Journey lighted door handle??

Hawkeye · 09-08-2010, 06:05 PM

Is the glass handle for the exterior door suppose to lite up some how on a 07 Journey? Thanks

W8RLM · 09-08-2010, 06:25 PM

Hawkeye,

I hane an 06 Journey, and the handle on my door does not light. I don't think that they were supposed to light.

W8RLM - Bob

Old Snipe · 09-08-2010, 07:11 PM

I have an 07 Journey 39K and my door handle is unlit. It wasn't even offered as an option.

Best Regards!

bsedor · 09-09-2010, 08:38 AM

I have an 09 Journey and mine is not lit either.

RickO · 09-09-2010, 11:31 AM

My 07 Ellipse doesn't have a lit handle but I thought the feature added a nice "higer end" touch so purchased the handle bulb from a Monaco dealer and wired it to a lit Radio Shack switch just inside the coach. It's pretty easy and looks great.

rampside61 · 09-09-2010, 11:48 AM

My old handle was looking old and tired, so I found a great looking high end lighted one at ITC. they supply these things to the RV industry anyway.
ITC INCORPORATED RV Marine accessories items - Get great deals on RV accessories, Marine accessories items on eBay Stores!

Easyrider · 09-09-2010, 06:43 PM

I asked a parts rep at the Winnebago factory a couple years ago about the lit handle and he said they didn't offer that on any of the models, but that people had installed their own and that it was easy to do, just wire a bulb into either the top or bottom chrome mounting for the handle and the light will "travel" through the handle. I haven't done it yet but would like to sometime.

RickO · 09-09-2010, 08:43 PM

It's actually a fun little project... once you get past drilling a hole in the side of your coach!!!!

Rick

Snowwing · 09-09-2010, 08:54 PM

Hey RickO!
Could you please elaborate? Did you remove the brackets then drill? It sounds like a fun project. Perhaps colored lights?
Thanks
Ron

RickO · 09-09-2010, 09:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snowwing

Hey RickO!
Could you please elaborate? Did you remove the brackets then drill? It sounds like a fun project. Perhaps colored lights?
Thanks
Ron

Sure, I just removed the screws holding the two brackets on and all three parts come right off.... two brackets and the handle. The light I got from a Monaco dealer fit right into the recess of either top or bottom handle. I threaded the wire through a hole in the back of the handle where I drilled a small hole

through the side of the coach.

I removed the co-pilot side panel... threaded the wire from the Monaco light through the hole I drilled in the side of the coach and sealed it with clear silicone. To make sure I had a good seal when reattaching the handles, I took some gasket material and made gaskets for both top and bottom brackets and then used the clear silicone to seal.

Inside the coach I mounted the lighted rocker switch from Radio Shack onto the co-pilots control panel... I'd recommend buying a better one than I did because the light died after one year. I wired the ground from the Monaco light directly to a ground in the panel and tapped into a 12v outlet on the panel for a hot lead to run to the switch and then on to the Monaco light.

Everything but the light on the switch has held up really well and I use it all night every night. I don't know about colored lights, could be cool though.

Good Luck...

rick

SCVJeff · 09-10-2010, 12:01 AM

You didn't take any pictures of this did you? Is there something special about this light, or can I adapt an LED into the resin handle maybe?

RickO · 09-10-2010, 07:23 AM

No, sorry no pictures. I did this project three years ago now.

The only thing special about the light is that it fits snugly into the recess in the handle bracket which the clear handle then slides in on top of. I don't know any reason an LED couldn't be fashioned to do the same thing. The properties of the clear handle are pretty cool the way they transmit the light.

Rick

rampside61 · 09-11-2010, 09:17 AM

Attached are a couple of pictures of my installation of the ITC handle (see thread above) this was a top of the line handle and it came with a led light. The led fixture slides right into the handle at the top or bottom of the handle, whichever is more convenient for the wiring. All you do is measure the length of your old handle from tip to tip, and choose the appropriate one. I wanted mine to look OEM, so the base of the new one matches up with the old one. Besides the light, the new one also had these three white lines scribed inside of the clear handle part so with the light on, these white lined emit white light. I don't know how they did that, but it looks way cool. All screw holes didn’t exactly match up, but the base did cover all. I plugged the old holes with and epoxy paste to permanently seal them, and then just drilled new holes for the screws and wire. The new handle came with new gaskets, but I still silicone calked the heck out of everything, especially the wire hole. I had it coming all the way through to the inside which was covered by my side panel/switches anyway. I just connected it to the same circuit as the porch light.
This was easy to do, just pre-fit everything first, and don't skimp on the sealant. It’s easy to wipe off the excess after you install the handle. I also always replace all screws with stainless from the local hardware, they will never tarnish or rust. The two pictures attached are one with the light off and one with the light on, it makes quite a dramatic difference. Good luck with your installation.

RickO · 09-11-2010, 10:24 AM

Very nice Rampside!

Navy Flier · 09-11-2010, 10:36 AM

As to the comment by the Winnebago parts rep stating that Winnebago did not offer lighted door handles on any of their models that is just incorrect. Over the years some models have the lighted handles but most did not. For example, my 03 Horizon did not but my 08 Horizon does. Also, I do not believe you will find that they are options. I have never seen them listed on any option list. Back when Winnebago had the surplus store you could find them there and backfit them onto almost any Winnebago coach. These days you might try the RV surplus yards like Colaw's in Carthage, MO (www.colawrvsalvage.com).

cbeierl · 09-11-2010, 08:04 PM

My '05 Vectra has a lighted door handle.

gbs2320 · 09-13-2010, 08:14 AM

I just did this mod to my 2008 Winnebago Destination 39W Gas pusher. Took me a couple of hours to fish a wire through the side wall styrfoam insulation from the inside wall switch for the porch light to the small hole I drilled in the outside wall in the area the area the top part of the handle would cover when attached. I also drilled a hole in the dead bolt latch opening in the door frame so I could fish out the ground wire and attach it to the inside of the deadbolt opening on the door frame. I used a small 200 milliamp bulb and screw socket from radioshack. Puts out just enough light to light up the handle some at night. I might go to a stronger bulb. A 12v led enough strength would work also. Greg