Nix got her eyes done.



Among the things I wanted to do for Nix this winter was upgrade her high beams. I put in "normal" halogens a couple years ago, and they were a Quantum improvement over the 1976 sealed beams, but out here in the Stix you can never have too much light on these Dark roads.

I already upgraded the outers to patterned halogens (60w/55w H4); cut-off lows to plainly show the creatures about to jump out of the dark in front of me. I had these when I lived in Montana where deer have the habit of jumping Right in front of cars at the most inopportune time.

Husband found some Very Nice Hella narrow beam highs and ordered them for me. They come with 55w H1 bulbs.

These lights are a lot flatter faced than anything I've seen!
The white arrows indicate the focus margins.

While waiting for the new Hi beams to arrive I was fooling with the wires and all the cotton wrapping came off in shreds. I can't imagine why, that stuff is only 40 years old and subjected to all the heat of the engine bay.

So I got some plastic corrugated wire wrap in various sizes from Harbor Freight and O'Reilly,s and neatened up all the headlight wiring. It looks much better now.




With 55w bulbs no wiring adjustments are required, except that I had to cut apart the socket because the two prongs are in different directions. It wasn't hard, side cutters in the corners and each female socket separated from the plug with no trouble.


I can't wait to see what a difference these make.


(';')

 

Nix looks so good in the shiny black.

I have been eyeing replacement modern headlights for mine as well. Will have to get around to it soon.

 

Elinor, i know you are just baiting me with close up of those dinky 5 inch outer lamps.... but i will let it go!!! Lol.
Hopefully those highbeams work out well and i will be watching to see, i switched my outers from Halogen to the newer stuff and am quite disappointed in the outcome!! The light is definitely brighter, but the pattern is horrible!!!! So now im looking for something else! So far Halogens have been the best for me!!

Only because i am stirring the pot here, i thought i would attach a pic of how car is supposed to look.... 7 inch lamps and racing green!! Muhahahaha.. love ya Mean it!

 

woah, never noticed the difference between the headlight sizes til now. Is that a EU vs NA thing?

 

Elinor, my '71 Jag has high and low high Halogen beams in the outer seven inch lights.. the inside lights are Cibie driving lights that are controlled separately from a switch on the ski slope.

I understand the need for lighting and you cannot have too much... I fish in Idaho and Montana, but take my Ram 1500 truck... deer are stupid - killed one with a rental van one time at dusk by a lake... had a large female Elk run along side my old Ford truck one day for about a mile...

 

Darren, your problem is you've got those old fashioned 7" outer lights! You have to expect that if you insist on using out of date technology. If you want *Pattern Selection* you have to go back to the more modern 5" lights.

I'll try to get a picture of my low beam pattern, I think you'd like it. It's basically flat with a rising flare on the right side, which illuminates the road way farther ahead on the right shoulder, showing what's about to jump out in front of you. They're also Great for finding driveways on poorly lit streets.

I've said all along, I don't especially like the look of 7" outer lights, they look googly-eyed to me, the car looks astonished.

"https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/googly–eyed
Definition of googly–eyed for English Language Learners. : having eyes that stick out : having eyes that are very open or staring because of amazement, admiration, etc"

They remind me of Elderly trucks on the farm; DOT (Damned Old Truck) comes to mind.

Thank you, Roger,
I'm hoping these Hella high beams will act as driving lights but still be mostly close enough to legal they won't get unwanted attention.

I used to run some Carello pencil beams into which I put 100w halogens (and 80/100w in the Cibie outers; think aircraft landing lights), but they required upgrading the wires of the whole system and a relay for each light.


I kept the lights when I sold the car, but they're so deep they won't fit in the closed Jag buckets even without wires on the back.


I would Love to put them in Nix, but I would have to rewire the system as before and use 4 relays, not to mention cutting the backs out of the buckets. At that point they would be in contact with the trans cooler. For these reasons I've given up the idea. The lights husband got at least fit into the buckets!
(';')

 

NIX sure got a treat. Looking good.


My car has new Halogen in boards. Far better than the 83 vintage lamps that were there. A matter of lesser filament detioration with age.


A few years ago, the right outboard failed. I swapped in a "modern" Halogen. Not the issue. It was a fuse or sire connector!!! Oh, well, fixed and it is fine.


My planned out board swap to 7's is stalled. And might well be benched. But, I did get new halogen 7" lamps and fresh sockets via Rock Auto. I planned to redo the harness. Better connetors, new wire and a better cover. ID not yet determined.


But, and a large one on two counts.


1. The Jaguar's glass lamps are far better than the plastic lensed things on my Jeep. Even after extensive cleaning effort.


2. My daughter's Passat reposes in my driveway. Whew, I thought my precleansed Jeep light were bad !!! The VW's are frosted!!! I've never driven it at night and do not plan to do so. So, after it get's fixed, I'll put her to work lens polishing !!!
She will resist, but.....


Carl

 

Nix is a pretty girl with bright eyes; she can see for miles and miles and miles in the dark, just like a true cat.

The high beams husband got are every bit as good for the driving I do now as the 100w pencil beams that won't fit into the buckets! It must be in the front lens.

Testing well after dark revealed they illuminated road signs I know to be .80 mile away (4237 feet), so that I could identify what they were. These will do.

Hella 002425811 135 mm H1, found on Amazon.

Hi-Lo outers (Cibie 146HCR; https://www.danielsternlighting.com/.../products.html
available in both 5.75" and 7"):

have this cutoff pattern, which doesn't photograph very well as it overwhelms the camera chip, so I've sort of drawn in the visible pattern best I could:

The raised right edge of the beam illuminates the right ditches a few hundred feet ahead; far enough to see creatures with suicidal thoughts, giving one time to swerve or brake, but still avoid blinding oncoming drivers. They're also Great for finding elusive driveways on poorly lit streets. The high beam has a similar pattern but is much higher and brighter of course.

Between these two pairs of lights, Nix can see just about anything she's likely to encounter on most California roads. Of course, there's always the Unlikely, but that's why cars will need human drivers for a long time to come.
(';')

 

I agree...so long as you know when not to use them....as I'm sure you do.

In my neck o' the woods, at least, far too many use their full array of high powered lights when there is no need. Not considerate.

Cheers
DD

 

That's it !


Cheers
DD

 

I've used both Cibie and Hella on my Jags. That distinct cut-off in the pattern is very useful and appreciated, as you say. I wish we had choices like these for cars (like my Hondas) with the modern streamlined (or whatever you wanna call 'em) headlights. You can get brighter bulbs, yes, but nothing you can so about the pattern.

Cheers
DD

 

And it seems none of them have a working dimmer switch! It must be a prerequisite for mounting such an array.
(';')