Thread: Headlamp focusing

I think the specs are in rave, not sure, this will give you a base to work with

Use a garage door/roller door and read the measurements from rave, mark these on the door and adjust the lights accordingly

Originally Posted by SiddersC

I think the specs are in rave, not sure, this will give you a base to work with

Use a garage door/roller door and read the measurements from rave, mark these on the door and adjust the lights accordingly

No measurements in RAVE.

From RAVE 86.40.17 Headlight beam alignment:

Switch headlamps on and measure main beam
settings. Beam must be 1.4% below the
horizontal and parallel to the vehicle centre line.
If necessary, adjust headlamp to get correct
beam settings

you'll need to know how far you are from the surface you are aiming against.

sin 1.4° = 0.2443

drop = 0.2443 * distance

Assuming the aiming surface is 15m from the globe.

drop = 0.2443 * 15

therefore

drop = 0.36645m

So if your headlights were precisely 15 metres from the surface you were aiming against you would need to aim them at a spot 36.64cm lower than the height of the centre of the globe.

cheers
Paul

Yup!! I focused my spotties in a similar way.....

Lights on and wheels on a level surface drive up as close as you can to a flat vertical surface > with masking tape or electrical tape make little crosses and stick'em on the vertical surface in the centre of the beams (this is your reference point) > back up and adjust accordingly. With the spotties i simply adjusted the beams back onto the reference crosses however you'll be aiming the headlamps LOW

Originally Posted by onebob

Yup!! I focused my spotties in a similar way.....

Lights on and wheels on a level surface drive up as close as you can to a flat vertical surface > with masking tape or electrical tape make little crosses and stick'em on the vertical surface in the centre of the beams (this is your reference point) > back up and adjust accordingly. With the spotties i simply adjusted the beams back onto the reference crosses however you'll be aiming the headlamps LOW

Thanks Onebob, great tip.
Offtrack, for me, your numbers and measurements have no baseline, a bit difficult to make use of. Thanks anyway.

Originally Posted by Nicky

Thanks Onebob, great tip.
Offtrack, for me, your numbers and measurements have no baseline, a bit difficult to make use of. Thanks anyway.

There is most definitely a baseline. And every single bit of information you need is in the RAVE entry.

The problem is RAVE assumes you are having the alignment done by a workshop with the correct alignment gear. If that was the case you'd set the gauge up with the 1.4° and do the alignment based on that. If you've got a spare $4000 you can pick up one like this Hella unit to do the alignment.



But you can work out how to set it with the information given.



"The horizontal" or H in the above diagram which is the level of the centre of the low beam globe above the ground. You will have to physically measure this because the height will vary from car to car. This is your baseline height.

The target height on the wall is dependant on the distance as calculated above. If the centre of the headlights was 1000mm above the ground your target height using the 15metre example would be 1000mm - 336mm = 634mm.

You align to the brightest spot on the low beam, rather than the cut off. The alignment gear which the 1.4° spec is given for is designed to detect the bright spot.

cheers
Paul