Thread: How do you align spotlights

Find a straight stretch of road at night with no traffic.
Loosen your spot mounts a bit so you can move the lights.
Stand between the lights so you are not blocking them and move them til they are pointing where you want them, as to distance ahead.
What you want to acheive is that both beams merge into one a set distance up the road.That distance is determined by the output of the lights and what seems to work for you.
Get in the drivers seat and check it looks ok.
Tighten mounts when happy.
You can also do it up against the wall of your house, but I find this is not as good and you end up having to adjust in the real world anyway.

Originally Posted by Studio54

Hi ,

I have both spread and pencil beam Cibie spot lights on the front of my Disco but they need to be aligned properly. I have them roughly pointing down and to the left but can anyone tell me the best way to set them up properly.

Doing it at night might be a help I guess Any

I have set my pencil beams by parking about 2 metres away from a wall in a darkish (NOT totally black!) garage [making sure you are square to the wall!] and the with headlamps on High beam, setting the pencil beams so that they are centred on to the same height and are the same parrallel distance in from, as they are fitted on the vehicle from the headlamps........this method does rely on accurately aimed main headlamps though!

after setting them against the wall,,
then test them in the real world,,
and if OK,,
mark the wall.

would need to be marked pretty damn accurately though--

Hi Studio54, as above but also a little trick I learnt over the years when it comes to setting them the first time, do as crump suggested but if you live in the city, you will find it very hard to get a dark section of straight road.

Once you have them where you want, then, as Byron suggested, mark the garage wall, but I find marking the roller door is better because it will tell at a glance if the light are level.

The other thing is to take a few of towels with you when you are going out to set them up.

I have up to 10 lights on at a time and it’s easier to just cover the ones that I don’t want while I’m adjusting the others.

Cheers

The traditional setting for long range driving lights is horizontal and straight ahead. I have never used spread beams because for thirty+ years I have used either Hella 1507 or 1503 searchlights which have more spread than most spread beam accessory lights and more range than virtually any of the accessory driving lights. I have found setting a pair of them horizontal and slightly cross-eyed at maximum range very effective. This cross-over gives a round the corner effect.

Originally Posted by drivesafe

The other thing is to take a few of towels with you when you are going out to set them up............. it’s easier to just cover the ones that I don’t want while I’m adjusting the others.

Cheers

It reminds me of the time I did this years ago.......I must have been too slow for the amount of heat given off by those " KC Fun Country" 150 Watt "Aircraft Landing Lights".......whilst I had my back turnred to the passeger side, adjusting the driver's side ever so carefully, the old horse blanket caught fire!!!!! .......It's quite funny now - but gave me a bit of a fright at the time!