Lighting upgrade.

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Originally Posted by drivesafe

Hi Mark, I keep meaning to ask you, how did you set up to take the pictures.

Not only are the headlight results good but your pictures show the improvements pretty well.

Cheers

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I used a car park or a bowling club near home.. very little lighting around it and I could position the car in the same spot easily.

I just opened the drivers door and stood to the right of the seat and hand held the digital camera. ( As you can see I leant against the car a couple of times - hence the shake:blush:. I guess I should have used my tripod.)


I changed the globes I was using about 12 months ago to 60/55 Philips Crystal Vison. The Driving lights globes are 130W (unknown brand - came with the IPF 9000's I bought second hand), I'll swap them to Crystal vision when one blows.

I am more than happy with the result - so I won't bother going to 90/100 H4's as I can't see a reason to add the extra load.

Cheers,
Mark

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Originally Posted by Feral

Ok..now that I have a difference of opinion running, it would be a good idea to pull one of my lights out. I am now leaning towards Graeme with his position on the lights.

Why :confused:

The lens is definately glass, looks like, feels like, cleans like glass :)

The reflector is plastic, looks like, feels like, cleans like plastic :eek:

What confirms this is the headlight protector has removed some of the silver coating revealing the white 'plastic' base. I also removed one of the headlight adjustment bolts and this showed the same white material.

My next trick was to drill a hole in the webbing which holds the headlight adjustment but I wasn't game to go that far.....yet:p

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You are exactly Right Feral,

At least on a 2000 DII, the lens is Glass but the back of the light is plastic.

Easieat way to check is pull one out - they are only held there by three clips.

- Go to the bottom corner of the light closest the grill ( on the passenger light - thats bottom left facing it)

- Give it a thump with the ball of your palm - the opposite top corner will pop out.

- From there you can easily pull the other 2 clips off - they just clip onto the ball end of the adjusters.

Maybe later DII's are different - but mine is definitely a plastic back.

To be honest with the results I got from Tim's kit - I am not going to bother with 90/100 or 90/130 globes anyway.


Cheers, Mark

Maybe there WAS a transition between the glass lens + metal/glass reflectors type as in D1's, to D 2's having glass lens and glass/metal backs to a transitional type with glass lens + composite (plastic? or whatever) back to the all polycarbonate 2001 D 2's.

I was just going on my own experience - presently owned cars.... and RR Classics in the past and I had a 98 D 2 new for 1 1/4 years......

It's definetly best to check your own lamps to be certain to prevent any damage.

BTW I think that there's SUCH a quantum difference between 60/55's and the very high Wattage globes [provided you're using top quality globes] that I would choose the High Wattage type globes every time!

Hi Mark, correct me if I have this wrong but you are saying the new loom actually made the Crystal Vision globe brighter.

That's good to know.

BTW, that’s a great idea of yours to use the car park for demonstrating the difference in light output. I’ll remember it when people want a reliable means of determining how much improvement was gained after they fitted one of my kits.

Cheers and thanks again.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by drivesafe

Hi Mark, correct me if I have this wrong but you are saying the new loom actually made the Crystal Vision globe brighter.

That's good to know.

BTW, that’s a great idea of yours to use the car park for demonstrating the difference in light output. I’ll remember it when people want a reliable means of determining how much improvement was gained after they fitted one of my kits.

Cheers and thanks again.

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That's right Tim,

I install the Crystal Visons about 12 months ago - much nicer than the standard globes - now your kit is using their full potential.

The main reasons I used a car park :
1. easy to put the car in the same place each time.
2. lines make it easy to measure light distance.
3. this car park has crap lighting... so street light would give very little interference.

Feel free to use these pics if someone is asking..

Cheers
Mark

Quote:

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Originally Posted by drivesafe

I’ll remember it when people want a reliable means of determining how much improvement was gained after they fitted one of my kits.

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Hi,
with comparative photography of lamp brightness, it is difficult to replicate exactly what the eye sees.
However for a quick qualitative comparison it is fine.
It would be nice to know the exposure mode used for the camera, because if it was on 'Auto' the results of the upgrade will be even better than illustrated, as the camera will reduce the exposure for the increased brightness.
Manual exposure (time/aperture) with a fixed light source in the picture for reference would be the the most accurate comparison.
cheers