1984 Defender Head Lights

Is it possible to have the headlights modified to the new high powered blue type lights? My current lights are dismal to say the least.

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I know there are halogen conversion kits available, but I wonder if the wiring is up to carrying the current...

Reply to
David G. Bell

You should be able to buy "+30" bulbs from Halfords. 30% brighter but no more current (they're just better at emitting visible light instead of heat). Worked a treat in my Disco. Some people have said they don't last long, but I found mine were fine.

David

Reply to
David French

I think the high power blue lights that you see on Mercs and such like are very high voltage. Something in the region of 20-30kV. Has anything that hi-tech ever been attached to a Land Rover? it might blow up. Other than that, you could order some of the BarryBoy fake blue lights from MaxPower. Why not add a few underbody neons and blue window-washer LEDs. Would look proper Bo' I tell thee.

David

Reply to
DavidM

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I'd agree with David French .. the +30% bulbs _are_ a significant increase in light output for not that much more money, and similar reliability, than standard .. ;)

Reply to
Paul - xxx

I thought that the new Rangies and Discos had HID (Xenon High Intensity Discharge) lamps fitted as standard - the Bug Eye Monster look with the new headlamp clusters.

P.

Reply to
Paul S. Brown

Twas Thu, 27 Nov 2003 16:22:10 +0000 (GMT) when snipped-for-privacy@zhochaka.demon.co.uk ("David G. Bell") put finger to keyboard producing:

I replaced the filament bulb headlights in my 1984 110 with a pair of halogens from craddocks, then added 80/100 watt bulbs, the wireing proved up to the job, though I thought it wise to be sure the alignment was spot-on due to the extra light..

-- Regards. Mark.(AKA, Mr.Nice.) ___________________________________________________________ "To know the character of a man, give him anonymity" - Mr.Nice.

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Reply to
Mr.Nice.

On or around Thu, 27 Nov 2003 17:08:23 -0000, "David French" enlightened us thusly:

Philips "vision plus" from simialr sources, claim 50% brighter. Dunno about that but they're good bulbs.

if yours still has the old sealed beam units, you'll need lamp units for bulbs, check in the various ads like simmonites, or craddocks, or paddock, they have Wipac conversion kits, which fit the same bezel as the sealed beam.

Reply to
Austin Shackles

ah - so it you that dazzles me at night!!! :-) Seriously though, those bulbs are illegal for a good reason!

Richard

Reply to
richard.watson

On or around Thu, 27 Nov 2003 23:03:57 +0000, richard.watson enlightened us thusly:

and take note that the light switch on my 110 has just melted itself. I don't think this was actually caused by running spots as well as heads off the same circuit, seeing as it did that for over a year without apparent problems, but I doubt it helped either.

Reply to
Austin Shackles

You were very lucky the switch lasted a year! Any extra lights really should be on a separate circuit, using a relay to operate them.

Richard

Reply to
richard.watson

Twas Thu, 27 Nov 2003 23:03:57 +0000 when richard.watson put finger to keyboard producing:

This is why I make sure the alignment is spot-on, I don't want to be pointing them at other drivers.

-- Regards. Mark.(AKA, Mr.Nice.) ___________________________________________________________ "To know the character of a man, give him anonymity" - Mr.Nice.

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Reply to
Mr.Nice.

On or around Fri, 28 Nov 2003 09:04:05 +0000, richard.watson enlightened us thusly:

I reckon the switch was probably corroded or dirty and thus had higher-than-should-be resistance, causing overheating. I know about I²R losses and that, and yes, if you draw about 24A you've got quite a lot of I², [576], but the R bit should be minimal in a switch, unless it's a crap one. I'd expect switch resistance to be in small fractions of Ohm - the dud one which only contacts if you carefully position it between "side" and "head" produces a small enough resistance that you can't tell the difference on my multimeter, which read in 0.1 Ohm divisions. if the switch were 0.1 Ohm, that'd make 57W which might be enough to melt it, perhaps. If it's less than that (and I'd hope it wouldn't be more), it'd be less heat in it.

Reply to
Austin Shackles

It's enough to make a very effective heat & light source in the form of a pearl bulb, so I would say 57W would definitely have a detrimental effect in a switch.

With this sort of current, even at 12v would the arcing tend to have an effect? ie carbon build-up leading to increased resistance?

David

Reply to
David French

On or around Fri, 28 Nov 2003 14:51:29 -0000, "David French" enlightened us thusly:

dunno. It's hard to tell why the old one failed. I doubt, though, that a decent-condition switch has that much resistance.

Reply to
Austin Shackles

In days far ago, when young and innocent and untutored in the ways of motor vehicles, I fitted driving lights to a brand new Talbot Sunbeam 1.0 (oh, the shame, the shame). The switch lasted a couple of months. Which might suggest that even a brand new switch may not be up to the job.

I now follow the generally accepted practise of running any aux lighting through a relay, so hopefully preventing the risk of fire not to mention the somewhat worrying risk of loosing my lights as I travel down a dark country lane at speed because I didnt bother fitting a relay.

Should I then have an accident which could be traced back to my shoddy workmanship I would expect my insurers to resist payment as well. Worth the hassle saving??

Mike.

Reply to
Mike Buckley

On or around Mon, 1 Dec 2003 14:29:17 +0000 (UTC), "Mike Buckley" enlightened us thusly:

yeah, well, yer probably right. It's mainly laziness - 's a load more hassle running the wiring for a relay, compared to simply branching off the main beam feed.

I'd not expect the lighting switch to be so marginal in design that it can't take less than 100% overload, mind. And how many people running 100/80W headlamp bulbs put a relay in the headlamp circuits? The switch must have very-much less resistance in normal operation than the bulb that it's switching, otherwise the voltage drop over the switch will result in poor lamp performance. a 60W 12V bulb draws 5A, and has a resistance of 12/5=2.4 ohm. The whole lighting system, being a parallel resistor bank, is less than that; in particular, the 2 headlamps together in parallel have a resistance of 1.2 ohm; add all the side lights and panel lights and you doubtless get down to below 1 ohm, but we'll stick at 1 'cos it makes the arithmetic easier. in my previous contemplation, I suggested that a switch resistance of 0.1 ohm would, once you have all the current flowing through it, produce about 57W of heat. However, i doubt the switch has a resistance that high. if it did, the voltage drop across the switch would be about

1.2V, leaving only 10.8V (nominal) across the lamps - this would result in substandard lamp performance, so I conclude that the actual resistance of a switch in good condition is considerably lower. I guess it'd be possible to measure this by measuring the actual voltage drop across the switch.
Reply to
Austin Shackles

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