Poor lights

[duke thrust]

Hi all,

I was crawling along the M25 'car park' for about 2 hours last night seemingly for no reason at all - temperature sat at a steady 90 which was reassuring. However, I did notice that someone has replaced my headlights with 2 Tesco value candles - made things interesting when the traffic cleared at 70mph and pissing down with rain.

It seems like the drivers side is much dimmer than the passenger (the light looked much more yellow when reflected on the bumper of the car in front) - is this down to the poor wiring? Looking at the Mod-Wise sight there's a kit to power the each side independently - is this worthwhile? What bulbs work well?

Also, I've noticed that when I'm doing very low speeds with the lights on I get (from time to time) a faint hot electrical smell (like the plastic on the wires is getting hot) - panicked me something rotten the first time but nothing seems to actually burn and it never gets really bad. Never any smoke - perhaps I'm being over sensitive, any thoughts?

[duke thrust]

Thinking about it, I'm pretty sure it only does it (funny smell) with the wipers on at very slow speeds. I'll check the wiper motor.

[smedlen]

Yellow head lights suggests that your not getting a full 12 volts/5 amps through to the lamps. If your battery and alternator are OK, then it's probably a corroded connection that a poke around with a multimeter would locate. You might get away with cutting an inch or so off the offending lead and crimping a new (good quality) connector on.

[duke thrust]

Thanks for your help, is there generally enough slack to pull the connector down into the grill area so that I can see what I'm doing? (early Chim)

[Cousin It]

There's a big fuse (covered with a plastic box) in the battery foot well. If its come loose (nut & bolt at each end) the plastic gets hot & smells. The reduced electrickery may affect other equipment?

Steve

[ian8542]

There are 2 main reasons for poor light quality on the Chimaera.

The reflectors being essentially 'open' to the elements, attract grit and moisture. (Ever seen the lenses mist up after you have washed the car while the engine was still warm ?)
Then the 100 watt lamps cook the reflector.

Secondly due to the high current being drawn for the lights, the contacts when affected by damp and dirt and the odd loose connection, cause the wires and connectors to overheat and melt due to the high resistance.

[duke thrust]

Cousin It said:

There's a big fuse (covered with a plastic box) in the battery foot well. If its come loose (nut & bolt at each end) the plastic gets hot & smells. The reduced electrickery may affect other equipment? Steve

Ah, that sounds like it might be it, there's all sorts of gubbins floating around in the footwell - I'll have a look

Cheers

[crimsonchim]

Previous owner of mine had put higher power bulbs in, (100w I think), but didn't use the car much in winter/dark. I started using it a lot of the time and come long winter journeys the light performance diminished to the point where one went out completely!

Relatively long periods of using the 100w bulbs (that I didn't know were in there!) melted the wires and connectors. After a touch of rewiring all was OK with the proper bulbs for a few years.

One bulb went a few weeks ago and I swapped both for Phillips 25% brighter jobbies. I'll have to take their word for it as I didn't notice the difference!

Andy

[ian8542]

crimsonchim said:

Previous owner of mine had put higher power bulbs in, (100w I think), but didn't use the car much in winter/dark. I started using it a lot of the time and come long winter journeys the light performance diminished to the point where one went out completely! Relatively long periods of using the 100w bulbs (that I didn't know were in there!) melted the wires and connectors. After a touch of rewiring all was OK with the proper bulbs for a few years. One bulb went a few weeks ago and I swapped both for Phillips 25% brighter jobbies. I'll have to take their word for it as I didn't notice the difference! Andy

There is another thread on this subject somewhere. The Zenon bulbs i mention which claim a 30% increase in light output compared to a standard 60/55W halogen are manufactured by others as well as Philips.

[jonnyb]

I fitted the modwise better lights kit, and 100w bulbs. I have to say that the differance is exceptional! Unlike the Tesco value candles you describe I can actualy see where I am going! I wouldnt recommend the 100w bulbs without the wiring upgrade, as the current these things draw could melt the standard wiring.

[guydw]

I had this, one night on the M1 the headlights stopped working so I had to stay on full beam. It was a loose connection, easily sorted by Fernhurst.

[soapbox]

I had exactly the same on my nearside headlight last week. Thought the bulb had gone, but when I got home it turned out that actually I had hit a pigeon. It had sort of wedged itself into the recess.

Oddly enough the light bulb went the following day so it was obviously a messenger pigeon.

[2 Smokin Barrels]

out of interest, what was it?

[chimtvr]

if you want really good lights you can buy proper HID xenon upgrade kitsthey seem to sell on ebay for around the £200 mark but they are fantastic and take less power than the originals only 30 watt!!! but make sure its a proper kit with ballasts and transformers not just rubbish blue bulbs

[ATG]

Both dipped beams failed within a couple of days of each other last week. Seemed too much to be a coincidence, but mercifully it does seem to have just ben bad luck. Led to a hair-raising drive home on Friday night. Jacked up and removed each front wheel in turn to replace bulbs. Discovered one of the beam adjusters had fallen out of the grommet in the side of the reflector ... had to rig up a temporary arrangement to stop the light pointing towards the sky. Seems a rediculous amount of time and scrapes to fingers to change a couple of bulbs, but there you go.

In some respects the job was actually a bit easier to do in the dark. With the sidelights on it is easy to see what is going on through the access hole in the wheel arch, whereas in daylight the background light level made it much harder to see inside the access hole.

[jellison]

100w offroad bulbs are the way to go.... Awesome.

Not legal, and I certainly would never do anything illegal.

[Graham]

jellison said:

100w offroad bulbs are the way to go.... Awesome. Not legal, and I certainly would never do anything illegal.

The trouble i find with 100w bulds is that they dont actualy stay bright for very long. after a month or so they are giving out less light than standard bulbs. plus the risk of burning out the wiring and setting fire to the car.


I use phillips vision plus in the standard power rating and for my money the perform better than 100w standard and the output is consistant.


www.powerbulbs.co.uk was where i got mine. I think they have reviews on there as well

G

[ATG]

FWIW I discovered that the nearside bulb had been 60W and the offside had been 100W ... had I noticed any difference in performance? Nope. No really obvious difference even when looking at the car from the front. Inadequate wiring, POS bulb no doubt contributed.