Technical lights

[smiley]

Hi Techies

Need help with lights for going off to France.

checked my car manual re lights.... on our old mondeo we used the deflectors ... but in the manual for right oe left hand lights it tells me to contact dealer... anybody know why??

Does anyone know which lights I have we have the self leveling lights if that helps and the new ones out..

thanks marie

 

[PaulT]

Have you got Xenon lights? If so there MAY be a lever at the back to change the dip. If you haven't a lever it's a trip to the dealer. But, how much driving at night are you going to do?

 

[Lutz]

If the lights are self-levelling it sounds very much as though they would be xenon. (It's a requirement for xenon lights to be self levelling.) These must not be fitted with deflectors, beam benders or similar.

 

[SteveW77]

Have you got Xenon lights? If so there MAY be a lever at the back to change the dip. If you haven't a lever it's a trip to the dealer. But, how much driving at night are you going to do?

Why do you think that if you don't drive at night you need not bother about headlight adjustment.
In France you must use headlights in poor weather and when going through a tunnel, so headlamps need adjusting even if you have no intention of night driving, it is perfectly possible to be dazzled by poorly adjusted lights in the daytime.

Steve W

 

[smiley]

Hi Guys
yes, I think they are Xenon lights, I can find out when I talk to hubby..

all it says in the manual is see dealer.
But what can a dealer do?
Is it to show me what to do?

I will look to see if there is any lever. Not quite sure what I'm looking for, would it be obvious?

 

[ChrisUK]

My xtrail has the same arrangement. In the end I used the stickons which frankly projected onto my garage door did not seem to do a very good job. However I do very little driving a night, if any, and having the stickon will / might deflect any comments from foreign cops.My xeons are only 35watts which I believe is the norm,and give out very little heat. They run much cooler than Halogens, so I don't see any problems. Certainly for the small amount of time the lights were on with the stickon, there was no problem.
Some on the Xtrail forum users use Perspex headlight protectors when abroad with the stickons on. Useful if you make a lot of trips.

 

[RayS]

How new is the car ? Some current models are now being fitted with the european symettrical dipping pattern rather than the previous assymetric i.e the dip beam goes straigh down rather than to the left (for UK). I think this may become standard in future and perhaps has been standard with some Xenon lights for a while.
The Freelander I bought a couple of months ago has this new system (with halogen lighing) but the instruction book still refers to and shows adjustment levers at the rear of the headlights.

You can find out fairly easily by pointing the car at garage doors or another suitable surface and then looknk at the dipped light pattern to see if it goes down and left or straight down.

( my first motoring trip abroad required changing the headlamp unit from near to off side as the dipping mechanism was a solenoid which tilted the reflector behind a single filament bulb. The other headlamp was just switched off altogether in the dipped position. How times change).

 

[smiley]

Haven't had a look yet. hopefully hubby will ring tonight, must remember to ask him.

the car is about 16 weeks old which doesn't mean a lot a they were on strike, so it could have been sitting in a yard.

I've looked in manual but it could be written in sandscript.
How do you all cope with the self levelling???

Don't quite understand it, how does it work when the van is on the back and raises the front of the car??

 

[colin-yorkshire1]

I've looked in manual but it could be written in sandscript.

How do you all cope with the self levelling???
Don't quite understand it, how does it work when the van is on the back and raises the front of the car??

hi smiley, put in simple terms on some models of car there is a turn switch (near the light switch) with positions say 1 to 5 this alters the height of the beams so 5 would be highest, and 1 lowest with 2 front passengers only ie more weight on the front axel than the back the headlamp aim would be too low so the knob can be set to 5 to raise the lights,
with even weight in the car (front to back) it would need to be neutal (position 3) and with the van on the back (more weight on rear axel than the front) it can be turned to 1 (lowest position) so oncomming traffic is not dazzled,

self levelling lights do away with the switch, and do it automatically, by sensing the axel loads and adjusting the lights height accordingly it is a requirment for xenon lights as these are much brighter than ordinary (halogen lights) and would dazzle on commoming traffic if the beams are too high, simples

hope this helps!!

 

[Lutz]

The reason why xenon headlamps must not be fitted with deflectors/beam benders etc. is that because their light is so intense, anything which could change the optics or reflect light back into the headlamp unit will cause scatter which rather defeats the object of preventing dazzle.