TVR S3 headlight very dim

[The Horse]

On the way back from Wentworth Woodhouse this evening I found the headlights on my recently acquired S3c dreadful.
This was the first time I've driven it in the dark and they were angled slightly low but reminded me of old sealed beam units I had on my Dolomites in the 1980's, giving off a very yellow/orange dull light
Firstly, am I right to assume the S3 headlights are halogen ?
How does the dip-dim system work and how do I know its working properly ?
Thanks
David

[phillpot]

The main issue is more than likely a lack of eleckiltricity.

The wiring connectors near the bonnet hinges are notorious for corrosion which equals resistance which equals volt drop which equals dim lights.

[SS2.]

Welcome to the joys of TVR ownership !

S headlights are pretty poor as standard, even when they're working at their best.

You could check the voltage at the headlamp plugs and see what you're getting. If any of the circuit is in poor condition, you may well see a voltage drop which would make the bulbs even dimmer than normal. Sorting the wiring and / or fitting relays could resolve this.

[The Horse]

Thanks
I'll check the voltage as suggested, sensible place to start.
The driving / fog (?) light seem bright but the angled all over the place so I could use them with on coming traffic.
I'll post how I get on.
Are there alternative headlights that fit straight in ?

[AutoAndy]

In answer to some of your points, yes they are bog standard halogen bulbs which can easily be replaced.
..I bought some xenon gas bulbs from eBay ...these are not the special xenon bulbs with various adaptors needed, but fairly std direct replacements and although not much brighter, they do show a cleaner, less yellow light.

The light units themselves are same as traditional mini, so lots of low-cost choices.

Which was your car today...mine at the back...with the roof off....left earlier so didn’t need bright lights coming back to Norfolk...except to get people out of the way..

[The Horse]

Thanks AutoAndy
Mine was the "casade blue" J700 GPW. The previous owner (May 2016 to August 2017) lived in Kings Lynn so it was a Norfolk car briefly but now lives across the border in Suffolk.
Voltage at the light connector is 11.4v with the engine running and 11.7 through the main beam connector.
Bulbs are both standard 60/55w and lenses are "lucas".
Perhaps I'm comparing them with my Xenons in my daily driver and have forgotten how bad in comparison normal halogen lights are ? I didn't feel safe at more than 40mph along un-lit country roads.
I'll try re-aligning the lights and perhaps a brighter / different bulbs

[v8s4me]

You could still get 12v with a poor earth so it would be worth checking. All you need to do is run a separate wire to a known good earth and see what happens.

[GreenV8S]

These bulbs are very sensitive to voltage changes (brightness roughly proportional to voltage cubed) so a small voltage drop can make a big difference. If you're on the original wiring then you probably have multiple connectors on the route through the switch, fuse box, relay, loom connectors etc each losing a fraction of a volt and adding up to a significant drop. If you're also on the original headlamps then you're probably losing a far bit of that light in the reflector and still more in the lense. Just swapping the old headlamps for some new Wipac 7" Freeform units made a very noticeable improvement, and eliminating all those little voltage drops when I replaced the fuse box and supply to it made another big difference.

[Oldred_V8S]

The Horse said:

Thanks
I'll check the voltage as suggested, sensible place to start.
The driving / fog (?) light seem bright but the angled all over the place so I could use them with on coming traffic.
I'll post how I get on.
Are there alternative headlights that fit straight in ?

Check the voltage at the back pf the plugs with the headlights switched on. Do not just look for 12v at the contacts in an unconnected plug. You can get 12v through a wet finger but not enough current to do anything useful.

Take a reading of the battery voltage.
Take a reading at the back of the headlight plug (headlight on). Swap the leads over if you get a negative reading
If the two readings are not near as damn it the same then move the black meter lead to a known good earth.
If the meter readings are now similar, you have an earth issue
If the meter reading is still low you have a supply issue.

[DamianS3]

Not to everyone's taste but if you want to see well...



LED lights also double up as DRL and indicator..

They are less sensitive to voltage and are super bright.

Thanks

Damian S3

[The Horse]

Thanks everybody.
I'll look at the infamous "yellow connector" too.
GreenV8s, which freeform light units did you go for ?
There seem to be 2 options, theWipac S6072 or the Wipac S6096. The only difference I can see is that the S6096 has a built in shield for the bulb.
On my car that the moment, the offside light is newer that the nearside. The nearside has a light shield and the offside doesn't. You can't really see a difference when they are illuminated, or when they aren't for that matter
Cheers
David

[QBee]

If they are the standard H4 bulbs that we have on the Chimaera, once you have sorted the path for the electrons, you could try some Ring 120% brighter bulbs - they sure improved the output of my seriously corroded reflectors, to the point where I haven't even bothered to solve the problem

linky

Just make sure before you buy that you know whether you have H1, 3, 4 or 7 bulbs!

[The Horse]

Thanks QBee
Great minds and all that.
These just arrived. I've used the Philips ones before in an Audi A4 Cabriolet that I owned and they made a noticeable difference.



David

[GreenV8S]

The Horse said:

GreenV8s, which freeform light units did you go for ?

Not sure, because my direct link to the part has gone bad. As far as I remember there are options to get the lens on its own, or the lens plus mounting. I don't recall whether the reflector was compatible with the OEM assembly but I did get the whole assembly for mine. Also you need to choose the 'with sidelamp' option for the S series.