anyone run driving lights?

bretti_kivi

bretti_kivi

Member
Just a silly question: anyone else here run driving lights? If you do, where have you installed them and how do you protect them?

Quick backstory; I had Comet 200s on my car for a couple of winters and they were great. Then I decided to integrate them into the grill and the project died. Familiar, I know... I haven't used the car much in winter for a while.
Last winter my wife got fed up with her lights and we installed another pair onto her car. Within 2 weeks, one glass was broken. The 307 went this week, leaving the A2 as the family car.
I scored some Xenon driving lights off the 'bay recently and I want them on my A2 ASAP; they need to be sturdy (the bonnet isn't as stiff as you might think...) and I want to protect them somehow. Stoneshields exist for the standard comets, but the only place I can find them is in the US with $75 shipping for a $25 order. Meh.

Your thoughts, please. I'll be wiring them onto a relay with a blue-lit 20mm round switch. That will join the others in the roof and use a pair of 20+A SPDT relays at the headlights themselves to divert power to the driving lights. I don't want to use them for flash - I'll kill the bulbs - and I can't leave all six lights on - ref 75 is filled with just the driving lights.

Bret
 
I've read some of his work on the candlepower forums. I have 2 mags here that are bored for 3 x 17mm cells and both will get MC-Es when I get around to finishing them.

In the end, I picked up a new Stainless mounting bar for the number plate. The Hella Xenon connectors are such that they connect at every 90 degrees; still, due to the rubber seals, I lost the mounting points on one D2S burner. Meh. My cables both point inwards, the screws are in place to ensure they ain't going anywhere, and the ballasts are secured at the moment with cableties until I take the bumper off.
The mounting bar itself... 4 x M5 x 25 screws with washers / nuts and the plate is held on by the same screws as before. It does still vibrate a little and therefore the second mount point is in use. I need to improve those as the next step. I'll probably follow Xiter's lead on that with the replacement of the popnuts with something else (maybe a loong alu screw, I'm not sure and I'll check when I get the bumper off).

The light, however, more than makes up for the hassle of fitting. They don't throw quite as far as the old Halogen ones, but boy do they light up the road. I've adjusted them a couple of times now and I'll try and take some "beamshots" at some point. I'm using Nightbreakers for dips and they look faint and pale. The Comets also throw light around - so left and right - meaning that on the Moottoritie (motorway to you) the entire carriageway is lit up for a distance of around 10 markers. That's pretty nice.

Electrical connection: I've stolen the + from the main beam and disconnected those (max ref 75 --> the two comets) and I'd already uprated to 15A fuses from previous xenon tests.
I'll try and connect up a blue-LED switch I have lying around at some point to switch between the two, but that means relays and hassle.

Bret
 
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Hi Brett,
this guy lives 20 miles from me, I have one of those lights on order!
He is like the LED equivalent of Skipton (ie really nice genuine bloke who is passionate about his hobby).

I can't help think that LED headlights are on their way, the modern units have massively better throw than the did even two years ago. For cycling HID and halogen are dead.
 
would be nice to hear what they're like. I have a colleague who right now is thinking about a new Fenix instead of one of troutie's boxes.... and I think the troutie would do a much better job. However, the colleague wants to keep AAs and that's a real pain.

My batteries, by the way - came from here: http://component-shop.co.uk.

Cheap ish, decent quality by the feel of things, and he'll make what you need (provide a drawing). 6 x 17670 cells - 7.2v @ 3900maH for less than £20 delivered here ain't bad at all IMO.

Bret
 
I use component shop a lot, they are great quality cells.
Fenix are very good, I have an L2D and use it with Sanyo Eneloop cells and its ideal for taking the dog out. But its "only" 200 lumen. Trouties new light is ten times brighter, so not in the same league.

Will let you know how the light is if you want. Mebee start a new thread so that this doesn't go completely off topic!
 
bretti_kivi said:
I'll probably follow Xiter's lead on that with the replacement of the popnuts with something else (maybe a loong alu screw, I'm not sure and I'll check when I get the bumper off).
Click to expand...

The thickness of the material around the holes is only about 1,5 mm.
That's why I used the popnuts. They give about 10-15 mm of thread for the alu screws.
 
so, this is the state of play right now:

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5034277_07843566f9dabadc09107249fb00ac98_large.jpg


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Bret
 
Regarding the electrical connection I obviously have two relays to power the Big Knicks and it's not a big deal to install. For those comets, you just need one and then you can have the originals running as well instead of having them disconnected. Take + from the starter motor connection and - at a suitable place in the engine bay.

Picture of my double relay.
 
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