Brighter tail lights

[Jeff Miller]

My thoughts on the <'86 taillights.

They were made to pass the standards, based on proper voltage, and
new lenses. The base was originally black, BlueBird painted (primed)
the bus with the metal base on the bus because there was no reflector
so painting it made masking easier. Adding a reflector does improve
the light output, in essence a candle has one candlepower, a candle
in front of a flat mirror has two candlepower. You are increasing the
light output with a reflector.

However, there was no reflector because the optics of the lense
collect enough light from the bulb, ... when new and properly
powered. The optics (pillow and Freznel for those interested) degrade
over time, the plastic degrades and loses some of its qualities over
time and exposure to the elements. The voltage is also not what is
probably should be, the lights passed DOT standards on a bench-test
in a lab, not on a Wanderlodge.

Buy new lights. The lenses are pretty cheap and readily available
(Red, Amber, and Clear) from Truck-Lite and others. If the socket
isn't reliable anymore you can buy the entire fixture. New lenses
work much better and even look better, even cleaning the dust out of
the light helps.

Improving the voltage to the light is a little complicated, long
wiring runs with many old connections caused this. A new headlamp
switch will benefit many old coaches, readily available at NAPA
(sorry, I don't have the number at-hand). Be ready to replace any of
the connectors to the switch that don't look good or have good
retention force, you will likely find at least one heat-damaged wire.

A good solution is to add a relay in the Left Rear overhead to power
the taillamps from a local power source there, pretty simple
conversion if you can do some minor wiring. It has to be simple, Gary
has done it ;~) This gives better voltage and current available so
that a towed vehicle will actually be visible at night, ... kind of
helpful.

I've also had good results from replacing the light assemblies with
new LED lights, from my local BB dealer for around $35/ea. The lower
current requirement of the LED light greatly reduces the voltage drop
across the wiring and connections (and switch), and even leaves more
for the towed-vehicle wiring.

- Jeff Miller