Headlights

[Heidfirst]

5 hours ago, Mick F said:

 

I actually can't remember if I said Opti White or Bright, but I stressed that I wanted the extra bright ones than standard.  The young lady behind the counter fully understood - or at least I thought she did.  The way I see it, is that the standard bulbs would be in stock, but it's just the extra bright ones that aren't for the very reason that they aren't standard.

 

Optibrights are also meant to be brighter than standard but up to 50% brighter (depending upon fitment) & possibly a warmer light than Optiwhites.

Interesting that the Optiwhites are marked as made in Germany.

[Justhandguns]

3 hours ago, Heidfirst said:

Optibrights are also meant to be brighter than standard but up to 50% brighter (depending upon fitment) & possibly a warmer light than Optiwhites.

Interesting that the Optiwhites are marked as made in Germany.

 

Just wonder which company make these bulbs for them. Both my pairs of Osram Cool Blue and Philips Crystal Vision are made in Germany. Osram claim to have a 4000k colour while the Philips are only 3700k. I am still kind of suspicious of where that extra 60% brightness is coming from.

[FROSTYBALLS]

41 minutes ago, Justhandguns said:

I am still kind of suspicious of where that extra 60% brightness is coming from.

No different to Osram, Philips, Alise (who make Halfords and Ring headlight bulbs), etc claiming their non-HIR2 bulbs are up to +110% or +130% brighter, etc.

We've fitted upgrade bulbs to all our cars since around 2000 (11 since then) .... when the first upgrade halogen bulbs were up to +30% brighter

[Heidfirst]

42 minutes ago, FROSTYBALLS said:

No different to Osram, Philips, Alise (who make Halfords and Ring headlight bulbs), etc claiming their non-HIR2 bulbs are up to +110% or +130% brighter, etc.

We've fitted upgrade bulbs to all our cars since around 2000 (11 since then) .... when the first upgrade halogen bulbs were up to +30% brighter

I suspect that he means 60% brighter compared to what (standard HIR2, or a standard H4 etc. etc.)? Until they specify their reference I too am goingto have doubts.

[FROSTYBALLS]

8 minutes ago, Heidfirst said:

I suspect that he means 60% brighter compared to what (standard HIR2, or a standard H4 etc. etc.)? Until they specify their reference I too am goingto have doubts.

Standard HIR2's are already supposed to be around 70% brighter than standard halogens.

[Heidfirst]

You would think that if there was a +60% solution available compared to standard HIR2  that they woud be available in the mass market channel as Toyota are not the only user afaik. But they don't appear to be (indeed on Philips.co.uk they don't even appear to list HIR2 as available at all).

[Mick F]

Until I brought this subject up I had no idea what HIR bulbs were.  I thought it was just the fitting arrangements.  Since then, I've looked it up.

Halogen Infrared bulbs are more efficient.  Therefore if they are more efficient, you get more bang for your buck.  Legally, we are limited to 55watts for the headlight bulbs, but that doesn't equate to the brilliance of the light.  The more brilliance you get for 55w the better, but it becomes an "arms race" of course. It's an arms race.  If you have a bright light, I want one brighter.

55w on a 1960s sealed beam on a Vauxhall Viva is a completely different beast to 55w on a modern halogen headlight, and another completely different beast to a stupidly bright and white LED headlight.

All we really need, is a bright light to see with on dark roads considering the performance and speed of a modern car. The standard headlights on a Yaris are poor and wanting, and rather poor on dark Cornish lanes. Dipped headlights on city streets don't need to be so bright.  Anyone remember dim-dip?  They worked well but the idea didn't last for long.

Best wishes to all,

Mick.

[FROSTYBALLS]

 

1 hour ago, Mick F said:

Anyone remember dim-dip?  They worked well but the idea didn't last for long.

The UK was the only country within Europe to adopt the 'dim dip' system. The EU took the view that dipped headlights were necessary in towns, etc, and prosecuted the UK for the use of 'dim dip' as it didn't meet EU requirements. 

[Heidfirst]

1 hour ago, FROSTYBALLS said:

The EU took the view that dipped headlights were necessary in towns, etc, and prosecuted the UK for the use of 'dim dip' as it didn't meet EU requirements. 

& yet now we see cars, that meet EU standards, driving around on DRLs only ...   

[Mick F]

We're off to the Toyota dealer today - maybe early afternoon.

Yesterday evening in the dark, I switched to main beam and I'm fairly sure that the aim is too high.  I altered the load leveller control and I could swear that the aim is wrong.

Yet to experiment further, but I think that the control should be at zero when the car is unloaded with just a driver and front passenger.  It seems to be better at 3 or 4 (of 5).  Also, the control bottoms out below zero.

It seems that the aim is fine in dipped, and the brightness is fine in dipped too.

So, not only are the lights not bright enough in main beam, they appear to be poorly aimed in main beam too.  Could this issue be put down to the way the focus line is changed from dipped to main?  Is this mechanism tuneable, or is it fixed by design?

Mick.

[CPN]

Sounds as if the bulbs haven't been seated correctly in the housings?

[Mick F]

I don't know.

We bought this car in late August and I've only opened the bonnet twice, and both times to check what it looks like under there.  The second time, as well as looking at the engine bay, I topped up the washer bottle.  That's all I've done.

As for looking at how to change these bulbs, I've only looked at the handbook.  It could well be that they aren't seated right, but it passed the MOT to day before we picked it up.  When I fit the new ones, I'll make sure that they are correctly seated ............. thanks for the heads up on this idea.

Mick.

[Mick F]

On 08/11/2017 at 6:35 PM, Mick F said:

I cycled down to Snows Toyota in Plympton today and bought a PAIR of HIR2 Optibright bulbs. They didn't have them in stock, so they were ordered for me to pick up on Friday ........... two days from now. Cost?  They were £40.64 for the pair including VAT.

Sorry, my mistake.  They were £40.64 PLUS VAT = 48.77.

We picked them up today, and I've just fitted them.  I've never owed a car where it was simple and easy to change the headlight bulbs.  Whole job from start to checking that they worked, must have been all of five minutes.

The bulbs are OptiWhite, though the box they came in was different to the one I posted above.

The bulbs themselves have a blue tinge to the glass(?) whereas the originals are crystal clear.  The filaments on the OptiWhites look finer than the originals.

Mick.

 

 

[CPN]

That's exactly the price that I've been quoted. Picking mine up from the dealer this morning. 

[CPN]

Got my Optiwhite HIR2's this morning. Just waiting for dusk now to see how they are...

Also got these today for the fog lights...

Same colour temp as the new HIR2's in the headlamps so it will be interesting to see their combined power now (the bulbs in the photo are the ones removed - new ones have blue envelopes)

[Mick F]

We have fog front lights on our Yaris, and had them on the Fiat 500 and the Clio.  We had the Clio from brand new in 2001 and only sold her a few weeks ago.  We had the 500 for four years and traded her in for the Yaris.

I can honestly say, that the front fog lights on both those cars were never used.  The rear foglights occasionally, but never needed the fronts.

I remember as kid in Lancashire, that Dad used to open the driver's door to see where the centre white line was.  That was back in the 1950s when we had pea-soupers, but I can't remember any fogs like that in recent years.  Maybe it's living in Cornwall and there are real fogs somewhere else, all we seem to get is mist here.

Not actually tried our new headlights yet.  I could go out tomorrow morning for an experimental drive before it gets light as I've just had a couple of beers by the fire, so I'm in no fit state to go driving now! 

All the best, Mick.

[Heidfirst]

45 minutes ago, Mick F said:

I can honestly say, that the front fog lights on both those cars were never used.  The rear foglights occasionally, but never needed the fronts.

One of my minor grumbles sgainst the T27 Avensis is that you can't switch on rear fogs only but have to have the fronts on too. There are times when having the fronts on in fog/mist can make driving harder yet you don't want someone running into the back of you ...

Iirc this was not an issue on the T25 Avensis.

[Mick F]

Thinking about it, we must have had to have the front foglights on in the Clio when we only wanted the rear ones on, wether we liked it or not.

Some few years ago, a friend of mine was stopped by the police and fined for having his front foglights on when there wasn't seriously reduced visibility.  £60 and points if I remember correctly.

No doubt he had the switches similar to our Clio.  To turn on the foglights, you turned the stalk control one click for the front, and then another for the front + rear.  When you turned all the lights off, the rear foglight turned off by the mechanics of the switch system, but left the front foglight enabled.  This meant that when you switched the lights back on - even only side lights - and if you didn't look at the dashboard - you wouldn't know that the front foglights had come on as well.

The Fiat 500 had a single button on the dash, and  if I remember correctly this was pressed once for rear foglights, and a second time for rear + front.  Third press turned them both off.  The button was toggled by computer logic, and when you turned all the lights off, the button was disabled. Good system in my opinion.

To be frank, I don't know how the Yaris foglight switches work at all.  Can't say I've even considered it.  Perhaps I should.

Mick.

[CPN]

The fog lights on the Yaris are very similar to that last example you spoke of in the Fiat 500. The rears are first switched on by turning one click from off going forward on the ring. To add the fronts, you turn it a second turn against spring pressure and it springs back leaving the fronts + rears on. Turn back to off turns them all off. Obviously, this way you can have just the rears on, on their own. I believe it is now a legal requirement (EU) that the system must not allow the front fogs to be on in isolation or without the sidelights being already on (BIMBW).

BTW, the new bulbs are excellent! What a massive improvement in both the headlights (dip and main) and the front fogs which are now actually useful (which they were not before IMO...).

[Mike J.]

This is not the same for the 2012 hybrid:

Fog lights can be used when:

Vehicles with a front and rear fog light switch (like mine)
Front fog lights: The headlights or the front position lights are turned on.
Rear fog light: The front fog lights are turned on.

[Heidfirst]

52 minutes ago, CPN said:

 Obviously, this way you can have just the rears on, on their own.

I take it that this is a typo & should read "can't"?

[Mick F]

Pre-dawn test drive complete.

I cannot say I was impressed, but I was relieved.  The headlights are now like they should have been all along.  Not fantastic, but quite good .................. thank goodness!

I tried to see how the foglights work.  First click brings on the front ones - BAD!  The rears should come on with the first click.  This is the same as our 2001 Clio.

I couldn't get the switch to turn to rears, as it seemed springloaded and wouldn't work.  I'll dig out the instruction manual later.

Mick.

[CPN]

9 hours ago, Heidfirst said:

I take it that this is a typo & should read "can't"?

Indeed! I got the whole thing ass over elbow!! It all should have read:

The fronts are first switched on by turning one click from off going forward on the ring. To add the rears, you turn it a second turn against spring pressure and it springs back leaving the fronts + rears on. Turn back to off turns them all off. Obviously, this way you can't have just the rears on, on their own.

[CPN]

6 minutes ago, Mick F said:

Pre-dawn test drive complete.

I cannot say I was impressed, but I was relieved.  The headlights are now like they should have been all along.  Not fantastic, but quite good .................. thank goodness!

I tried to see how the foglights work.  First click brings on the front ones - BAD!  The rears should come on with the first click.  This is the same as our 2001 Clio.

I couldn't get the switch to turn to rears, as it seemed springloaded and wouldn't work.  I'll dig out the instruction manual later.

Mick.

That spring pressure is what brings the rears on Mick...

[Mick F]

Yes. 

Just found it, then went outside to test it out.