Headlights (or the lack thereof)

[numpty]

Met up with some local Land Rover tragics (purists?) for a chat and a drink or two yesterday and I naturally took the Series 1 for a drive. Stayed out a little later than I expected and had to use the lights coming home :o

They work ............... and that's about all one can say :p

I don't often drive it at night, but this brings home the realisation that I must do something about improving it's ability to see.

Perry

[Dinty]

H4's will fix that problem LOL cheers mate Dennis

[Lotz-A-Landies]

You can get halogen bulbs for the original BPF headlamp lenses from Anthony Pearson "Classic and Vintage Bulbs" in Adelaide. Classic & Vintage Bulbs (http://www.classicandvintagebulbs.com/)

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2014/12/366.jpg

http://www.classicandvintagebulbs.com/page3.html

[Outlaw]

H4 LED bulbs will do the job nicely too. Bright as hids and lower power draw to save the wiring. Lights on my perentie were unusable at night. Chinese made ones (in aus) are only about $80 on eBay.

[chazza]

It is not a big-deal to purchase some heavier cable of the correct colour from Auto sparks and fit some relays close to the headlights. The ones I fitted had a fuse in the relay-holder as well and the improvement in brightness was so good, that I never used the new globes I bought :D

Cheers Charlie

[incisor]

i put relay on madge and rewired the loom from the lights to the relay..

put the relay on the radiator support and just under the headlight bowl so it doesn't detract from the looks but is easy to get to fuses etc etc

works extremely well

[Lotz-A-Landies]

H4 LED bulbs will do the job nicely too. Bright as hids and lower power draw to save the wiring. Lights on my perentie were unusable at night. Chinese made ones (in aus) are only about $80 on eBay.But you do need to change the headlamp insert from the original Lucas 700 BPF type to an H4 insert of some type.

Don't know about Numpty but on a Series 1 some owners are a little fussy not wanting to lose the Lucas name on the glass. The BPF halogen are an option and I don't think it will be too long when Anthony gets LED BPF option too,

[Lotz-A-Landies]

Was just looking at the H4 LED hi/Lo conversions and most have a large fan unit on the back.

How do you fit one of them into a Perentie headlight bucket? ( or a Series 1 bucket for that matter)

And what do you do about the dust problem when using off highway?

[Aaron IIA]

Do your reflectors need re-silvering?
Aaron

[Outlaw]

The led inserts just fit though don't think much room left. Not positive on dust as yet. No issues to date though an about to put in new reflectors tomorrow so will double check again. I did it fast and at night when first changed over. Will measure this time to see how much room is left.

[numpty]

Do your reflectors need re-silvering?
Aaron

Good question. I will do more investigating, but I have always intended to upgrade the wiring, the bulbs and fit relays.

Thanks for all the responses.

Perry

[zulu Delta 534]

To surmount the same problem with Sweet pea, I prised the surround of the actual old light up and outwards using multigrips and removed the original Lucas glass lens from my pitted and rusted reflectors. I then purchased a couple of 7" headlights from one of those common cheap outlets and with a stanley knife separated the glass lenses from the reflector sections. (They are glued together)
Using sikaflex it was a pretty simple job to rejoin the original Lucas lens back with the more modern light itself, fit a readily available relay that affected both beams and then at last I could both see, and kept the original glass lens look.
Whether the old lenses actually focused the newer bulbs correctly didn't really bother me as it was planned for very limited use anyway.
I am about to do a similar conversion with the new toy.
Regards
Glen

[Outlaw]

Sorry for the delay but finally had a chance to look today while changing to new crystal reflectors.

Seems to be 120mm to back of bowl and my LED bulbs with original reflector is 110mm so just make it. Can't fit the existing dust covers over the new bulbs so would have to work out a way to do it, maybe a slit on the rubber to get it over the fins and a bit of silicon to reseal. For interest sake, the crystal reflectors i've just changed too with the led's in come to 100mm so a touch more room now.


Was just looking at the H4 LED hi/Lo conversions and most have a large fan unit on the back.

How do you fit one of them into a Perentie headlight bucket? ( or a Series 1 bucket for that matter)

And what do you do about the dust problem when using off highway?

[JDNSW]

I would do as Incisor suggests. Worked marvellously on my 2a. And mounting the relay there, it is right next to the battery - just run the power supply for the headlights direct to the battery, and run an earth lead for both relay and headlights direct to the battery earth terminal. The original headlight wiring is earthed to the radiator support - which may be very poorly connected electrically to the chassis.

John