spot lights.

[RMC590L]

Hi everyone,
   Myself and a friend are currently preparing our cars for the rbrr. Is it worth fitting spot lights to the cars? We are going to fit uprated headlights using h4 bulbs to make normal driving at night easier but i have been told that certain sections are particularly dark. Anyone got any advice?
Thanks.

[Howard]

Eat lots of carrots before the rally, then  according to the RAF you wont need better headlights :)

Seriously its not any different to driving at night anywhere else, but for what its worth I have some small Ring driving lights fitted to my TR7 which come on with the main beam lights.

On On

Howard

[Doug Thompson]

They won't do any harm as long as they are aimed correctly especially in darkest wales 8) 8)

[RMC590L]

Thanks guys, i was going to mount them under the front bumper of my 2000. Il take it to work to try and work out where they are aimed on the mot bay.
This is our first rbrr so we have been pretty busy with the cars. Thanks alot.

[andy thompson]

Make sure the usual headlights are relayed - lots of brightness to be gained there.

You can splice into the main loom where a Mk1 fuse box was located. Stops the dip switch melting. With new Hella  main beams (hart Racing) and relays you don't really need spots.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Triumph-Stag-2000-2500-NEW-Hella-5-3-4-headlamp-upgrade-kit-/351150099493?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item51c22d4c25

(Obviously they can be found individually or in scrapyards)

[Greeks]

lagerzok wrote:

Make sure the usual headlights are relayed - lots of brightness to be gained there.

You can splice into the main loom where a Mk1 fuse box was located. Stops the dip switch melting. With new Hella  main beams (hart Racing) and relays you don't really need spots.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Triumph-Stag-2000-2500-NEW-Hella-5-3-4-headlamp-upgrade-kit-/351150099493?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item51c22d4c25

(Obviously they can be found individually or in scrapyards)

This also means you spend less time at Edinburgh airport rewiring or replacing switches.

[ferny]

I did a RBRR and 10CR with 100w driving lamps and found my normal un-relayed headlights to be just as good. Relays are good, but never essential. That's one persons opinion though and I have added them as part of a full re-wire whilst I had the chance. The quality of the bulb is just as important as the lens you're using. Cheap bulbs not only fail quickly but also put out less light. I still have the same Osram Silverstars in the car I fitted for the 2008 RBRR. I've used their Nightbreakers but a friend and me found them to fail quickly.

[Tim Hunt]

From my experience on the 4A headlight relays for dip and main beams are a very worthwhile mod. The column lighting switch failed twice through burnt out contacts, Both times on an RBRR, in 1986 and 2006 if memory serves, necessitating some jury rigging to get round. Both times when home I stripped the switch and built up the contacts with solder being too tight to shell out for a new switch. I finally got around to fitting relays and wish I had done it years ago, I am getting around 1.5V more to the lights and the low switching current should never again burn out the column switch. As for bulbs I have had excellent results with both Philips Xtreme Vision and Ring Xenon Ultima H4 bulbs.

As for light units for many years I used Wipac Quadoptics but when these started to tail off I fitted Cibie Iode H4 headlight units, these are now made under the  Valeo brand, in my case part number 082441 (RHD, 7" with no side light provision). These give a more controlled beam than the Quadoptics with an excellent spread and illumination of the nearside verge/kerb on dip. The main beam also gives excellent reach and I have never felt the need for supplementary spots.

Tim

[Tim Bancroft]

Greeks wrote:

This also means you spend less time at Edinburgh airport rewiring or replacing switches.

Yes, I seem to remember you and Mr MacDonald toiling in the dark!

[RMC590L]

Thanks, i think id better look at fitting relays aswell.thanks for the advise, see you at the start!

[Raider]

lagerzok wrote:

You can splice into the main loom where a Mk1 fuse box was located.

Where is that Andy?

[andy thompson]

Ignore the idle valve - reach through the inner wing hole here and you find the headlight loom - blue/white  (main)  and blue/red (dip)

You then just need a decent power source and a good earth (horn attachment is a loom earth) - you can run a cable from the starter or across from the battery just insulate and secure it well. I used 30 amp fused relays , one for dip and one for main beam.
I just used the triumph wiring for the lights  and 55w halogen - great improvement

[Toledo Man]

This is how I installed my headlight relays on my Dolomite 1850.

This location was handy for a permanent live feed and for breaking into the existing wiring. I kept my cable runs as short as possible to avoid introducing any further problems. I used 30A fused relays from Halfords. What prompted me to do this was the failure of one of my outer sealed beam units. I decided to do the halogen upgrade hence the need for relays. Since fitting the relays, the sealed beam headlights are now brighter. I've also noticed a reduction in voltage drop when I have the dipped headlights switched on during idling.

[cook1e]

Relays and bigger wires are fine, but if you up the number of lights by adding spots or increase the power output then you also need to consider fitting a higher output alternator as well.

I've just changed the headlights to Halogen on the Flying Log with Relays ready for the RBRR and the light output is much better even without spot lights or high power bulbs....

[CHRIS211083]

I noticed a big difference going from sealed beam to relayed H4. However an even better mod was getting the clear fronted H4 lamps and halfords extreme light bulbs. I dont need spot lamps now as the normal lights are great.

Chris.

[Chriss]

I agree with the advice on wiring all head and auxiliary lights through relays.  It gives brighter lights as power losses are reduced and improved reliability as the controlling switches handle less current.  This is especially important when uprated bulbs are fitted.

My experience shows me that the best lighting benefit is obtained when you fit the best headlamps possible.  I am not ruling out auxiliaries as for a 2,000 mile event that is 50% in darkness, a Plan B is useful.  I have Cibie (Valeo 7") headlamps on my TR7 with PIAA Competition White bulbs.  These are as good as it gets without going to HID.  Translate that to a 2000, main and dip pairs of Cibie 5 3/4" will give you an excellent beam pattern on dip and main. The dip light takes an H4 bulb and gives main and dip, the main light takes an H1 bulb and gives main only.  Halfords do uprated H4 and H1 bulbs and these will give you good lighting in the Cibie lights and are cost effective.  The Cibie lights will cost about as much as a good set of auxiliary lights and be simpler to fit. If you can't afford dip & main just get the dip.

Where auxiliary lights come in is if you get a problem with the headlights.  As a minimum have 1 pair of driving lights set up as dipped lights mounted above the bumper so that they are legal and can be used in all weathers and wired so they can be used with any lighting combination.  As a luxury have a set of spot lights wired and aimed as main beam.

For the RBRR, apart from having a sound, safe and reliable car improvements to the lights is my first priority.  You will be using them for at least 24 hours during the event and they will give you the best return on investment of any modification you make to your car.  The second priority, and nearly as important, is making sure that you windscreen wipers perform as well and reliably as possible. You may use these for as much as 24 hours too.  Make sure they are going to be reliable, have good, new blades and you have an effective cleaning solution and plenty of it.  Experiment with different options.  

With this extra power requirement a good sound battery is essential, the altenator needs to be in good condition and a spare one that you can fit by the side of the road (if necessary) could be a lifesaver. You may consider uprating the altenator.

Hope this helps.