Team-BHP - Auto Lighting thread : Post all queries about automobile lighting here

Quote:

Originally Posted by married2speed (Post 822280)

He said that this has nothing to do with the alternator and that a relay of around 500Ampere was to be installed.
I got the car serviced about 2K before from honda and had there been a problem with the alternator, wouldn't have that come up during the service? Is the MASS guy taking me for a ride or should i get the alternator checked from Honda and get pinched from them?

Problems with components can come up anytime - you can't really blame the service center unless they're delibrately screwing things up under the hood.
Eventually these're electronic & mechanical components - which may / may not fail as they please.
If your car starts up OK and the normal electricals are functioning as they should, then your alternator can be ruled out as the culprit.
Your mechanic wants to install a 500A relay, or do you have 500A relays installed? If so, use a different mechanic. :)
30A relays should be more than sufficient for normal operation.

Quote:

Originally Posted by married2speed (Post 824195)

It's just the high beam which blows off and the pattern is quite erratic. It starts off from the right one and after the right one is replaced, the left one blows out. Seems like the car is conspiring against me not to have 2 full high beams lol:

aah78 - you mentioned about a mess up while wiring up the relay. How do we check if there's a problem with the relay. Some diagnostic perhaps. Maybe the relay itself is ok but the wiring not quite ok?

This may sound crazy but, have they put in a single relay to control both high-beams? There should be one relay per.
Direct lines (12V) from your battery (preferable) or alternator - make sure they have inline fuses (20-30A) before the relays, not too far from the source.
The headlights will be grounded but check that your relays are too. Make sure they're grounded tightly to the chassis with paint scraped off.

Alternate:
Get rid off all this wiring mumbo-jumbo and get yourself the new Philips X-treme Power bulbs. They're great.
Just had a pair fitted onto my LR3 - 12V, 55W - standard wattage but much brighter than the standard OSRAM halogens.

Hi again all

Tsk 1979 - u got it bull's eye. The tube does blow out soon after or during the FLASHING process but as anupamathur mentioned, how or why?
from what i understand is that the tubes blow out when excess of current is passed onto them. With the alternator giving a :thumbs up and the rest of the electricals working fine, it doesn't seem to be an alternator problem. This leaves us with the relay and the battery. Since the car starts pretty good even after 3 years, (kudos to amaron for that) it is highly unlikely that it's a battery problem. That leaves us with the relay or perhaps some wire issue. Let me post a picture of HOW the relay has been set up. Maybe, just maybe that could be a source of problem and an earthing problem?

aah78 - There is just a single relay installed and although i do understand your point of view, what i don't understand is that most of the other cars too have a single relay installed. Has anyone else experienced such frequent blow outs? 2nd installing more than 1 relay, wont' that be a drainer on the battery?
PS: I did run the thought across the guy at qutab motors of putting in 4 relays, something which he laughed at

[Alternate:
Get rid off all this wiring mumbo-jumbo and get yourself the new Philips X-treme Power bulbs. They're great.
Just had a pair fitted onto my LR3 - 12V, 55W - standard wattage but much brighter than the standard OSRAM halogens.[/quote]

how about putting a picture across.

Thanks again for all the suggestions. this surely is fun and informative :D

Quote:

Originally Posted by married2speed (Post 825021)

Tsk 1979 - u got it bull's eye. The tube does blow out soon after or during the FLASHING process but as anupamathur mentioned, how or why?

Bravo, Tanveer! clap:

Now, please try to figure out the how & why of it.
Is this to do with both high & low beams coming on together? Ought not to be.
Does it mean the bulbs are inherently of 'poor' quality/design? Like the cold resistance being too low, attracting a heavy inrush of current which blows the filament?

On the High and low beam being flashed simultaneously. I think if the wattage is 90/100, then you stand a chance of fusing the high beam. Not so in a 55/60.
Since the glass/gas in the bulb is tuned to receive not more than the high beam (100), when you flash both, it causes the wattage to reach 100+90=190. Sustained wattage at 190 will cause the bulb to fuse.

On Philips xtreme, Ive been using it for about 4 months on my NHC. The light is far better than the stock and no issue of relay etc, since it is stock wattage(60/55). Do try it out.. Will solve your problem AFAIK..:) Ive heard it is now available in the market. They were plagued with supply problems initially. but that has now been taken care of..

[quote]

Quote:

Originally Posted by hrman (Post 825223)

If this were to be the case, then the tubes should blow out on the very first flash. Moreover, both the tubes should blow out simultaneously and should not be exhibiting the erratic behavior that my car is showing :Frustrati

Also, when the flash is being used, then the switch turns on which means that the current to the low beam is routed/bypassed to the high beam, so there's only 1 light on at a given point of time to keep the maximum load of 100. If this doesn't happen, then what you are saying would also apply to 60/55W, which means at flashing the total should be 115W and even these lights should blow out but they don't.
Your thoughts please
M2S

Quote:

Originally Posted by hrman (Post 825223)

Sounds good hrman, but I find it difficult to believe that high & low beams can be turned on simultaneously, even if using the stalk to flash.
I would expect that the low beam would be cut-off when flashing.
And if there are cars where both can be turned on together, even momentarily, it would be fair to expect that bulb makers enable/design their bulbs to withstand that condition.

Can someone please throw more light on this (high beam preferred!)?

I use 130/110W philips in the left headlight and 100/90 halonix in right. On highways I flash beams, and many times high and low come on together.
But unless you do it very very frequently there will not be an issue.
In the past 2 years I have had just one high beam blow.
Since in married2speed's case, this tube blowout is happening while flashing, it looks to be a relay wiring problem, with terminals fouled up.
Good quality relays come with a wiring diagram, so check that out and see if matches.
I know a good electrician in Noida, if you want his contact PM me.
He will check your car's entire wiring.
You can get halonix 100/90 from noida itself and try it out too.

Quote:

Originally Posted by anupmathur (Post 825267)

Sounds good hrman, but I find it difficult to believe that high & low beams can be turned on simultaneously, even if using the stalk to flash.

Certain cars have a stalk arrangement in which while driving on low-beam if you flash then the high-beam comes on WITH the low-beam staying on also. My car (OHC) also has this system & dare I say I've blown quite a few 100/90 bulbs trying to teach those pesky truckers a lesson in blinding! :p

Anup ji - Want a demo of this phenomenon? I might be around X - 1 soon!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by iraghava (Post 825322)

Right Iraghava.. I have a couple of friends with OHC where their bulbs have fused with prolonged usage of High and low beam together.
Im however not able to explain how either of the bulbs fuses and not both together.

Quote:

Originally Posted by iraghava (Post 825322)

That being the case, why don't bulb makers do something about it??

______________and Ishan, you are most welcome to drop by if you're ever in the vicinity! :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by hrman (Post 825329)

Is it possible that it could be a faulty switch/light assembly, which forces both the lights to remain on while flashing?
TSK 1979 - sounds like it's down to the relay issue. I'll come down to noida as soon as I can.
Cheers!
M2S