Headlamp Power

How on earth did we manage to see anything with our 25W vintage bulbs?

If you recall correctly, we didn't.

Today I was meeting a cyclist coming the other way who had one of these

3 Watt headlights flashing on and off. I swear his headlight was brighter than mine and to me it seemed bloody dangerous as it was so blinding and pointing right at me. Properly set up I daresay they could be a real boon but what cyclist does things properly?

What sort of bulb is it? Dipped headlight bulbs are now 55W, and that is the legal maximum.

If you want a significant increase in wattage, you need to be looking at a new feed, and relays, otherwise the voltage drop may well make higher wattage bulbs dimmer than the originals.

Chris

60W main beam, 55W dipped.

More correctly, the bulb has to be E marked and depending upon the type of bulb, the maximum may be different, so you could find that the maximum for main beam may only be 55W depending upon which base it is.

SteveW

Gentlemen,

I hooked the headlamp bulbs out of the car I'm currently restoring and noticed they are rated at 60W. Seems a bit on the low side somehow. What is the maximum rating one can install and still be legal? I'm talking about regular, halogen lights here; nothing exotic. thanks.

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Before you install mega bulbs, you need to be aware that the extra current might fry the wiring and fittings that are not designed for this extra current.

Gareth.

Problem is the efficiency of car halogens can vary dramatically between makes. And higher wattage ones may well be from a poor maker, since they're not legal for road use. They also lose output with age. New decent make 55w may be OK.

Some car headlights can be converted to HID or LED, but this depends on the reflector design if you'll get a good beam pattern from them - as the light source of them tends to be a different size to a tungsten, so may not be in focus.

They can, but you also need auto-levelling and a headlamp wash-wipe to stay legal.

I wish there was a simple way to report vehicles with dazzling illegally converted lights, and get them taken off the road. A local example has lights that put out a wall of light in every direction and it hurts, there is no beam cut off at all. It passed its 'test' like that too.!!

IIRC, that was once the case, but no longer.

Wish it was possible with plenty new vehicles too. ;-)

Rule of thumb is the BMW style projector units (with the bulls eye lens) tend to convert well, as they use an external to the bulb french flag to get the sharp cut-off. Those that rely on a flag inside the bulb will scatter badly when used with the 'wrong' bulb.

I'll need to know about that for certain, since this vehicle has headlamp wash/wipe (with wipers per headlamp!) and I doubt they work any more. Daft idea in the first place if you ask me. Perhaps I should remove all trace of them and that way the MOT bloke probably wont even notice anything amiss.

I'm severely pissed off with certain legal eye-level brake lights. I was stuck in the rain behind a high-end Mercedes in a long slow moving traffic queue one time and the light from the constant braking was literally blinding. I saw red in more ways than one. Could have ended up in road rage if I were a less phlegmatic individual.

In either case it won't apply to your car unless it has HID lamps either originally, or as retro-fit.

Headlamp wipers are not legally required otherwise, so whether they work or not would not be part of the MOT test.

Chris

*shrug* I do. I have a very, very bright LED front lamp for towpath riding that could create serious dazzle, but I aim it down and dim it on road.

Normal headlamp bulbs are 55W. IME Osram Nightbreaker bulbs give a slight improvement while still being legal and not melting your headlamp refelctors and/or wiring.

That's all fine, then. I'll leave them be at 55/60 if that is the norm. I never had any intention of changing them for something illegal.

Thanks for that, Chris. One less thing to worry about!

The only requirement for wash (no wipe) and self leveling of HID headlamps is at type test and manufacture for a new OEM vehicle. Low volume and IVA? have reduced conformance testing.

The DFT state that if a lens unit is only marked for halogen bulbs it is in breach of the law to fit any other bulb. They haven't as yet bought a single prosecution, it's clear this just a bit of wishful thinking on by the DFT. CPS don't want to the run the risk of losing the case as a judge may read the regulation differently. One defense is retrospective conformance, defendant puts the light unit though a cheap European type test, if it passes they win the case and DFT/CPS pays costs including the type test!

The lighting regs still have not been updated. Every single lighting reg applies ONLY to filament bulbs and so has no control over HID/Led. The reg requires a filament bulb for dip and main beam, there is no provision for HID/Led. So all new cars with HID/Led are not conforming to the lighting regs or the law is an ass.

"no filament lamp other than a filament lamp marked" The reg states that if it's a filament lamp (aka bulb) in a lamp (aka lens assembly) with an approval mark the bulb has to have the correct approval mark. HID and Led are not filament lamps and thus can be fitted to the lamp and doesn't require approval marks.

If you can find a 100 watt filament lamp with an E4 mark you can fit it. The crime is committed by the person that marked it with the E4.