How do I focus upgraded headlights ?
Discussion
Picked up my Cerb yesterday.
Everything seemed fine, drove well etc, until I got back to Ireland and it got dark.
One dim wasn't working but it was just a loose wire off the bulb, that was / is the minor problem.
The lights are way out of focus, virtually impossible to see at night, and I cant get them back even near right.
I know where the adjusters are, I know how adjusters work, but it won't happen for me.
The car is a '97 but has had the headlight upgrade done.
The only thing I can see which may be the cause (and may be a major problem) is that the "Hella" script on the lights is NOT level.
I think the lights have been fitted badly.
Can they be removed and turned on an upgrade????
Is there any other way of adjusting them????
Everything seemed fine, drove well etc, until I got back to Ireland and it got dark.
One dim wasn't working but it was just a loose wire off the bulb, that was / is the minor problem.
The lights are way out of focus, virtually impossible to see at night, and I cant get them back even near right.
I know where the adjusters are, I know how adjusters work, but it won't happen for me.
The car is a '97 but has had the headlight upgrade done.
The only thing I can see which may be the cause (and may be a major problem) is that the "Hella" script on the lights is NOT level.
I think the lights have been fitted badly.
Can they be removed and turned on an upgrade????
Is there any other way of adjusting them????
you got it at last 
I assume you mean the upgrade you have is from the single lamps to the curved twin? Even with perfectly level and focused headlights you'll struggle to see anything at night. The only time I've seen a Cerb's headlights resemble, well, headlights and not a couple of candles is with a gas discharge bulb upgrade. About £200-300 iirc and well worth it so it's on my shopping list for christmas.
Edited by SlvrCrb on Sunday 10th September 09:35
I am not sure if then can be "focused" as such. Having had 2 cars with this type of light, I found that both were not set up too well initially, I think it can only be done by trial and error. The Adjusters change the angle of the whole light uit and thus move the beam, but I am not aware that you can focus them. Of course, the problem is compounded by the fact that the front wheels have to come off to get into the lights for adjustment. I lowered the car on a jack back to level it before aimimg the lights at a board at the end of my garage. On the cerbera, the problem may infact be the voltage loss from the control unit in the boot to the lamps. Are your lights wired straight from the original power supply, or is there a bunch of relays etc in one of the wings?
My Cerbera has the power coming straight from the old wiring and the lights are, frankly, useless. I will be re-wiring so the the original wires activate a relay and this brings power to the bulbs straight from the battery. This mod has been on my mind for a while, but over the summer with the long days it slipped to the back of my mind. As the nights are drawing in I shall be getting on with it soon.
Jon H
My Cerbera has the power coming straight from the old wiring and the lights are, frankly, useless. I will be re-wiring so the the original wires activate a relay and this brings power to the bulbs straight from the battery. This mod has been on my mind for a while, but over the summer with the long days it slipped to the back of my mind. As the nights are drawing in I shall be getting on with it soon.
Jon H
I've been looking at it more today and it seems like the problem is that the upgrade was done badly.
The lamp assemblies were just stuck in with no thought given to them in relation to putting the top of the light to the top.
It is so bad that the left / right adjustment on the RHS one actually moves the light up / down.
I reckon I will have to remove the lamps from their housings and fabricate a new bracket / adjuster assembly for them.
I think there will be enough light off them once I get them pointing the right direction.
I'm learning fast what Cerb ownership is all about
And as for the photos, I need to go find and read the "how to upload photos" thread to get them on here.
The lamp assemblies were just stuck in with no thought given to them in relation to putting the top of the light to the top.
It is so bad that the left / right adjustment on the RHS one actually moves the light up / down.
I reckon I will have to remove the lamps from their housings and fabricate a new bracket / adjuster assembly for them.
I think there will be enough light off them once I get them pointing the right direction.
I'm learning fast what Cerb ownership is all about
And as for the photos, I need to go find and read the "how to upload photos" thread to get them on here.
ireland said:
I've been looking at it more today and it seems like the problem is that the upgrade was done badly.
The lamp assemblies were just stuck in with no thought given to them in relation to putting the top of the light to the top.
It is so bad that the left / right adjustment on the RHS one actually moves the light up / down.
I reckon I will have to remove the lamps from their housings and fabricate a new bracket / adjuster assembly for them.
I think there will be enough light off them once I get them pointing the right direction.
I'm learning fast what Cerb ownership is all about
And as for the photos, I need to go find and read the "how to upload photos" thread to get them on here.
The lamp assemblies were just stuck in with no thought given to them in relation to putting the top of the light to the top.
It is so bad that the left / right adjustment on the RHS one actually moves the light up / down.
I reckon I will have to remove the lamps from their housings and fabricate a new bracket / adjuster assembly for them.
I think there will be enough light off them once I get them pointing the right direction.
I'm learning fast what Cerb ownership is all about
And as for the photos, I need to go find and read the "how to upload photos" thread to get them on here.
Day 1 and already a rewiring and custom bracket fabrication job, indeed, welcome to the world of cerb ownership
Have a look in website feedback and iirc there's a post on how to include pics in your posts. You'll need to upload them to another website first though to be able show them here. Photobucket etc
SlvrCrb said:
ireland said:
I've been looking at it more today and it seems like the problem is that the upgrade was done badly.
The lamp assemblies were just stuck in with no thought given to them in relation to putting the top of the light to the top.
It is so bad that the left / right adjustment on the RHS one actually moves the light up / down.
I reckon I will have to remove the lamps from their housings and fabricate a new bracket / adjuster assembly for them.
I think there will be enough light off them once I get them pointing the right direction.
I'm learning fast what Cerb ownership is all about
And as for the photos, I need to go find and read the "how to upload photos" thread to get them on here.
The lamp assemblies were just stuck in with no thought given to them in relation to putting the top of the light to the top.
It is so bad that the left / right adjustment on the RHS one actually moves the light up / down.
I reckon I will have to remove the lamps from their housings and fabricate a new bracket / adjuster assembly for them.
I think there will be enough light off them once I get them pointing the right direction.
I'm learning fast what Cerb ownership is all about
And as for the photos, I need to go find and read the "how to upload photos" thread to get them on here.
Day 1 and already a rewiring and custom bracket fabrication job, indeed, welcome to the world of cerb ownership
Have a look in website feedback and iirc there's a post on how to include pics in your posts. You'll need to upload them to another website first though to be able show them here. Photobucket etc
Most of Day 1 and part of Day 2 was spent trying to get the suspension set up to live with the Irish roads.
I've now managed to get that pretty well sorted.
It drove well tonight when I went on a search for a petrol station selling 98 Octane (failed miserably I might add, but a good excuse for a spin and a grin
). The lights have to be sorted next.
It was dark when I was coming home and it was a pig trying to see where I was going, dims all the way as they are much better than the heads at the moment.
I know what I need to do, the lamps have to come out and be re-fitted the right way up.
Let this be a warning to any of you planning a conversion to the new-type headlights, make sure it is done properly as the ones on the car I bought definitely weren't.
And it's hard to spot in daylight.
I now know that the word "Hella" should be level, simple as that.
Once I get them done I'll put up a post as to how easy / difficult it is to turn and sort them.
Edited by Ireland on Monday 11th September 23:32
This site is good for finding out where super unleaded is: www.petrolprices.com/
Not sure they cover Ireland though.
Not sure they cover Ireland though.
byker28i said:
This site is good for finding out where super unleaded is: www.petrolprices.com/
Not sure they cover Ireland though.
Not sure they cover Ireland though.
I tried it but you need a postcode to get it to work properly.
We don't have them here.
Also I tried typing "Ireland" and it came up with somewhere in Sheffield.
Somehow I reckon the tank would be empty by the time I got home.
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