"Willy Mammoth" - Volvo 730 RV Hauler Build

[Nuke-E]

Source and cost?

 

Comments by the lighting guru's?? David, I know you don't want people to think you are biased to your own product, but you have more practical experience than anyone I know on this topic....so your view would be interesting.

 

Jack,

 

Apologies in advance for a long post. There are several issues here, both practical and legal. From a legal standpoint, these replacement lights fail to comply with FMVSS 108 in several places:

1. "S11 Replaceable light source requirements. Each replaceable light source must be designed to conform to the dimensions and electrical specifications furnished with respect to it pursuant to part 564 of this chapter..." If the "bulb" is designed to replace an H11 bulb (what our trucks come with from the factory), it has to meet those specs. That includes dimensions and tolerances to ensure a proper seal, tabs and electrical connectors so that the wrong bulb can't be used, supply voltage, wattage, filament location, etc. It sounds like they're not quite meeting the dimensional specs for mounting the "bulb", they've made an assembly to replace several bulb types (specifically defeating the features to prevent using the wrong bulb), the bulb doesn't run on 12V or at 55W, or have a filament at all, much less in the right location.
2. The bulbs aren't properly labelled. Along with several other things, the bulb type and manufacturer must be marked. By not doing this, when someone does bring it to NHTSA's attention, there's no way to identify who made/imported it--and most likely if contacted by them, the seller will just disappear.
3. If you ignored all of the technicalities of the bulb itself, and just looked at performance, the light output is nowhere close to compliant.
4. The seller is clearly violating federal law by selling these, but there's not a whole lot of risk to any of you. Simply using them doesn't violate federal law, though it does open you up to potentially violating any number of state and local laws. Of course, the more you do to draw attention--and glare will do that--the greater the odds of being ticketed for something. You might get stopped for what the officer thinks is you driving with your high beams on, only to have him realize it was a longer-than-legal walk to your cab door. It's no different with regard to the sellers even if they're claiming "for show/off-road use only".

From a practical standpoint, several issues are immediately obvious:

1. There are problems with physically fitting these things in.
2. They're substituting a fan (mostly plastic) for a proper heat sink (which would be more expensive to make). Most of these type lights are operating the LEDs significantly above design currents. If it's a tight fit, you're cutting off air circulation, and in direct sunlight, the inside of the projector can get to over 200 deg-F--borderline for most LEDs before you power them on.
3. The LEDs are emitting light from 2 surfaces, instead of from a short line source (the H11 filament). There may be some hypothetical projector that works either way (for example, there are some OE Cadillac projectors that differ only in the bulb mounting system between the halogen and HID versions), but the Stanley projectors in a Volvo light clearly weren't designed for a 2-LED source. I'll use a picture to describe what that leaves you with in the case of our trucks (LEDs on left, stock on right, from picture above):

 

 

1. The cutoff here is what you're supposed to use to aim the lights. It's fuzzy, not horizontal, and mixed in with all of the light in 3. If you were to aim these using proper procedure (looking for maximum gradient), you'd end up using the line created in 3, not the one in 1.
2. This area is light that ends up close to the front of the truck. You want limited light here for a number of reasons: (i) it's already close, so it's going to seem brighter, (ii) bright light in the foreground is going to prevent your eyes from dilating properly, reducing your ability to see further out, (iii) your focus is naturally drawn toward the brighter part of the beam, and (iv) at highway speeds, you can't react fast enough to do anything should something suddenly appear in this area (60 mph=88 ft/s, at 2-3 seconds PJIT (informally, reaction time) you've already passed through that area (176-264ft) before doing anything).
3. This is obscene glare for anyone approaching. It's essentially as bright as what's below the cutoff, across a wide area above it. This is basically the equivalent of driving with your high beams on as it pertains to other drivers. It's also a major problem in inclement weather. Light this strong in this area will make any rain, fog, and especially snow look much more opaque--the sharper the cutoff and the lower the light, the better off you are in bad weather.
4. While more subtle, this is still a significant area where there's glare created for other drivers. It pales in comparison to 3, but even if 3 were totally absent, this is enough to present a significant problem, right where drivers in an oncoming lane will be.

I know this is long, and sounds incredibly negative--it is. I'm the first to question our lighting standards, and they leave a lot to be desired, often stifling the technical progress in the field. Some parts of the standard reflect the state-of-the-art when written, which in some cases was half a century or more ago, and are outdated. I've tried to address just the stuff that's clearly problematic, and why while at first glance these things seem brighter, it's not as simple as that.

[hone eagle]

Holy free education batman.

[bmzero]

Wow. I never knew there was that much going on with the bulb inside of a headlight housing. I appreciate the in-depth information.

[JC and Angie]

Wow. I never knew there was that much going on with the bulb inside of a headlight housing. I appreciate the in-depth information.

Which is why I bought my lights from David. He does know his stuff and I have great head lights because of it !!!!

 

Thanks David.

 

JC

[Jack Mayer]

Which is why I bought my lights from David. He does know his stuff and I have great head lights because of it !!!!

 

Thanks David.

 

JC

....and which is why I simply recommend spending the money, buying David's lights, and getting a product that is effective. And legal, if you care. They work incredibly well, light the night as much as is possible without totally blinding oncoming drivers, and solve the issues in a way that works for the long run.

 

Then, if you really want too, add some supplemental LED flood lights like I posted earlier that can be used without oncoming traffic.

[bmzero]

I have spent some time the last couple of evenings building the rack system to hold the 32" LED TV in the sleeper. It will hang from the ceiling and flip up when not in use.

 

My main objective with this mount was to use existing bolts/holes in the sleeper, make it non-destructive to the truck, and keep it stable and secure going down the road. I'm very happy with how sturdy it is and it's just tacked together right now. After it's welded out and gusseted, it should be even stiffer and stronger. It's all 2", 16ga. steel tubing. It breaks down into three pieces so it's easier to get in and out.

 

It is offset on the passenger side to allow proper airflow from the AC vent.

 

Tomorrow evening, I'm going to work on the hinge and TV mount plate.

 

 

 

 

[Jack Mayer]

Dang....I think THAT will hold up

[PEIFamily]

Not sure about you, but my head WOULD find a way to hit that each time LOL

 

I am a professional head bumper

 

Looks good though!

[spindrift]

WOW! I think we've found a fabricator. Very nice.

[bmzero]

WOW! I think we've found a fabricator. Very nice.

 

Thanks.

 

After looking at these photos, the lack of symmetry is driving me nuts. I'm sure there's a medical diagnosis with some fancy abbreviations for this (ie. OCD, ADD, etc.), but I don't think I would be able to focus on the road knowing the rack behind my head is off center. I'm going to change up the mount this evening to center everything up as best I can and still allow airflow from the AC vent.

[bmzero]

I changed it up a little. This way, I won't get an OCD attack driving down the road with everything being off center. I like this design much better. It's symmetrical and tighter to the passenger side cabinet. This will be the final design.

 

The TV hinge will have to wait until tomorrow night.

 

 

 

 

[Alie&Jim's Carrilite]

That's definitely an OCD issue

 

Looks great though, your kids could swing off of it with no problem!

[bmzero]

your kids could swing off of it with no problem!

 

Funny you said that. My daughter was swinging from it this evening.

[GoldRush]

I guess I'm ocd too!

[HERO Maker]

Attach a chin-up bar, or hang some inverter boots from there, and you have your own gym!

[bmzero]

Attach a chin-up bar, or hang some inverter boots from there, and you have your own gym!

 

That thought definitely crossed my mind as I was testing the load capacity.

[bmzero]

I rang in the new year making weld puddles. The TV is now mounted. I'm just waiting on some more nylon bushings and some quick release pins to finish it up. It turned out exactly as I wanted. I think this will be great for the kids.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[spindrift]

Schweeet.

[sclord2002]

Great Googly-Moogly, a rolling movie theater with a bed. There are a lot of creative juices flowing in this truck. First class, all the way !!!! Charlie

[rdickinson]

Is the overhead light going to rub on the screen?

[HERO Maker]

You're a good dad! Especially during football season!

 

Was glad that I saw your screen swing towards the rear of the truck. Even though your framing looks more than adequate, I was worried about the 4 connection points on the screen, but it should be strong enough while in the up position. What about while cruising down the road? The cabs do bump a bit. Are those 4 connection points into steel on the screen?

[bmzero]

Is the overhead light going to rub on the screen?

 

No, there is a "hand height" (not a very technical measurement) between the screen and the light.

[bmzero]

You're a good dad! Especially during football season!

 

Was glad that I saw your screen swing towards the rear of the truck. Even though your framing looks more than adequate, I was worried about the 4 connection points on the screen, but it should be strong enough while in the up position. What about while cruising down the road? The cabs do bump a bit. Are those 4 connection points into steel on the screen?

 

Regarding the screws, those go directly into the metal chassis and *hopefully* will be more than enough to carry the weight of the TV. I don't think it will be an issue. I have the same TV mounted in my trailer and haven't had any issues.

 

I will not travel with the TV in the up (horizontal) position. That's just too much leverage on the bracket.

 

Also, there will be a brace going from the rear of the TV to the plastic tray above the windshield to keep it from bouncing going down the road. I'm waiting on the bushings and pins to build that piece.

[rdickinson]

The reason I mentioned it is in the trailer I had two LED bulbs vibrate in the fixture and break the glass dome. The trailer with 3 axles rides a lot better than the truck. The trucks front end takes a pounding going onto and off bridges, railroad tracks and frost heaves and the tv is a lot heavier.

[bmzero]

The trucks front end takes a pounding going onto and off bridges, railroad tracks and frost heaves and the tv is a lot heavier.

 

I definitely agree with you there. I think it will be fine the way it's mounted since all four screws go into the chassis and the TV is extremely light weight.