lights mod

[beefy]

i am wanting to some how wire the main beam headlights up so they come on and can be used in normal driving conditions. i am thinking about wiring to side lights with a resistor to turn the current down.

has anybody done this before and any idea if it will be legal i assume so if they arent to bright.

and any ideas what size resisotr i will need.

cheers

[Steviec]

Assuming your from the uk, its illegal to drive around with your main beam on as it will blind other drivers. Besides, to keep it on, you just have to push the flasher stalk forward.

[beefy]

i konw that. what i want is a resitor in the circuit to reduce the current so the main beam lights are dimmer the the dipped beam.

[Brianmoooore]

i am wanting to some how wire the main beam headlights up so they come on and can be used in normal driving conditions. i am thinking about wiring to side lights with a resistor to turn the current down.

has anybody done this before and any idea if it will be legal i assume so if they arent to bright.

and any ideas what size resisotr i will need.

cheers

You trying to set up a dim dip driving light function?
Some (all?) early facelift cars came with this as standard. Large double wirewound resistor was mounted on the left inner wing just behind the headlamp.

[Simon]

Sounds to me like you want to have the main beam to light up only dimmer? It's not the brightness that's the problem, the main beam bulbs are exactly the same wattage as dipped beam at 55w, it's just that with the dipped beam, they are designed to do exactly as they're named...to dip the beam so that the beam doesn't dazzle oncoming road users, if you really wanted to have 4 lights lit up constantly, I suppose you could mount another set of headlamps instead of the main beam lights...in honesty though..don't bother!

[beefy]

not sure mate.

what i want is to be able to drive around legally and with out blinding others with all four headlamps a light

[Simon]

not sure mate.

what i want is to be able to drive around legally and with out blinding others with all four headlamps a light

See my reply above, it's not as simple as reducing the wattage, the main beams are built to emit large amounts of light, where as the dipped beams are dipped as to not dazzle other road users.

You could build another sidelight into the main beam light, seen it done a few time on an E30, but obviously, this wouldn't give out much light.

[tourer-dan]

You could try drilling through the inner lamp and mounting another 'side light' which came on with the little eyelid lamps on the outer. Wire it up by splicing the existing side light and you'll retain the main beam too (if you drill outside of the reflector range). Have a couple of inner lamps spare to practice - it shouldn't be too hard, just seal up whatever bulbholder you use with sealant to prevent it misting up.

[mrLEE30]

its not the wattage that makes the driving light dazzel its the arrangement of the reflector and the lens,

putting a resistor in therfore would decrease the light intensity but no the ultimate direction of the beam, so even a fairly dimly lit bulb would dazzel oncomers and probably earn you pleanty of attention from the local constabulary

best bet is the extra small side light mod but this will only illuminate the inside of the lens, it will not throw any light foreward...... it will also probably leak and lead to blown main beam bulbs too.

mrlee

( morning siMoN!)

[astondg]

Are you after more light or just the look of 4 healights?

If you want more light something like the Philips (I think) Vision Plus or something with some good lenses (not cracked or dirty) should give a reasonable amount of light. I have those bulbs in older chipped lenses and it still seems not too bad (although I always want more light ) and I have 100w bulbs for the high beam (I think that's main beam, opposite of dipped anyway) which are good, kind of mini spotlights/driving lights.

Or there are the Xenon conversion kits but I don't know about their quality or ease of fitting and they are probably expensive.

Aston

[beefy]

im after the look of the four headlights is the inner lamp plpastic or glass.

[kam-325i]

im after the look of the four headlights is the inner lamp plpastic or glass.

To get the look of 4 heaadlights, you will need to use 4 headlights. You've either got to remove the inner main beam and replace with proper dipped beam units, or install another bulb into the main beam unit, of a lower wattage, so it will scatter the light and not get focused by the reflector.

[johnono]

andy 335 touring has this on his touring, look closely ;)

[astondg]

im after the look of the four headlights is the inner lamp plpastic or glass.

Mine, the early type, are glass. I don't know about the other ones.

If you go with 4 dipped beam then you will lose a lot of distance, probably won't matter around town/city but anytime you normally use the high/main beam it won't go anywhere near as far.

The extra lightbulb is probably the only way to do it.

Aston

[mrLEE30]

the rear reflector of all main beams on E30's are made of glass, only the driving light changed for later models.

exception is the US style sealed beams, but unlikely to have those.

you can take a high speed drill with a NEW metal drilling bit and drill through the rear of the light., then silicone a sidelight bulb hoder in there, donot forget to use high temp silicone such as the stuff you can use as gsket in a tube (should find it in Halfords etc, if they still exist over there!! )

if i was you i would find a scrap yard, there you can get two sidelight bulb holders and the wiring, and find an old BM (any pre 90's model of 3, 5 or 7) and get a broken main beam light, remove the old broken glass, you can then experiment on a. drilling b. best placement of the bulb holder, as the best place could be on the bottom of the light when viewed from the front.

mrlee