I think Frank wrote that if you want to prevent a future failure of the
replacement switch that you need to install the relays. The relays are a
good idea for that reason as well as others. Brighter headlights, longer
switch life for various other switches, elimination of a single point
failure that causes lots of stuff to go offline like the OP experienced.
Yes, adding the relay kit means more things to fail but it also means
you are less likely to lose all headlights at once like otherwise
commonly happens and like happened in this case. To me that means you
are safer with the relay kit.

Mark

Dennis Haynes wrote:
> While I agree that the headlight circuit has much to be desired, as does so
> much of the electrical system, I don't think it is fair to say that all
> Vanagons require this. Electrical stuff can and will fail. If you get 10-20
> years out of a switch the design can't be all that bad. The relays can
> increase headlight output but more should also be done. The downside of the
> relay upgrade is that they do introduce another point of failure.
>
> Dennis
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
> Frank Condelli
> Sent: Thursday, December 26, 2013 8:26 AM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Re: Loss of head lights, wipers and rear heater blower
>
>          Good advice from Mark.  However, a bit more info here.  One of the
> main reasons this occurs is that the switch is overloaded, mainly from the
> headlight circuit.  Every Vanagon needs to have the Headlight Relay Kit
> installed to prevent this from occurring again after the switch is replaced.
>...........