Headlights

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Phil Brook
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Headlights

Post by Phil Brook »

My 20 something son says that the illumination on both my Bx is rubbish. I thought it was just me getting old but maybe he's right! Generally I am pretty much blinded by oncoming cars- does everyone experience this? The previous owner of my white car had replaced the bulbs with a blue/white sort of bulb which looked stunning but worked badly!.I changed them buying recommended bulbs from Halfords- not the most expensive but pretty well up there. Can anyone recommend a set of bulbs or modification that will improve matters. The reflectors are perfectly ok and anyway I do have new spares which came with the car. Maybe I should try these!
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Tim Leech
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Re: Headlights

Post by Tim Leech »

Fit the new lamps, they will help and brighten u the front of the car too and see the techy post on bulbs, it will prove things but you won't get the same kind of illumination as you do on a new car , especially ones with Xenon gas lamps.
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jamescarruthers
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Re: Headlights

Post by jamescarruthers »

Nope, the bulbs won't make much difference as the wiring design on the BX is wank. All the current goes through the switch in the cabin, and the earth's and other connections are probably not too great either with age and corrosion.

I took the advice given in this topic http://www.bxclub.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=20078 and fitted a new loom with relays in on my old Renault Master van (also poorly thought out, no relays in the system, comparible to the BX).

I promise you it took 5 minutes to get show it worked about 10 minutes more to feed-in and secure the loom into the vehicle and the results are utterly spectacular. You get the 12V you are supposed to at the lamp, via relays straight to the battery not 11-point-something after all the voltage loss in the system.

The plug-and-play loom I got comes from Hong Kong and took about a week and a half to come.

Here's the link to the one from the seller I got mine from http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.vi ... 0567437129


Good luck mate.
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Re: Headlights

Post by MULLEY »

I got better results by using osram nightbreakers plus new headlights which didn't have the internal silver surfaces fading. I've yet to try the loom which james mentions, but it does sound good :)
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mat_fenwick
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Re: Headlights

Post by mat_fenwick »

If the existing wiring and switchgear is still in good condition (although this is now unlikely!), then adding a relay won't actually help. I remember my Dad being impressed with the headlights in his first BX, which was only a few years old at the time.

Or, to put it another way, the 'best' solution will depend on what the real cause is. Worth putting a multimeter (set to voltage) between the battery +ve (or alternator output) and the +ve at the bulb. That will show exactly how much is being lost across the wiring. Repeat for the -ve side.
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Tinkley
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Re: Headlights

Post by Tinkley »

Phil Brook wrote:My 20 something son says that the illumination on both my Bx is rubbish. I thought it was just me getting old but maybe he's right! Generally I am pretty much blinded by oncoming cars- does everyone experience this?
The BX is not bad, but the silvering does lose its reflectivity a bit over time. Only when you put a new lamp next to an old one can you easily see the difference. If not different don't change them!.

You'll find a lot of new cars using more powerful lights and if not set correctly (or on full beam) they are a bit blinding. It's not just you, or getting older. IMHO some (esp 100w output) are simply too powerful and likely ironically to cause accidents for oncoming vehicles by temporarily blinding the driver. The 55/60s' are quite adequate for reasonable night time driving speeds as far as I am concerned. I also hate the high extra brake and rear fog lights, because on a m/cycle in the rain at night they become pretty blinding too and make it hard to see drain covers and other hazards on the road surface. The older generation of vehicles were better yet still adequate. Mind you I'm still not that convinced by daytime running lights on bikes - much harder to judge speed in good daylight in my opinion.

Now that councils are turning off street lights to save money, I expect even more powerful vehicle lighting. 250w headlights? or maybe those super powerful LEDs' that aircraft use, maybe Night Suns... :wink:
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jamescarruthers
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Re: Headlights

Post by jamescarruthers »

Yes, the guys talking about the reflector silver are obviously correct too mate. Check these too! New headlights weren't hugely expensive last time I checked.
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citronut
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Re: Headlights

Post by citronut »

i read an article a few years back saying the manufactures could never get as good a light output from rectangular head lights as they could from round,

something to do with the beam diffusion?????

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Phil Brook
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Re: Headlights

Post by Phil Brook »

Many thanks for those replies. I will try the new reflectors for starters and see if there's a significant difference. The current ones look ok but I expect they will probably have lost some reflection properties.
Philbrook
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Re: Headlights

Post by Kaapelimies »

Some (cheap) aftermarket headlamps are rubbish at least here in LHD-land, so I would stick in original Cibie/Valeo if available.
BX 4x4 estate, several BX Van's and some more normal estates in Finland.
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