Headlamp Beam Setting

[bitzer15]

According to the Aygo manual the headlight beam should be set at 0 when only one is in the vehicle. I find at that setting the dipped headlights only illuminate for a very short way in front and have actually moved them to number 2 and it certainly improves visibility.This does not seem to affect oncoming traffic as nobody has flashed me yet. Just wondering if anybody else has found the same.

Have also seen the likes of philips or Osram upgrade bulbs to improve brightness whilst still being legal . Have any Aygo owners upgraded and is the difference very noticeable ?

Here's hoping for some illuminating answers

Gwynfor

[viper262]

ive been using 0 setting since i bought my car in August 2009 and i never really had any problems with visibility at night with dipped headlights on i might give number 2 a try one night and see what happeneds

[Jan van de Wouw]

Higher numbers on the thumbwheel will turn the beams DOWN, so they shine LESS distance in front of your car...

[MD1]

yep, 0 should be the ideal set up and as Jan as quite rightly said the higher numbers do mean the beam will be worse not better - 0 on our Aygo black gives great light although I have upgraded the bulbs ;)

[AygoIronman]

Higher numbers on the thumbwheel will turn the beams DOWN, so they shine LESS distance in front of your car...

Jan van de Wouw is correct. If you turn up the numbers the beams go down!! What an odd post!? :o You can check what we`re saying by parking close to a wall, or a garage door at night. Turn the numbers up and down, and you can see what we mean.

All cars have this set up. My old Peugeot 106 was the EXACT same, although you could hear the Zzzzz of the motors make the head lights go up and down.

[Angryhatter]

Can anyone shed any light on what bulbs are good for whiter/brighter beams? And where to get them from.

[TonyAYGO]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Xenon-Upgrade-Headli...=item439cb98d69

These might be a fair bit brighter. They look almost identical to the ones I changed mine to. Whether they're legal or not I dont know.

The ones in my car are illegal apparently, but I dont really know why, the light is nowhere near as bright as proper xenon / HID. And ive had no problem with my bulbs, ive never been pulled over with them

[Angryhatter]

I have found that people think bright bulbs are illegal.

My dad is a driving instructor and due to that I usually meet a lot of old and new motorists and you would be surprised how little people know on the actual facts of lighting and legality.

Only way to be sure is to ask a traffic cop I.M.O. as even government sites don't always clarify properly.

Oh and thanks for the link.

[AygoIronman]

Whoa! The link to Ebays lights. THEY`RE RATED AT 100Ws. A Aygos bulb uses 55Ws. I d sure do some research before fitting these lights! Might melt some plastic lenses!! :o

[TonyAYGO]

Whoa! The link to Ebays lights. THEY`RE RATED AT 100Ws. A Aygos bulb uses 55Ws. I d sure do some research before fitting these lights! Might melt some plastic lenses!! :o

Just checked mine, they're 100Ws. And ive had mine in about a year now so they should be okay!

[Jan van de Wouw]

Your lights may still be OK, but with 100W bulbs you're increasing the electrical load allmost two-fold too!

This may cause the (very thin) wires to heat up too much and may also strain your alternator AND increase

fuel consumption, as below the line every bit of electrical energy is produced by the engine...

As for the Topic Starter: I think you're confusing seeing the lightbeams shine onto the road in front of you

with actual visibility... You don't need to see the road directly in front of you, you need to see at least

100 feet in front of the car; THAT's where you're going! By the time you see something in the first 30 feet

in front of you (like a pothole or the neighbours' cat), you're allready too late to react to it.

Over here the rule is that for every 10 meters (30') the beam shines away from you it should go down 10cm (4")

[gordonh]

I think you will find that the law in the UK limits headlights to 55W only.

If you have put those into your Aygo I would rewire your headlights to go through a set of relays to protect your main wiring loom and switches, in an older car of mine I managed to burn out the steering column switch gear due to using 100w bulbs.

If you really want better lights take a look at this link http://www.hids4u.co.uk/h4-bi-xenon-ultima...-p-1-pr-84.html

These are also technically not legal though. I have one of these 6000k conversion kits on the dipped beam of my bike and it makes a massive difference, but you need to make sure the lights are correctly adjusted otherwise you will get stopped and nicked.

[AygoIronman]

Your lights may still be OK, but with 100W bulbs you're increasing the electrical load allmost two-fold too!

This may cause the (very thin) wires to heat up too much and may also strain your alternator AND increase

fuel consumption, as below the line every bit of electrical energy is produced by the engine...

As for the Topic Starter: I think you're confusing seeing the lightbeams shine onto the road in front of you

with actual visibility... You don't need to see the road directly in front of you, you need to see at least

100 feet in front of the car; THAT's where you're going! By the time you see something in the first 30 feet

in front of you (like a pothole or the neighbours' cat), you're allready too late to react to it.

Over here the rule is that for every 10 meters (30') the beam shines away from you it should go down 10cm (4")

Absolutely! :o By putting higher wattage you do use more electrical load. Its like putting changinging your 60w light to 100watts incandescent, and will use more energy. Its also illegal to run the wattage at 100ws. If you choose to run your car at that rate, and nothing has happened to your plastic lenses, well thats good for you. However if they start to melt, then dont let me say this. . . . . " I told you so"!