auxilary head light - disappointment

[yellow]

.. strange ...
posted Mo, 12th .
post appeared as #1

[yellow]

well, as the asking was ... here I am.


I do not care for what is allowed or not. The light would have an additional switch and will only be used offroads, at least if someone asks. Mounted equipment would be my least problem, if there ever were any control.
Also the mounting place would not have been "official" - I planned inside the car near the front window, passengers seat (as this is not used often, and with a quick mount for putting it away, if needed)
But the light sucks and therefore ...


Totally changed my mind and now have all the parts to put CST90 into 2 projector fog lights to change them to aspherical.
They can be mounted nearly unseen into the front of the car - air intake part between the original lights - and the passenger seat stays clear.
Wonder if that setup will surprise me more than the really crappy Bosch.


PS: the green one looks quite nice, much better than mine.
"Unfortunately" French cars (my previous one also was french) have either extreme crappy lights, or very good ones. Seems the original high beams are already really good. Maybe thats why that "Rallye" Bosch light does not really give me anything.

PPS: if there were a uselful comparable car with the suspension system form Citroen, I would immediately get one, but even there the wrong ppl now are on duty.
(they now tell something about "customers asking for it" --> Citroen!
When ever did they care for what their customers wanted?)

.

[yellow]

.
.
Now in winter, I am driving very much in the dark, thus I wanted more punch for my high beam.

Because of size I opted for the Bosch Compass Offroad Version Pencil beam light:

that scale is in meters
(but has nothing to do with reality)

Now I got it and did a quick on-the-fly try but its depressing.
When I turn on my car's high, it really does not matter if that pencil beam is on, or off; it can barely be seen any more.

The reach of the beam is also next to nothing.


Did I expect too much?

Is there something considerably better at a comparable size?


PS: I am driving a citroen xantia, so a 10 year old car of no special expensive make.
No reason its lights should be something better than usual

[AnAppleSnail]

I think you'll get more bang for your buck updating your existing lights. Are the lenses cloudy? What voltage does the bulb see when you measure at the bulb's socket? Fixing these things will give better results than bolting things on.

I see that the Bosch paperwork is in German. Which country are you in? Also, 4 lux is quite dim; appearing about twice as bright as a full moon's light.

[Alaric Darconville]

What voltage does the bulb see when you measure at the bulb's socket?

Such a reading is very inaccurate. What one must do is see the actual voltage loss in operation, in accordance with the instructions here.

For a "pencil beam", I expect that aim is important. You may have the lamps aimed too high.

4 lux at 200 meters isn't all *that* bad, is it?

[yellow]

well, the main lights actually do not seem to be "bad" in any way,
I obviously just thought (hoped?) that these pencil beams were extremely better - which they are not.

f.e. both light "area" in front of car as well as reach of just one of my highs are so much better than this new supplemental light ...

thats why I am asking, if I probably am just wrong on the output of the Bosch (or Hella, or ...) additional lights.

... cant mount the really big ones (Navigator / Luminator) because of size


PS: atm the Compass is on the fly wired from the cigarette lighter with a short cable (15 A safety). Only powered up while engine is running.
Dont think that setup costs so much output, to notice a difference to the real, fixed installation.

[Alaric Darconville]

atm the Compass is on the fly wired from the cigarette lighter with a short cable (15 A safety). Only powered up while engine is running.

It may cost you more voltage than you think. However, AnAppleSnail was probably referring to the voltage loss of the factory headlamps.

[viper37]

An easy way to test the lamps is to connect one straight to the battery and test it out. The cable may be rated for 15 amps, but I bet your cigarette lighter isn't. Wire the lights into the car either piggy backed/triggered off of your high beam ckt, or via a switch. Use a relay or wire rated for the amperage.

[Alaric Darconville]

An easy way to test the lamps is to connect one straight to the battery and test it out.

That would help reduce losses greatly.

The cable may be rated for 15 amps, but I bet your cigarette lighter isn't.

A 55W bulb would only draw about 4.3A at 12.8V, so that's not exactly the problem. If the lamp were exceeding the capacity of the cigar lighter circuit, the fuse *should* blow. However, the fuse may sometimes exceed the capacity of the wiring so it acts more like a "slo-blo" fuse than a fast one.

[Diesel_Bomber]

PS: atm the Compass is on the fly wired from the cigarette lighter with a short cable (15 A safety). Only powered up while engine is running.
Dont think that setup costs so much output, to notice a difference to the real, fixed installation.

There's a big part of your problem. A cigarette lighter isn't picky about voltage drop, and cigarette lighter plugs are wired accordingly. Hook up your light properly and get back to us. Make sure you run an adequate ground. Remember, voltage drop vs. light output is not a linear scale, a 10% drop in voltage = 46% drop in light output. Doesn't take much voltage drop to really rob you of lumens.

[Scheinwerfermann]

Pencil-beam lamps really aren't well suited to the kind of lighting task you had in mind. They produce a very narrow beam and yes, it will be very difficult to tell they're switched on; most of the light is being sent much further down the road than will be useful on public roads. Also, because of the tight, narrow beam, aim is absolutely critical. You would have been much happier with the driving (not pencil) beam lamps, 0 986 310 522 (and even happier still with the HID version, 0 986 310 572, but those are very expensive).

[Marcturus]

Unless you unwittingly showed us page A19, instead of the very similar A18 of the Bosch catalogue, your lights are probably illegal to use on public roads near you. Or have they recently gotten re-labeled with a l.i. rating of up to 50? If someone sold you unlabeled ones as car equipment, not rally equipment, you may be able to get your money back.

[Alaric Darconville]

If someone sold you unlabeled ones as car equipment, not rally equipment, you may be able to get your money back.

A stipulation of most rallies is that the vehicles conform to the vehicle safety standards for the area, so either way...

[Marcturus]

A stipulation of most rallies is that the vehicles conform to the vehicle safety standards for the area, so either way...

Some European suppliers of closed-circuit rally supplies are pretty clear, for legal reasons, about not selling car supplies, one example being rennsport-ehm.de, but will still sell some perfectly ECE-conforming products (in unmodified status).

[drmalenko]

Try the hella 90mm hi beams.. They put a lot of useful light down range

[Marcturus]

Try the hella 90mm hi beams.

which one?
Have you fitted them into these?
http://pieces-auto.oscaro.com/projec...tia-259-146-gf

[Scheinwerfermann]

Marcturus, your link makes no sense; shows OE Citroën Xantia headlamp assemblies. How do you imagine someone would fit Hella 90mm modules into them?

[Marcturus]

... exactly what I thought when reading drmalenko's contribution.

The car's front looks like this:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...k_1.8i_16V.JPG
European Hella product code 1K0 008 191-051 ECE/SAE H9, which drmalenko might have been referring to, has these dimensions:
http://www.hella.cz/_data/foto/katal...ozky/382-2.jpg
For a 10-y.o. French car, driven on salty Austrian roads, i.e. probably limited time of roadworthiness left , only yellow knows how much time/money he is willing to invest, mounting them.

Hmm... checking what Morette had to offer... seems like first gen. Xantia only.

[Alaric Darconville]

... exactly what I thought when reading drmalenko's contribution.

Auxiliary lamps, not retrofits/kitbashing/cobbling/making a huge mess of things.

There's no need to fit such lamps into the OE assemblies; they can be attached to some other part of the car in a separate housing.

[Marcturus]

Precisely. As no-one has mentioned any Xantia-suitable easy-fit receptacle for 90mm Hellas, and yellow hasn't returned, I'll leave it at that.