A little black box - wonder what it is?
Discussion
Theres a little black box in the wiring on my car, and I've tried to identify it before. Its a black aluminium extrusion enclosing a PCB with a couple of FETs on it, some resistors, some caps and an NE555 timer IC. It has a 6 pin connector on it in 2 rows of 3, and has a selection of moderately beefy red, blue and black wires coming out of it.
It is NOT the Pektron wash/wipe module, I have already identified that one...
Any ideas? I cant see where the wires go, and the colour coding isnt that consistent... There are few markings on it.
Ta.
Ed.
It is NOT the Pektron wash/wipe module, I have already identified that one...
Any ideas? I cant see where the wires go, and the colour coding isnt that consistent... There are few markings on it.
Ta.
Ed.
From Wikipedia:
Dim-Dip Lamps
U.K. regulations briefly required vehicles first used on or after 1 April 1987 to be equipped with a dim-dip device[27] or special running lamps, except such vehicles as comply fully with ECE Regulation 48 regarding installation of lighting equipment. A dim-dip device operates the low beam headlamps (called "dipped beam" in the UK) at between 10% and 20% of normal low-beam intensity. The running lamps permitted as an alternative to dim-dip were required to emit at least 200 candela straight ahead, and no more than 800 candela in any direction. In practice, most vehicles were equipped with the dim-dip option rather than the running lamps.[27]
The dim-dip systems were not intended for daytime use as DRLs. Rather, they operated if the engine was running and the driver switched on the parking lamps (called "sidelights" in the UK). Dim-dip was intended to provide a nighttime "town beam" with intensity between that of the parking lamps commonly used at the time by British drivers in city traffic after dark, and dipped (low) beams; the former were considered insufficiently intense to provide improved conspicuity in conditions requiring it, while the latter were considered too glaring for safe use in built-up areas. The UK was the only country to require such dim-dip systems, though vehicles so equipped were sold in other Commonwealth countries with left-hand traffic.[28]
In 1988, the European Commission successfully prosecuted the UK government in the European Court of Justice, arguing that the UK requirement for dim-dip was illegal under EC directives prohibiting member states from enacting vehicle lighting requirements not contained in pan-European EC directives. As a result, the UK requirement for dim-dip was quashed.[27] Nevertheless, dim-dip systems remain permitted, and while such systems are not presently as common as they once were, dim-dip functionality was fitted on many new cars well into the 1990s.
So its nonsense then. That would explain the NE555 - its commonly used in PWM circuits to create a Switch Mode power supply of a given duty cycle - i.e. make the dip beams come on really dimly. Bunch of cack.
Dim-Dip Lamps
U.K. regulations briefly required vehicles first used on or after 1 April 1987 to be equipped with a dim-dip device[27] or special running lamps, except such vehicles as comply fully with ECE Regulation 48 regarding installation of lighting equipment. A dim-dip device operates the low beam headlamps (called "dipped beam" in the UK) at between 10% and 20% of normal low-beam intensity. The running lamps permitted as an alternative to dim-dip were required to emit at least 200 candela straight ahead, and no more than 800 candela in any direction. In practice, most vehicles were equipped with the dim-dip option rather than the running lamps.[27]
The dim-dip systems were not intended for daytime use as DRLs. Rather, they operated if the engine was running and the driver switched on the parking lamps (called "sidelights" in the UK). Dim-dip was intended to provide a nighttime "town beam" with intensity between that of the parking lamps commonly used at the time by British drivers in city traffic after dark, and dipped (low) beams; the former were considered insufficiently intense to provide improved conspicuity in conditions requiring it, while the latter were considered too glaring for safe use in built-up areas. The UK was the only country to require such dim-dip systems, though vehicles so equipped were sold in other Commonwealth countries with left-hand traffic.[28]
In 1988, the European Commission successfully prosecuted the UK government in the European Court of Justice, arguing that the UK requirement for dim-dip was illegal under EC directives prohibiting member states from enacting vehicle lighting requirements not contained in pan-European EC directives. As a result, the UK requirement for dim-dip was quashed.[27] Nevertheless, dim-dip systems remain permitted, and while such systems are not presently as common as they once were, dim-dip functionality was fitted on many new cars well into the 1990s.
So its nonsense then. That would explain the NE555 - its commonly used in PWM circuits to create a Switch Mode power supply of a given duty cycle - i.e. make the dip beams come on really dimly. Bunch of cack.
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