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Topic: Garmin 20 Dashcam View of Night Drive with LED Headlights (Read 1579 times) previous topic - next topic

Garmin 20 Dashcam View of Night Drive with LED Headlights

I put a brief recording of a night drive on the Kansas Turnpike here: YouTube
The video is all low beam due to the amount of traffic. The video provides a representation of the color and pattern of the headlights. On passing, or being passed, the video shows the very sharp cutoff of the pattern. You can see the cutoff line on the sides of the adjacent vehicles. The light on the road is bright, but the light into the eyes of other drivers is not blinding. There is a portion of the pattern directed specifically in the direction of road signs near the right shoulder of the road.

The LED headlights placed higher than the OEM lights on our 1997 coach provide much better light for night driving. They consume less power than the original lamps and should last much longer with full illumination. They are rated to operate on voltages from 11.4-24 VDC. Current for each of the two lamps at 12 VDC is 2.5 A (30 W).

The Garmin 20 Dashcam is working well. It will store a day's travel on a 32GB microSD card. The video plays back on a Mac using the VLC player. I'm checking to see if "Dashcam Video" will be able to extract the GPS data to provide mapping and other information in graphical form during playback.
J D Stevens
1997 U295 CAI 36' Build #5085
2002 Subaru Outback
Motorcade 16869
Bellville, TX

Re: Garmin 20 Dashcam View of Night Drive with LED Headlights

Reply #1 –
Those are terrific! I'd love to find a simple way to convert my old '93 coach to LED headlights.

Craig
1993 U225 36' Unihome GV with PACBRAKE exhaust retarder, Banks Stinger and Solar Panels.
Toad: 1999 Jeep Wrangler 2-door soft-top.

"No one has ever had to evacuate a city because the solar panels broke."

Re: Garmin 20 Dashcam View of Night Drive with LED Headlights

Reply #2 –
71 mph, too...
The selected media item is not currently available. Dave Head & Megan Westbrook
Titusville, FL - The Great Outdoors
'98 270 buying this month
Toad is a 2018 F150 XLT

Re: Garmin 20 Dashcam View of Night Drive with LED Headlights

Reply #3 –
Quote from: Dave Head –
71 mph, too...
I hurried just a bit to get around the SOB. I like to either lead or follow. I don't like to "beside." Normal speed for us is 65 mph. I think the speed limit on Kansas Turnpike is 75 mph. Lots of folk pass us. However, we pass a lot of them when we use our K-Tag to roll through the toll stations. ;D Grandkids are at the far end of the Kansas Turnpike, so we put a K-Tag in the FT.
J D Stevens
1997 U295 CAI 36' Build #5085
2002 Subaru Outback
Motorcade 16869
Bellville, TX

Re: Garmin 20 Dashcam View of Night Drive with LED Headlights

Reply #4 –
Quote from: wa_desert_rat –
I'd love to find a simple way to convert my old '93 coach to LED headlights.
Craig, check out the Model 8800 4"x6" headlights: Headlights - Products - J.W. Speaker Corporation
You might be able to fabricate a panel to fit in place of the OEM lights and mount the smaller lights on the panel.
J D Stevens
1997 U295 CAI 36' Build #5085
2002 Subaru Outback
Motorcade 16869
Bellville, TX

Re: Garmin 20 Dashcam View of Night Drive with LED Headlights

Reply #5 –
Looks good. The light pattern appears to be the same as that of passing cars.

Can you see the blank hole just in front of the coach, or is that reserved for the dashcam to see?
Tom Lang K6PG (originally  KC6UEC)
and Diane Lang
2003 38 U295 build 6209
2016 Jeep Grand Cherokee Summit Ecodiesel
still have tow-ready 2006 Acura MDX 
Temple City, California
Motorcade 16681 California Chapter President
SKP 16663 member of SKP Park of the Sierra, Coarsegold California
FMCA F071251
Retired electrical and electronic engineer

Re: Garmin 20 Dashcam View of Night Drive with LED Headlights

Reply #6 –
Quote from: Tom Lang –
Can you see the blank hole just in front of the coach, or is that reserved for the dashcam to see?
I'm not sure if I understand the question. The area close to the front of the coach has sufficient illumination. I can add a bit more illumination with the fog lamps, but am more comfortable with those lamps turned off at night. I leave the fog lamps turned on during the day. They serve as daytime lights to make us more visible.
J D Stevens
1997 U295 CAI 36' Build #5085
2002 Subaru Outback
Motorcade 16869
Bellville, TX

Re: Garmin 20 Dashcam View of Night Drive with LED Headlights

Reply #7 –
Dave,
I am really looking forward to the headlight upgrade!  Anything to make night driving better - or MUCH better as the case may be.

Thanks very much for posting this!
Rich

Re: Garmin 20 Dashcam View of Night Drive with LED Headlights

Reply #8 –
What I have found when driving toward someone with LED headlights, they are not blinding. I do a lot of night driving in the winter
and I would like to have the LED lights.
Peter and Frieda Morin
1999 36ft. U320 Foretravel
Build # 5436
1998 Suzuki Sidekick Sport

Re: Garmin 20 Dashcam View of Night Drive with LED Headlights

Reply #9 –
I doubt many will end up driving a FT at night in the snow, but the headlights do not get warm enough to melt snow. JW Speaker has earned the reputation of making the best product but they are not heated. Some LED's are heated.

Make sure whatever you buy comes with an anti flicker harness or you may get...flicker :+)



1993 U300 40ft GV SE
Build # 4344

Re: Garmin 20 Dashcam View of Night Drive with LED Headlights

Reply #10 –
I keep hearing about Led lights in the snow and the trucks have them and I don't know if they do anything special or maybe it's like the front of my motor home, no snow sticks to it. I drive in the snow so it would be a concern to me.
Peter and Frieda Morin
1999 36ft. U320 Foretravel
Build # 5436
1998 Suzuki Sidekick Sport

Re: Garmin 20 Dashcam View of Night Drive with LED Headlights

Reply #11 –
Quote from: oldguy –
I keep hearing about Led lights in the snow and the trucks have them and I don't know if they do anything special or maybe it's like the front of my motor home, no snow sticks to it. I drive in the snow so it would be a concern to me.

Some LED's are heated. I think you'd need a heavy wet snow to stick to them even without heaters.
1993 U300 40ft GV SE
Build # 4344

Re: Garmin 20 Dashcam View of Night Drive with LED Headlights

Reply #12 –
Quote from: oldguy –
I keep hearing about Led lights in the snow and the trucks have them and I don't know if they do anything special or maybe it's like the front of my motor home, no snow sticks to it. I drive in the snow so it would be a concern to me.

I wonder if waxing the outside lenses of the LED headlights before winter travel would help snow "slide" off?

Dan - Full timing since 2009
2003 U320 40' Tag 2 slide

Re: Garmin 20 Dashcam View of Night Drive with LED Headlights

Reply #13 –
Quote from: Tom Lang –
Looks good. The light pattern appears to be the same as that of passing cars.

Can you see the blank hole just in front of the coach, or is that reserved for the dashcam to see?

There were some good articles (gone now) by a lighting consultant about the fact that folks are needlessly bothered by a dark area just in front of their vehicle. They shouldn't be. If you have too much light right in front of you. Your eyes will naturally be attracted to that bright area. Which isn't good.

I was an owner operator that drove exclusively at night across Wyoming for ten years with a set of doubles. I ended up with a lot of experience at night driving. Icing was an issue with my driving lamps but conversely didn't need them much during inclement weather. These are what i ran Hella rallye 4000 Normal bulb voltage was around 90-100 volts @ 2 amps from the ballast. So not much heat from a 10" lamp that had 7 figure CP ratings.  Boy could i see down the road though. As a test I would be doing 75MPH & when I saw a dead deer on the shoulder I could stop a fully loaded set of doubles BEFORE passing by that dead deer.  ^.^d
Jerry & Nona and Kimeru the cat that thinks she's a dog
1998 36' WTFE U320  #5314 Motorcade #17711
USAF 1975-1995
2019 Subaru Crosstrek 'toad'
2003 Subaru Legacy touring car
jerry Fincher | Flickr

Re: Garmin 20 Dashcam View of Night Drive with LED Headlights

Reply #14 –
   Did you take the deer home with you?
Laurel Hill, FL
 To do is to be---- Nietzsche
  To be is to do-----Kant
  Do be do be do----Sinatra

Re: Garmin 20 Dashcam View of Night Drive with LED Headlights

Reply #15 –
Quote from: Jerry Steele –
    Did you take the deer home with you?

Nope. After all the Coyotes & Crows have to eat too. Plus it looked like a deer balloon at that point.  :))

PS. I would think that the rather large windscreens on our rigs would be far more problematic than ice on the headlights. It was something I had to fight with constantly driving from Rapid City, SD to Sheridan, Wy every night in the winter. I ended up totally blocking the defrost vent to keep the windscreen as cold as possible to keep snow from melting when it hit. Worked pretty well as the snow just bounced off the cold glass.
Jerry & Nona and Kimeru the cat that thinks she's a dog
1998 36' WTFE U320  #5314 Motorcade #17711
USAF 1975-1995
2019 Subaru Crosstrek 'toad'
2003 Subaru Legacy touring car
jerry Fincher | Flickr

Re: Garmin 20 Dashcam View of Night Drive with LED Headlights

Reply #16 –
Quote from: bigdog –
Plus it looked like a deer balloon at that point.  :))
If the opportunity ever arises, try putting a .22 hollow point into one of those balloons.  Very entertaining!  Don't ask how I know...
1993 U280 SE 40' WTBI, Build: 4359
C8.3 300hp, 6-Speed, Exhaust Brake
960 watts on the roof (6 x 160)
Sorento (or BOLT) on a Kar Kaddy SS
"Nature abhors a vacuum"

Re: Garmin 20 Dashcam View of Night Drive with LED Headlights

Reply #17 –
Do you have pictures of the headlight install?
1998 U270 34'