C15 headlights

[aggsandrog]

I replaced both headlight units early this year. The replacements came with a nylon adaptor to enable me to use halogen bulbs, which have a different bayonet to the large round originals. They have been .

I am now planning a trip across the pond. On previous occasions I have used plastic stick-on beam deflector kits. However, as it is quite easy to change bulbs (and adjust beams) on the C15, is there any reason why I should not buy a pair of bulbs in France? That seems to me to be a better way to obtain right-hand dipping if it is that simple.

Or am I missing something?

... Roger

[peterholden]

The bulbs that you buy in France will be the same spec as you have now. They do not control the dipping, it is the headlamps themselves. You can mask the glass as you have done before, adjust the lights so that they shine much lower or buy 2 french headlamps from a breakers whilst you are on holiday. I know which one I would choose

[aggsandrog]

Thanks Peter.... I now see how they work. The answer is in the line pattern moulded in to the headlamp glass. To paraphrase a saying on Brainiac for all Smh readers, I ask the (daft) question so you don't have to!

Last time I was over the water I was in the Peugeot 307. I bought the stick-on plastic things from Halfords, but did not fancy gluing them on the expensive-looking headlamp glasses (which are not actually glass and might be damaged). I just lowered the headlamp beams on the 'load' adjuster control and all went well.

I shall do the same in the C15.

.... Bon voyage, Roger.

[aggsandrog]

What do you make of this, Peter?

The traditional European method of achieving low and high beam from a single bulb involves two filaments along the axis of the reflector. The high beam filament is on the focal point, while the low beam filament is approximately 1 cm forward of the focal point and 3 mm above the axis. Below the low beam filament is a cup-shaped shield (called a "Graves Shield") spanning an arc of 165°. When the low beam filament is illuminated, this shield casts a shadow on the corresponding lower area of the reflector, blocking downward light rays that would otherwise strike the reflector and be cast above the horizon. The bulb is rotated (or "clocked") within the headlamp to position the Graves Shield so as to allow light to strike a 15° wedge of the lower half of the reflector. This is used to create the upsweep or upstep characteristic of ECE low beam light distributions. The bulb's rotative position within the reflector depends on the type of beam pattern to be produced and the traffic directionality of the market for which the headlamp is intended.

That suggests to me that the headlamp unit is relevant only if it is the unit that fixes the bulb's rotational position. In my case I have a nylon adaptor. If I could obtain adaptors over there, they might set the bulb for a right-hand dip.....

Acknowledgements to Wikopedia. I must have too much time between trips!! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headlamp#Lens_optics

.... Roger

[peterholden]

It is possible but I have never seen the adapter.

When we had a C15 I bought halogen replacement bulbs but they had the same fitting as the originals.

Peter