Woeful headlights
 

Ok, so i finally drove my Jag at night for the 1st time last night & to be perfectly honest it scared the hell out of me.
The headlights are absolutely dreadful, my Harley puts out more light on low beam than it does on high.
I want to convert to halogen lights.
Any possible dramas i should look out for?

In a word, NOPE.

I found and fitted Cibie H4 beams to the outer 7", and Cibie H1 for the inners.

This was on all the S2's, S3, S Type (the real one), MK10, and I forget the rest.

I stayed with the "standard" wattage bulbs, as in 60/55W in the outers, and 55W for the inners.

I simply did not want to deal with switch/relay/wiring issues any more than the The Prince provided for free.

Thanks Grant, did it make a significant difference even with the standard wattage?

Sure did. Like chalk and cheese.

The earths (my favourite subject) were ALL removed and cleaned, and I still maintain that was a big assist with the beams.

Her Daimler S2 had 100W Aircraft landing sealed beams (Hansa from memory) in the inners, and I fitted a couple of relays to keep the load of the switch/clutching relay/etc.

They were great, but lasted short time due to vibration, so it went to the Cibie set up.

Boy Howdy, does this all sound familiar!
I think Nix's PO never drove her at night at all! I never saw such Terrible headlights!

She now has Halogens set up much as Grant describes. Night and day difference; especially Low beam!
(';')

A fresh set of "modern" halogen sealed beams can do wonders.


Perhaps not as much as the exotics, ala Cibies, but quite acceptable.


Agree, with Grant that clean grounds (earths) and the same with the bullet connectors can bring up the brightness.


Oh, yeah, clean looking glass isn't always that clean!!! A whack with
Bon Ami or similar gritty cleanser makes the glass shine. A glazier's trick. Bug juices and carcass bits gone....


Carl

I agree completely. I bought replacement headlights from Rock Auto, just because they were cheap and I thought the project would be really easy, and the difference was amazing.

creative wiring
 

A great setup is to use H4 inner and outer.

These can then be wired to use the following configurations:

outer dip only
inner and outer dip (great for city/highway travel without blinding traffic)
inner main only (never found a use for this mode, preferring the above)
inner and outer main

inner and outer dip+main

I call the last one "burn 'em down" mode. Great for oncoming
logging trucks on remote roads who think that dipping beams
is for the other guy.

The setup is fairly simple with a few relays and switches.

12 gauge wire for every circuit. A healthy battery and alternator
are required. On a 65A alternator in a Datsun 510 with a huge
battery, "burn 'em down" mode put the ammeter in negative
territory. No computers, just ordinary coil and points igntion
as well as the heater fan. Air? What's that? :)

Proper aiming is critical and very worthwhile.

I found high beam OK on my car and low beam awful. After cleaning up the earths, fuses and various bullet connectors I wasnt much better off.

Recently I changed my headlight wiring to use a generic high/low relay, and added a relay to unload the dash rotary switch. The load relay picks up power from one of the terminal posts on the firewall. I think the idea of running low beam power through the dash switch and then out to the engine bay has hairs on it. This change made a noticeable difference to low beam and has bought them all the way up to average. If I drove the car much at night I would probably replace the bulbs now as everything else has been done.

Thanks guys.
Now for the next question.
The dash lights are just as bad or worse.
Any way of brightening them up?

Miserable aint they?

Led replacements these days I think , including the opticell (single light source) with optical fibre runs mostly down in the lower half of the dash. I think Elinor did a lot of this lighting tinkerage in her project, hopefully she will be along again soon.

Two comments:


1. Jump the rotary dash light dimmer rheostat. Dim and dimmer
seem it's function.


2. I've swapped in two household LED bulbs in the lamps I use most to replace a CFL in one and an incandescent in the other. No noticeable difference in brightness. Less juice used, probably..


3. Was at the hardware store for a new end for one of my exterior extension cords. Succumbed to an item on the "bargain" table. Miner's lamp. Much smaller than the old classic. And LED. Powered by three AAA cells. Shop use or walking Coco at night? Undetermined.


4. At my age, I gotta get up at night once or twice. I've a handy little
flash light (torch) on my night table. Replaced by a similar one using LED. Swapped in two rechargeable AA"s. Nice light, and should go longer between charges. Old torch to the Jaguar's boot.


Carl

I replaced my opticell bulb with an LED but the result isn't remarkable. If the optical fibres are not in top condition then nothing stronger at the opticell source will make much difference. I know the fibre to my headlight light switch is either dead, or kinked, or just refusing to carry its weight.

I hate that. Always 1 extra cell to keep track of.

Opticell Improvement
 

Yes, Steve, I did quite a lot of experimentation with this because, while the other dash lights only needed the rheostat worked vigorously back and forth to be bright enough to suit me, the Opticell emitters were completely unreadable, especially the Light switch, the farthest from the source.

First I tried aconfiguration like this, a single LED in the center with a focusing lens:
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.jag...75678e654e.jpg

It seemed Very bright out in the shop, but the problem with it is that the fiber optic cables are in a circle around the fixture and not in the single spot of Very bright light (almost a point) that this thing emits.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.jag...01e57b8845.jpg

As seen in the first picture, most of the side light from an LED of this configuration is wasted. Live and learn!

After wondering why the OEM 5W incandescent was brighter, and learning how this component actually works I found these things from LEDLight.com, #45715-00710:
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.jag...ba91dadb2a.jpg

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.jag...a58cdb4471.jpg
The 5 LEDs take full advantage of the reflector and even make the light switch readable!

I also discovered why my Light switch was so dark (besides the fact it's Twice the distance of the Temp selector), the little tube that holds the end of the fiber optic cable into the switch cover was broken off the cover. I imagine some ham-handed mechanic with no idea took the switch cover off, breaking the fiber optic mount in the process, because they're actually quite tough, even after 40 years but you must know the tube is there and treat it with respect.

I glued it back in place, making a cast of sorts, with Seal-All,
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.jag...1d3eace2f6.jpg

and wrapping a bit old t-shirt as reinforcement.

I was on a roll that evening so I didn't take time to get a picture of my repair job.

It holds the emitting end just fine, and with this particular LED, all the labels are very readable; to me anyway.
(';')

Hi Elinor,
Thanks for the LED site link. I tried searching for part number 45715-00710 as well as 45715 with no luck. The closest I could come looking at your picture was their 83456:

https://www.ledlight.com/ba9s-5-ultr...led-light.aspx

Does that look close? Also, what color did you choose, white? Green?

Thanks,
Andrew.

Yup, that's the one!
Doncha just Hate it when they change part #s like that!
(';')

Sorry, Andrew, I just now realized I didn't answer your color question.

I got White because all the receivers have green masks. I wanted them brighter not greener.
(';')

Thanks... I know for taillight replacements, it's often recommended to match the lens color. But always better to get the word from someone who's done the job and is happy with it!

Andrew.

Man, a heap of great info again. LOVE this place.
I have headlights coming off ebay,,,,,,,,,,,,for a third of the price i could get them "in store" locally. As much as i like to support local business sometimes economics prevails. Will be pulling the dash out down the track so will investigate those lights then.
Thanks again to everyone for all the help.