Tech help!

Q Can I stop water collecting in my motorhome’s rear lights?

I own a 2016 Roller Team T-line 740 (purchased from new). We love the motorhome, but there is one issue that has given us constant problems since we purchased it.

All six of the rear lights constantly fill up with condensation which, in turn, leads to a puddle of water in the rear light and, in a couple of cases, the lights have failed to work. We had a number of lights replaced at two years old and then even more the following year (for its MoT).

We regularly have to remove the lights, dry them out and refit them. Sometimes, we only get 10 weeks between this.

The lights are 95mm round lights, which I think are made by Jokon. Rather than keep replacing them with the same light units – which we believe will still have this ongoing problem – could you advise if there are any other manufacturers of rear lights that would be a direct replacement?

Alternatively (and preferably), could you advise if there are any manufacturers making LED lights to fit our motorhome and, if so, what is involved in changing them over?

Matt Russell

A You are not alone! Replacing traditional bulb illuminated lights with a more modern LED alternative sounds easy; however, you could find yourself falling fowl of current legislation. Take the indicator lamps, for example; traditionally these are monitored for inrush current draw by the flasher unit, which will, in most cases, double the flash rate if a bulb has failed.

Yes, there are some LED clusters with a ballast resistor and even separate ballast resistor units on offer that aim to overcome this detection system so that the flash rate stays at its prescribed “normal” flash rate of between 60 to 120 flashes per minute. The problem with this system is that, if the LED part fails, the ballast resistor remains and you have no warning that an indicator is not functioning. You will find lots of these fitted to trailers and possibly also some caravans.