried running a temporary extra ground? Try the simple things first. Fixing someone else's handiwork can be challenging.
Hopefully this will help you some.
Roger Milne:
--- Quote from: Carl Boger on October 13, 2025, 12:04:31 AM ---Roger,
I'll give this a shot, but we have different coaches. On mine the DRL's are on a separate switch and I don't have a smart wheel.
I would start by going to the headlight plug ends and verify if there is 12 volts there or not. I would work backwards form there to the splices, they could have been done poorly and no longer pass electric current, or at least not enough. From there back to the electrical panel under the drivers area and the solenoid, working back toward the switch in the smart wheel.
Have you verified that the bulbs have not burned out? Tried running a temporary extra ground? Try the simple things first. Fixing someone else's handiwork can be challenging.
Hopefully this will help you some.
--- End quote ---
Thanks for the reply Carl so yeah definitely maybe a little differences in our models and that’s kind of where I’m trying to eliminate the simple stuff to begin with. I have a smart wheel as I said and the owners manual doesn’t talk about a separate switch for the DRL‘s so that’s why I was wondering where the DRL‘s where on this model and year plugged into the harness and then went to both headlights that he obviously has removed because I obviously have the DRL plug that goes back into the harness I’m guessing through the main fuse panel but I don’t know if the five pin flat connectors that he has to run the headlight units I’m guessing were originals and he just spliced them on the headlight side to make the two pin connectors where the bulbs would be so that the LED lights can be used versus plugging straight into the halogen bulb.
I’m going to try and get some pictures tomorrow and post those with what I think he did. Also check for voltage at the end of the connectors and make sure that I’m at least getting low and high beam voltage.
Steve Huber:
Roger,
The 2008 Contessa wiring diagram file in Coach Assist Wiring Diagrams contains the complete wiring schematic for the headlight circuit. It is drawing # 38085026 and is labeled 2008 Camalot/Septer but is also applicable to the 07 and 08 Contessas. It, along with the layout diagrams in the 07/08 Contessa wiring files should enable you to pinpoint where you are losing voltage and/or how the po's mods were implemented. There is also a diagram of the headlight mod to improve the voltage to the lamps as the oem version ran voltage thru the headlight switch, resulting in a reduction at the headlights themselves.
Good Luck Steve
Roger Milne:
--- Quote from: Steve Huber on October 13, 2025, 01:28:22 PM ---Roger,
The 2008 Contessa wiring diagram file in Coach Assist Wiring Diagrams contains the complete wiring schematic for the headlight circuit. It is drawing # 38085026 and is labeled 2008 Camalot/Septer but is also applicable to the 07 and 08 Contessas. It, along with the layout diagrams in the 07/08 Contessa wiring files should enable you to pinpoint where you are losing voltage and/or how the po's mods were implemented. There is also a diagram of the headlight mod to improve the voltage to the lamps as the oem version ran voltage thru the headlight switch, resulting in a reduction at the headlights themselves.
Good Luck Steve
--- End quote ---
Yeah I have the schematics and have been a big help so far. Still trying to decipher whether or not he hacked the wiring just for the LED bulb conversion or if he did the Dim Headlight Mod'.
So far it doesn't seem like he has, but in order order to eliminate his hacking I needed to know if the DRL module would be a link in the problem and it doesn't seem to be.
thanks for the input and I'm about to update the post with todays trouble shooting results and let me know what you think.
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