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

Originally Posted by sandeep959 (Post 4323797)
I have the same query. Except, im ok with yellow lights & splicing is also ok. Better illumination is what im looking for, a good spread. Drove my brothers Brezza, found its light spread and intensity better than my ciaz.

Pls advice, and also if anyone can give contact of any good dealer who can help me with the same in Delhi/New Delhi.

It all depends on what kind of upgrades you want & how much are you willing on spending for the same.
If you could specify that, everyone could help you out better.

Quote:

Originally Posted by AShubrah (Post 4323814)
It all depends on what kind of upgrades you want & how much are you willing on spending for the same.
If you could specify that, everyone could help you out better.

1. I do not want to go for HIDs.
2. Halogen lamps and Yellow lights.
3. Want to upgrade both High and low beam.
4. Ready to spend upto 10-12K.
5. I'm looking for good illumination which will give me confidence in night drives on highways.

Concerns
1. In case of higher wattage lamps, overheating n melting of reflectors.
2. Car is more than 2.5yrs old, hence warranty not an issue. So, I'm ready for splicing & extra relay.
3. But I do not want any holes being drilled.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sandeep959 (Post 4323819)
1. I do not want to go for HIDs.
2. Halogen lamps and Yellow lights.
3. Want to upgrade both High and low beam.
4. Ready to spend upto 10-12K.
5. I'm looking for good illumination which will give me confidence in night drives on highways.

Concerns
1. In case of higher wattage lamps, overheating n melting of reflectors.
2. Car is more than 2.5yrs old, hence warranty not an issue. So, I'm ready for splicing & extra relay.
3. But I do not want any holes being drilled.

Firstly, you could increase the height of your low beam projectors or get it done by your nearest M.A.S.S. This will give you a better throw, as the stock settings are pathetic.
You can then proceed to drop in a Philips X-tremeVision H11 or equivalent bulb. The difference won’t be much, but you’ll have a better low beam for the city. I wouldn’t recommend you going in for a higher wattage on the stock projectors as they might not be able to constantly deal with the extra heat.

Secondly, the high beam on the Ciaz is simply abysmal and feels like an even dimmer low beam. It’s not the problem of a weak bulb, as a friend of mine isn’t very satisfied with the the same even after a bulb swap to a 100W one. It’s the reflector that’s just VERY ill designed.
However, you can drop a 100W bulb with ceramic holders & a relay. There won’t be any overheating unless you use the high beam all the time.

Also, there aren’t that many options in the H8 bulb type for the fog lamps, but you can drop in an Osram or Philips bulb to make sure that you’re getting the best possible illumination.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sandeep959 (Post 4323819)
1. I do not want to go for HIDs.
2. Halogen lamps and Yellow lights.
3. Want to upgrade both High and low beam.
4. Ready to spend upto 10-12K.
5. I'm looking for good illumination which will give me confidence in night drives on highways.
.

Ideally, I would have gone for HID in the low beam but since you have stated you dont want to go that way, the only chance of upgrade you have is to get a pair of Osram Nightbreaker Laser, Phillips Xtremevision and the like. Your budget is too high but the options are not so. Hence, you will have to settle with these bulbs. Upgrading the 55W to 80/100W is possible but I am not sure how capable the projector assembly is to handle the extra heat.

For the high beam, you again will have to stick to the same bulbs, but since its a reflector setup, it might as well be able to accomodate higher wattage. You can check out Osram which manufactures H7 bulbs rated at 80W as well as 100W. The 80W will be a relatively safer bet and I think this will be a good choice for the high beam.

Quote:

Originally Posted by AShubrah (Post 4323930)
Firstly, you could increase the height of your low beam projectors or get it done by your nearest M.A.S.S. This will give you a better throw, as the stock settings are pathetic.

I dont agree with this. As you increase the height of throw of the projector, the intensity reduce. Low beam is mainly to illuminate the road ahead. On an empty road, one must be able to see the low beam cutoff somewhere on the road. So the max height you can take your low beam is to the point until you stop seeing the cutoff line. After this, its no use taking it further upwards. It will also create glare for the oncoming vehicles. High beam is what is supposed to illuminate straight ahead parallel to the road. Hence, please dont play with the focussing screws unless you know what you're doing.

Quote:

Originally Posted by HalfOctave (Post 4306372)
This question might have been asked many times in this thread. I could find it once. I am planning to change the headlamps for my Fluidic Verna 2012. The current one seems to be very inadequate.

I read someone suggesting Philips Xtreme Vision to someone with some relay change also. I did not understand why some relay needs to be changed if the bulbs are of same 'W' (wattage)?

Anyways, please suggest me good headlamps and fog lamps too if they require change.
All in all, I want a good night visibility. My use include regular night driving in city plus random highway driving too.

Thanks in advance.

Any help on the bold part?

Quote:

Originally Posted by HalfOctave (Post 4324214)
Any help on the bold part?

Stock wiring can be retained if the wattage remains same as stock and no need for extra relays.

Quote:

Originally Posted by audioholic (Post 4324197)
I dont agree with this. As you increase the height of throw of the projector, the intensity reduce. Low beam is mainly to illuminate the road ahead. On an empty road, one must be able to see the low beam cutoff somewhere on the road. So the max height you can take your low beam is to the point until you stop seeing the cutoff line. After this, its no use taking it further upwards. It will also create glare for the oncoming vehicles. High beam is what is supposed to illuminate straight ahead parallel to the road. Hence, please dont play with the focussing screws unless you know what you're doing.

Good sir, I completely agree with what you’re saying, but all the Maruti Ciaz’s that I’ve experienced till date have had their low beams focused too low & have faired much better after the height adjustment.
The cutoff was prominently visible after the same & it was made sure that the readjustment didn’t cause any glare to the oncoming traffic.
Also, the adjustment was done stimulating both, empty, as well as fully loaded scenarios, in order to obtain the best possible illumination from the factory setup.

Quote:

Originally Posted by AShubrah (Post 4324232)
Good sir, I completely agree with what you’re saying, but all the Maruti Ciaz’s that I’ve experienced till date have had their low beams focused too low & have faired much better after the height adjustment.
The cutoff was prominently visible after the same & it was made sure that the readjustment didn’t cause any glare to the oncoming traffic.
Also, the adjustment was done stimulating both, empty, as well as fully loaded scenarios, in order to obtain the best possible illumination from the factory setup.

Please dont 'sir' me :) Quite wierd to hear from you that the height was 'too' low in many cars. We fit a H7 HID kit on my colleagues Ciaz a few months back and the projector was rightly aligned. It was the high beam which was a little off, on one side. Since the projector is small, it is essential that whatever output it gives goes on the road itself. For the high beam, he left the halogen stay since he mostly drives within the city and would not use High beam except for flashing. With the headlight leveller at 0, I have not seen any car with wrong alignment off from factory, except if the headlight assembly has been replaced sometime during ownership. The people in the dealership rarely know how to get the alignment right.

Quote:

Originally Posted by audioholic (Post 4324259)
Please dont 'sir' me :) Quite wierd to hear from you that the height was 'too' low in many cars. We fit a H7 HID kit on my colleagues Ciaz a few months back and the projector was rightly aligned. It was the high beam which was a little off, on one side. Since the projector is small, it is essential that whatever output it gives goes on the road itself. For the high beam, he left the halogen stay since he mostly drives within the city and would not use High beam except for flashing. With the headlight leveller at 0, I have not seen any car with wrong alignment off from factory, except if the headlight assembly has been replaced sometime during ownership. The people in the dealership rarely know how to get the alignment right.

I said ‘sir’ just out of respect. :)

I even had to get the low beams on our Innova Crysta & our Ford Endeavour raised up as they were both set too low.
I guess it’s just me, because the 3 Ciaz’s that I’ve done headlight upgrades on, came either with flawed alignment or an extremely low low beam from the factory.

On a different note, have you ever seen a HID kit fitted on car with a separate high beam reflector housing?
If so, how bad is the glare?

Quote:

Originally Posted by AShubrah (Post 4324270)
I even had to get the low beams on our Innova Crysta & our Ford Endeavour raised up as they were both set too low.
I guess it’s just me, because the 3 Ciaz’s that I’ve done headlight upgrades on, came either with flawed alignment or an extremely low low beam from the factory.

That's quite surprising.
So many new vehicles there with mis-aligned low beams, and that too from different brands!

I feel that your concept of low beam itself is a bit different, and may be that is why it appears too low to you on so many different vehicles?
Not to offend you or question your concepts, but that seems to be more of a probability to me.

Rather than thinking that these multiple brands including giants like Toyota and Ford, can't even get a low beam aligned right at the factory itself and ensure its consistency throughout their products, that too in today's age of robotic precision and automation in the production process, can't it be the other way around?

Quote:

Originally Posted by VinodDevil81 (Post 4324304)
can't it be the other way around?

None taken, and it very well could be the other way around.
I mostly use videos off credible YouTube channels & follow steps mentioned by many members in several threads in order to properly align headlights.
Please let me know if something is amiss in this video, as I use these techniques quite often.
Thanks in advance.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=03fHzDEHVV4

Quote:

Originally Posted by AShubrah (Post 4324339)
None taken, and it very well could be the other way around.
I mostly use videos off credible YouTube channels & follow steps mentioned by many members in several threads in order to properly align headlights.
Please let me know if something is amiss in this video, as I use these techniques quite often.
Thanks in advance.

The way that guy has put it is quite vague. His thumb rule will lead to different results for different cars and also which is the reference car to check its side view mirror height? Ideal method would be to mark the headlight center line on a wall, pull back the car by X meters distance and then check that the low beam would be Y meters below the original centerline. This Y value is calculated by seeing the marking on the headlight.

Each headlight assembly will have a percentage marking near the alignment screws which indicates the declination in the beam. Usually it will be 1-3%. Hence, if you move your car back by 5m from a wall, the low beam cutoff line should be 5cm below the centerline of the headlights for a 1% declination. This should be set at the leveller at 0 position which, under load can be changed to different values. There should be some amount of declination always present, else some of the low beam light will be lost illuminating in parallel to the road. That will what happen in the video by TRS. It might be a good thumb rule for a high vehicle which will obviously end up beaming downwards, but a low slung sedan cant be focused such that it will illuminate another car's ORVM. That might end up with aiming the low beam upwards.

Same example applies when one tries to fit a Low beam projector in the fog light area. If the beam doesnt have a declination, then it will lead to the light being aimed upwards and both causing glare as well as loss of usable light.

Quote:

Originally Posted by audioholic (Post 4324528)
The way that guy has put it is quite vague. His thumb rule will lead to different results for different cars and also which is the reference car to check its side view mirror height? Ideal method would be to mark the headlight center line on a wall, pull back the car by X meters distance and then check that the low beam would be Y meters below the original centerline. This Y value is calculated by seeing the marking on the headlight.

Each headlight assembly will have a percentage marking near the alignment screws which indicates the declination in the beam. Usually it will be 1-3%. Hence, if you move your car back by 5m from a wall, the low beam cutoff line should be 5cm below the centerline of the headlights for a 1% declination. This should be set at the leveller at 0 position which, under load can be changed to different values. There should be some amount of declination always present, else some of the low beam light will be lost illuminating in parallel to the road. That will what happen in the video by TRS. It might be a good thumb rule for a high vehicle which will obviously end up beaming downwards, but a low slung sedan cant be focused such that it will illuminate another car's ORVM. That might end up with aiming the low beam upwards.

Same example applies when one tries to fit a Low beam projector in the fog light area. If the beam doesnt have a declination, then it will lead to the light being aimed upwards and both causing glare as well as loss of usable light.

Thank you so much for the detailed explanation. I’ll make sure to check & increase the declination in all the sedans, as I think I might’ve set the low beam a big too high.
Yes, the video from TRS is a little flawed, as they don’t specify which cars’ ORVM.

Gurus, Could you please advise me if W5W bulbs can be used in W6W slots, I would like to replace all W6W incandescent ones with LED, I can't find any W6W LED but W5W ones are aplenty. Thanks in advance.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thilak29 (Post 4334259)
Gurus, Could you please advise me if W5W bulbs can be used in W6W slots, I would like to replace all W6W incandescent ones with LED, I can't find any W6W LED but W5W ones are aplenty. Thanks in advance.

AFAIK, the only difference between W5W & W6W is the wattage, as the former is rated at 5W & the latter is rated at 6W.
Please correct me if I’m wrong, but IIRC, one can replace W6W bulbs with W5W ones, as they have the same wedge type base.


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