new headlights
new headlights
The series 2 restoration is grinding on. What are the recommendations for getting best headlight performance? All of the original Carello's are corroded and useless. Are the series 2 fulvia headlamps common to many other cars of the period, alfas, fiats etc? It might help in terms of sourcing something here in Australia.
In terms of lamp wattages and brands of lamps does anyone have advice?
Does anyone know if the rubber grommet that fits in the back of the headlight 'cup' is available, or is there a suitable equivalent?
Thanks
Chris
P.S. Huib, how did you attach images to your recent posts?
In terms of lamp wattages and brands of lamps does anyone have advice?
Does anyone know if the rubber grommet that fits in the back of the headlight 'cup' is available, or is there a suitable equivalent?
Thanks
Chris
P.S. Huib, how did you attach images to your recent posts?
Re: new headlights
On all fulvias that I've owned I've always replaced the original(?) headlights with aftermarket Cibies', these being direct replacements - amittedly this was back in the seventies and early eighties when it was easy to buy Cibie. I've never had any issues with the slivering corroding on these.
The outer pair are Main/Dip with the inner pair being driving lights (operated by 'town/country' push/pull knob below the dash, wired so that they only come on wiht the column light stalk on 'Main' beam and the push/pull on 'country') - some cars had the inners set as fog lights operated directly thru' the push/pull.
I always use good quality Halogen H4 bulbs, (Hella, Bosch, etc) 100/80W for the outer pair and 100W for the inner pair (need to be sure alternator, wiring and relays can cope). Hella have a new 'Cool Blue' H4 bulb that delivers an intense white light with a slight blue tinge. The overall light output is similar to a conventional H4 bulb and the colour is close to that of a gas discharge lamp. I intend to try them in my 'every day' vehicle at some point.
HTH.
Paul.
The outer pair are Main/Dip with the inner pair being driving lights (operated by 'town/country' push/pull knob below the dash, wired so that they only come on wiht the column light stalk on 'Main' beam and the push/pull on 'country') - some cars had the inners set as fog lights operated directly thru' the push/pull.
I always use good quality Halogen H4 bulbs, (Hella, Bosch, etc) 100/80W for the outer pair and 100W for the inner pair (need to be sure alternator, wiring and relays can cope). Hella have a new 'Cool Blue' H4 bulb that delivers an intense white light with a slight blue tinge. The overall light output is similar to a conventional H4 bulb and the colour is close to that of a gas discharge lamp. I intend to try them in my 'every day' vehicle at some point.
HTH.
Paul.
Re: new headlights
The lamps fitted to the S2 Fulvia are conventional style. They are available from a number of makers. My preference is for the Bosch ones. I used Cibié in the 1980s but found the beam a little too diffused - and Fulvia S2 headlamps (on dipped beam) are feeble enough as it is.
One (possibly illegal) solution is to replace the fog lamps with another pair of outer-type lamps and run four. ANd of course quite stupidly in my view, 100/80W bulbs are also illegal.
Another very important point is to ensure that you have a minimum of 12 volts - at the bulb. With the engine running, switch on the lamps and measure the voltage at the bulb and compare it to the voltage across the battery terminals. If there is a substantial difference, then investigation is required. The Fulvias had 1.5mm cables for the headlamps which are probably just about adequate. However the fuses often give trouble: renew them and clean and adjust the terminals to ensure a good contact. Of course this applies to all the plug-in connectors and most basic of all, the earthing arrangements. Best solution here is to run the earths with a big cable - say 2mm diameter, to an earthing point that is NOT a rusty self-tapping screw which is the usual arrangement
Paul
One (possibly illegal) solution is to replace the fog lamps with another pair of outer-type lamps and run four. ANd of course quite stupidly in my view, 100/80W bulbs are also illegal.
Another very important point is to ensure that you have a minimum of 12 volts - at the bulb. With the engine running, switch on the lamps and measure the voltage at the bulb and compare it to the voltage across the battery terminals. If there is a substantial difference, then investigation is required. The Fulvias had 1.5mm cables for the headlamps which are probably just about adequate. However the fuses often give trouble: renew them and clean and adjust the terminals to ensure a good contact. Of course this applies to all the plug-in connectors and most basic of all, the earthing arrangements. Best solution here is to run the earths with a big cable - say 2mm diameter, to an earthing point that is NOT a rusty self-tapping screw which is the usual arrangement
Paul
Re: new headlights
Starting with the bulbs.....
Car bulbs are called 12V bulbs. This is a name. Not a specification. They are really 13.2 volt bulbs. The standard H1 bulb is 55 watt. It uses those 55 watts at exactly 13,2 volt. It then draws 55 divided by 13,2 equals 4,17 amps. Let's round that off to 4 amps per headlight bulb.
Light output of a bulb is exponentially to the power 3,5 proportional to the voltage. Thus 10% more voltage means 40% more light. This is a good deal as the current increase also by only 10%. If voltage and current both increase by 10% the power consumption increases by 20%.
Thus increasing the voltage by 10% increases the power by 20% and the light output by 40%. There is a penalty of course. At every 5% of voltage increase, the life time is reduced by 50%
You can play with these formula's. If you do night rallies, you may want to get as close to 14 volt (at the bulb!!!) as you can get and put new bulbs at the start of every rally. If you live in a country where it is obligatory to have the low beam on during the day, you may want to aim for a value just under 13,2 volt for the low beam so the bulbs last much longer.
For the low beam it is a good idea not to run them at high voltages anyway on Fulvia's because of the relatively low height of the lamps. If they are set at the legal limit of 1% inclination, it means that for every cm of height the beam will travel 1 meter before it hits the ground. If the headlights are at 60cm, the low beam will illuminate up to 60 meters in front of the car.
The beams from headlights are diverging beams. This means the amount of light falling on a unit of surface area, let's say 1 square meter, decreases with the square of the distance. In other words: attach a light meter to your garage door and put your car at 10 meters. Note the reading of the light meter. Now back up your car another 10 meters and read the meter again. The amount of light will be a quarter of the first reading.
Substitute the height of the headlights divided by the inclination for the distance and you will note that the amount of light needed from the low beams is proportional to the square of the mounting height. Since they are low on Fulvia's, it is better to go for somewhat lower power, longer life and put your money into a unit with an effective pattern.
There are now bluish halogen bulbs on the market. I think it is more a question of fashion than efficiency. Xenon HID lights look blue. They produce white light with some extra blue light as a by product. The bluish halogen bulbs are made to look blue by filtering out yellow light which decreases total light output. There is quite a difference between white light with some extra blue and white light where the yellow component is filtered away. Nevertheless some claim their Blue Vison or whatever gives 50% more light. More than what??? And measured how? By measuring luminance instead of lumens one can easily manipulate the consumer.
The amount of blue light produced by a halogen bulb is small. If you build in a filter which only let's the blue through, it means you are filtering away a lot of useful light. The wavelength of blue light is very short. It scatters and reflects more than yellow light. Compare yellow and blue light on fog, rain, snow flakes. Also the human eye has problem in processing blue light.
Also remember that for oncoming traffic your light beam travels only one way, from your headlights to the oncomer. For you to see something the light has to travel two ways. From your headlights to the object and from the object to your eyes. Twice the distance means a quarter of the light. So, the overload on the human eye is 4 times as bad for oncomers as it is for yourself. If for the sake of fashion you are pestering yourself just a bit with blue light, you are really behaving badly to oncoming traffic.
Here is a table comparing some H1 versions:
type of H1 BulbOutputLifeStandard1550 lm650 hrLong Life1460 lm1200 hrPremium (+30%)1680 lm400 hrVision Plus (+50%)1750 lm350 hr
The life time is defined as the number of hours at which light output has dropped 50% from new. It is revealing. While some give more light output when new than others, the situation may be totally reversed after a few hundred hours. I haven't done the arithmetic nor the test but you may very well be better off in both light output and life time with a long life bulb at 14 volts than a Vision Plus bulb at 13,2 volt. In any case, one of the best ways for good light is a fresh bulb.
The currents add up!
Total current consumption of your car should be less than the maximum output current of your dynamo / alternator. If the current goes over the limit the voltage delivered by the alternator drops quickly. Since light output falls dramatically if the voltage drops just a little bit, inserting 100 watt bulbs is often counterproductive.
I always figure a basic current consumption of 15 amps for ignition, tail lights, dashboard lights, heater fan, wipers etc. If you live in a climate where you don't often use the wipers nor the heater fan you can reduce the basic current consumption to 10 amps.
A 55 watt bulbs uses 4 amps. 4 of these bulbs draw 16 amps. If you add the basic consumption of 15 amps, your total current will be 31 amps. It may already be difficult to have your generator produce 14 volt at these currents. 14 volts is necessary if you want very good light.
100 watt bulbs draw 8 amps each. With 4 of these your total current goes over 40 amps. Your voltage may drop to 12 volts. In light output you loose as much as you gain while your alternator is on overload and the battery is being drained.
With a pre-war Leica you can still make better pictures than with any of today’s camera’s with a plastic lens. In other words the quality of the reflector (also a sort of lens) and the glass lens is important.
The first generation uses stamped steel parabola’s. These are difficult to make as the steel jumps back when the stamp is released. It was nevertheless used for decades with some (like Carello and Cibie) just making better units than others.
Parabola’s have a focal point. In mathematics a point has no dimensions while a filament has. Note that the filament of 100 watt bulbs is twice as thick and twice as long as a 55 watt filament. Thus the part of a 100 watt filament that takes the same space as a 55 watt filament is equivalent to a 25 watt light source. If you have an excellent unit designed for 55 watt you may have less effective beam pattern with a 100 watt bulb but you will have more light on clouds and tree tops.
If you have large lamp units like the main beams of the Fanalone or the Turini pod, the 100 watt bulbs do very well. The larger the unit, the higher the light transmission and the smaller the error of the filament being different from a mathematical point.
On average the first generation units convert 27% of the light into a useful pattern.
The second generation uses reflectors which were computer designed to turn as much light as possible from the whole filament into a useful pattern. Their efficiency is 45% These so called surface complex units are available in 5 ¾” which is the size of the Fulvia. The main beam is spectacular and so is the low beam. For a low beam to be effective you want even illumination from just in front of your car up to the limit of the beam caused by the 1% inclination. (Not entirely even illumination by the way as some variation in contrast at the right distances makes it a lot easier to spot holes in the road or animals at the side of the road. This is where designers of lamps differ and what makes a lot of difference in actual driving performance.) Anyway, if you want even or near even illumination it means that the light intensity of the part of the beam that goes twice as far as another part has to be 4 times larger. As said above light intensity decreases with the square of the distance. It is quite a job to effectively compensate for that. It is not possible with parabolic reflectors to get that right, but with the surface complex units this becomes easy. Also the up-sloping part of the beam goes much further on surface complex low beams which make it a lot easier to read overhead signs. Surface complex units are difficult to get, expensive (100 euro appr.) and have flat lenses.
The third generation uses double hyperbolas. They are used a/o. on the Subaru Impreza and the PT Cruiser. Unfortunately these are not available in 5 ¾” for the Fulvia.
All in all, most of the time I install standard 1st generation Cibie H4 units on the outside and standard Cibie H1 units on the inside. H4 makes excellent low beam and a short wide main beam. H1 makes a long range narrow main beam. The same units can be used on S1 and S2. On S2 you have the option to leave the wiring as it is and use the H4 unit as low beam only or add a relay and switch the H4 unit between main and low beam as on the S1 Fulvia’s. Remember that you cannot just switch the main beam on on the outer ones. If you do, you have to switch off the low beam.
Car bulbs are called 12V bulbs. This is a name. Not a specification. They are really 13.2 volt bulbs. The standard H1 bulb is 55 watt. It uses those 55 watts at exactly 13,2 volt. It then draws 55 divided by 13,2 equals 4,17 amps. Let's round that off to 4 amps per headlight bulb.
Light output of a bulb is exponentially to the power 3,5 proportional to the voltage. Thus 10% more voltage means 40% more light. This is a good deal as the current increase also by only 10%. If voltage and current both increase by 10% the power consumption increases by 20%.
Thus increasing the voltage by 10% increases the power by 20% and the light output by 40%. There is a penalty of course. At every 5% of voltage increase, the life time is reduced by 50%
You can play with these formula's. If you do night rallies, you may want to get as close to 14 volt (at the bulb!!!) as you can get and put new bulbs at the start of every rally. If you live in a country where it is obligatory to have the low beam on during the day, you may want to aim for a value just under 13,2 volt for the low beam so the bulbs last much longer.
For the low beam it is a good idea not to run them at high voltages anyway on Fulvia's because of the relatively low height of the lamps. If they are set at the legal limit of 1% inclination, it means that for every cm of height the beam will travel 1 meter before it hits the ground. If the headlights are at 60cm, the low beam will illuminate up to 60 meters in front of the car.
The beams from headlights are diverging beams. This means the amount of light falling on a unit of surface area, let's say 1 square meter, decreases with the square of the distance. In other words: attach a light meter to your garage door and put your car at 10 meters. Note the reading of the light meter. Now back up your car another 10 meters and read the meter again. The amount of light will be a quarter of the first reading.
Substitute the height of the headlights divided by the inclination for the distance and you will note that the amount of light needed from the low beams is proportional to the square of the mounting height. Since they are low on Fulvia's, it is better to go for somewhat lower power, longer life and put your money into a unit with an effective pattern.
There are now bluish halogen bulbs on the market. I think it is more a question of fashion than efficiency. Xenon HID lights look blue. They produce white light with some extra blue light as a by product. The bluish halogen bulbs are made to look blue by filtering out yellow light which decreases total light output. There is quite a difference between white light with some extra blue and white light where the yellow component is filtered away. Nevertheless some claim their Blue Vison or whatever gives 50% more light. More than what??? And measured how? By measuring luminance instead of lumens one can easily manipulate the consumer.
The amount of blue light produced by a halogen bulb is small. If you build in a filter which only let's the blue through, it means you are filtering away a lot of useful light. The wavelength of blue light is very short. It scatters and reflects more than yellow light. Compare yellow and blue light on fog, rain, snow flakes. Also the human eye has problem in processing blue light.
Also remember that for oncoming traffic your light beam travels only one way, from your headlights to the oncomer. For you to see something the light has to travel two ways. From your headlights to the object and from the object to your eyes. Twice the distance means a quarter of the light. So, the overload on the human eye is 4 times as bad for oncomers as it is for yourself. If for the sake of fashion you are pestering yourself just a bit with blue light, you are really behaving badly to oncoming traffic.
Here is a table comparing some H1 versions:
type of H1 BulbOutputLifeStandard1550 lm650 hrLong Life1460 lm1200 hrPremium (+30%)1680 lm400 hrVision Plus (+50%)1750 lm350 hr
The life time is defined as the number of hours at which light output has dropped 50% from new. It is revealing. While some give more light output when new than others, the situation may be totally reversed after a few hundred hours. I haven't done the arithmetic nor the test but you may very well be better off in both light output and life time with a long life bulb at 14 volts than a Vision Plus bulb at 13,2 volt. In any case, one of the best ways for good light is a fresh bulb.
The currents add up!
Total current consumption of your car should be less than the maximum output current of your dynamo / alternator. If the current goes over the limit the voltage delivered by the alternator drops quickly. Since light output falls dramatically if the voltage drops just a little bit, inserting 100 watt bulbs is often counterproductive.
I always figure a basic current consumption of 15 amps for ignition, tail lights, dashboard lights, heater fan, wipers etc. If you live in a climate where you don't often use the wipers nor the heater fan you can reduce the basic current consumption to 10 amps.
A 55 watt bulbs uses 4 amps. 4 of these bulbs draw 16 amps. If you add the basic consumption of 15 amps, your total current will be 31 amps. It may already be difficult to have your generator produce 14 volt at these currents. 14 volts is necessary if you want very good light.
100 watt bulbs draw 8 amps each. With 4 of these your total current goes over 40 amps. Your voltage may drop to 12 volts. In light output you loose as much as you gain while your alternator is on overload and the battery is being drained.
With a pre-war Leica you can still make better pictures than with any of today’s camera’s with a plastic lens. In other words the quality of the reflector (also a sort of lens) and the glass lens is important.
The first generation uses stamped steel parabola’s. These are difficult to make as the steel jumps back when the stamp is released. It was nevertheless used for decades with some (like Carello and Cibie) just making better units than others.
Parabola’s have a focal point. In mathematics a point has no dimensions while a filament has. Note that the filament of 100 watt bulbs is twice as thick and twice as long as a 55 watt filament. Thus the part of a 100 watt filament that takes the same space as a 55 watt filament is equivalent to a 25 watt light source. If you have an excellent unit designed for 55 watt you may have less effective beam pattern with a 100 watt bulb but you will have more light on clouds and tree tops.
If you have large lamp units like the main beams of the Fanalone or the Turini pod, the 100 watt bulbs do very well. The larger the unit, the higher the light transmission and the smaller the error of the filament being different from a mathematical point.
On average the first generation units convert 27% of the light into a useful pattern.
The second generation uses reflectors which were computer designed to turn as much light as possible from the whole filament into a useful pattern. Their efficiency is 45% These so called surface complex units are available in 5 ¾” which is the size of the Fulvia. The main beam is spectacular and so is the low beam. For a low beam to be effective you want even illumination from just in front of your car up to the limit of the beam caused by the 1% inclination. (Not entirely even illumination by the way as some variation in contrast at the right distances makes it a lot easier to spot holes in the road or animals at the side of the road. This is where designers of lamps differ and what makes a lot of difference in actual driving performance.) Anyway, if you want even or near even illumination it means that the light intensity of the part of the beam that goes twice as far as another part has to be 4 times larger. As said above light intensity decreases with the square of the distance. It is quite a job to effectively compensate for that. It is not possible with parabolic reflectors to get that right, but with the surface complex units this becomes easy. Also the up-sloping part of the beam goes much further on surface complex low beams which make it a lot easier to read overhead signs. Surface complex units are difficult to get, expensive (100 euro appr.) and have flat lenses.
The third generation uses double hyperbolas. They are used a/o. on the Subaru Impreza and the PT Cruiser. Unfortunately these are not available in 5 ¾” for the Fulvia.
All in all, most of the time I install standard 1st generation Cibie H4 units on the outside and standard Cibie H1 units on the inside. H4 makes excellent low beam and a short wide main beam. H1 makes a long range narrow main beam. The same units can be used on S1 and S2. On S2 you have the option to leave the wiring as it is and use the H4 unit as low beam only or add a relay and switch the H4 unit between main and low beam as on the S1 Fulvia’s. Remember that you cannot just switch the main beam on on the outer ones. If you do, you have to switch off the low beam.
Re: new headlights
Hi Chris,
I've been fitting 5 3/4" Cibie lamps for years. Being European, they look "right" on Lancias. You can also fit Bosch or Koito (cheaper), but both these have a flat lens unlike the curved lens of the Cibie.
I've been fitting 5 3/4" Cibie lamps for years. Being European, they look "right" on Lancias. You can also fit Bosch or Koito (cheaper), but both these have a flat lens unlike the curved lens of the Cibie.
Re: new headlights
Thanks for the replies.
Huib as ever has not only made the recommendation, but also backed up his reasoning in a most comprehensive way!
I will try the Cibies as I want the car to look original.
I understand that the lights from a 3 series BMW E-30 will work, these must be the 'surface complex' type, but unfortunately they have flat lenses.
I will certainly be thoroghly cleaning all electrical connections, fuse holders, and checking all wiring when re-assembly commences.
What do you recommend in terms of creating good earth points on a freshly painted car while ensuring that you are not starting furture rust points?
Chris
IMG_3106.JPG
Huib as ever has not only made the recommendation, but also backed up his reasoning in a most comprehensive way!
I will try the Cibies as I want the car to look original.
I understand that the lights from a 3 series BMW E-30 will work, these must be the 'surface complex' type, but unfortunately they have flat lenses.
I will certainly be thoroghly cleaning all electrical connections, fuse holders, and checking all wiring when re-assembly commences.
What do you recommend in terms of creating good earth points on a freshly painted car while ensuring that you are not starting furture rust points?
Chris
IMG_3106.JPG
Re: new headlights
"What do you recommend in terms of creating good earth points on a freshly painted car while ensuring that you are not starting furture rust points?"
Please see my posting above.
Paul
Please see my posting above.
Paul
Re: new headlights
Make sure you get the right Cibie's. With first generation technology they still make and sell various different units with flat and domed lenses.
For the outer ones you need 5 3/4" H4 units with side light, domed lens.
For the inner ones you need the 5 3/4" H1 high beam units, domed lens.
I am not familiar with the various BMW's. A flat lens does not necessarily mean that they are 2nd generation surface complex.
Good earth points is not necessarily as bad as Paul thinks.
Many many many years ago when in school I did not do the subject. After a couple of beers I did get into contact with guys who did. From what I remember is that they only half understood the difficult mechanism. From what they told me, I understood less than 50 %. After may years it is only a faint memory. Anyway, the rust subject is complex. Ions can migrate through steel. This means that oxygen ions travel through steel. If there is a blank patch it serves as an antenna that picks up oxygen. These atoms travel as ions through the steel and cause rust somewhere else where the steel has a weak (thin) spot. So you may have rust in turn up in places where there is a good layer of paint and where rust is least expected.
Having electric currents flow through the body may enhance the mechanism. I don't know. I know it helps to prevent corrosion in aluminium bodied cars if you don't use the body as ground but install ground wires. Maybe someday someone who knows the dteails will join the forum.
Back to the question about grounding points.
An excellent solution is to use serrated lock washers with either external or internal teeth. These cut through the paint. If you torque the bolt well, the pressure on the sharp teeth is very high. Steel is like a politician. Under pressure it becomes liquid. So, if properly done you will have so called cold welds which should be gas tight and thus not cause corrosion on the actual contact patches. If too much paint was scratched off there may be rust later or the steel washers and bolts may rust eventually. I would nevertheless not use stainless steel but a good quality zinc plated material. Zinc has the advantage of giving cathodic protection to is surroundings. The zinc will disappear over time if it sees a lot of water. This can be prevented by spraying wax over it.
Technically you have to use new serrated washers every time you reconnect. You cannot use the washers twice as you rely on the very sharp points for the system to work.
For the outer ones you need 5 3/4" H4 units with side light, domed lens.
For the inner ones you need the 5 3/4" H1 high beam units, domed lens.
I am not familiar with the various BMW's. A flat lens does not necessarily mean that they are 2nd generation surface complex.
Good earth points is not necessarily as bad as Paul thinks.
Many many many years ago when in school I did not do the subject. After a couple of beers I did get into contact with guys who did. From what I remember is that they only half understood the difficult mechanism. From what they told me, I understood less than 50 %. After may years it is only a faint memory. Anyway, the rust subject is complex. Ions can migrate through steel. This means that oxygen ions travel through steel. If there is a blank patch it serves as an antenna that picks up oxygen. These atoms travel as ions through the steel and cause rust somewhere else where the steel has a weak (thin) spot. So you may have rust in turn up in places where there is a good layer of paint and where rust is least expected.
Having electric currents flow through the body may enhance the mechanism. I don't know. I know it helps to prevent corrosion in aluminium bodied cars if you don't use the body as ground but install ground wires. Maybe someday someone who knows the dteails will join the forum.
Back to the question about grounding points.
An excellent solution is to use serrated lock washers with either external or internal teeth. These cut through the paint. If you torque the bolt well, the pressure on the sharp teeth is very high. Steel is like a politician. Under pressure it becomes liquid. So, if properly done you will have so called cold welds which should be gas tight and thus not cause corrosion on the actual contact patches. If too much paint was scratched off there may be rust later or the steel washers and bolts may rust eventually. I would nevertheless not use stainless steel but a good quality zinc plated material. Zinc has the advantage of giving cathodic protection to is surroundings. The zinc will disappear over time if it sees a lot of water. This can be prevented by spraying wax over it.
Technically you have to use new serrated washers every time you reconnect. You cannot use the washers twice as you rely on the very sharp points for the system to work.
Re: new headlights
Well, I notice that Porsches have an earth line that runs all round the car - coloured brown as is the German convention - well the early 911s did anyway.
I thought of doing this on my Fulvia but was too lazy. However I did run a special earth all the way back to the fuel pumps as they draw about 6 amps and voltage drop vs pressure is as significant as against light output as Huib observed.
I also have a S3 Thema and the headlamps are absolute rubbish. In fact I have posted on the Thema forum about them - and many agree. When I have a chance I shall investigate voltage at the bulbs and also resistance in the earth line.
As we did at Evo Engineering so many times, I expect I shall have to fit additional relays close to the lamps and a proper earth - back to the battery or at least to a good earthing point. The lamps on Evos are pretty pathetic too and responded well to our special wiring harness.
Paul
I thought of doing this on my Fulvia but was too lazy. However I did run a special earth all the way back to the fuel pumps as they draw about 6 amps and voltage drop vs pressure is as significant as against light output as Huib observed.
I also have a S3 Thema and the headlamps are absolute rubbish. In fact I have posted on the Thema forum about them - and many agree. When I have a chance I shall investigate voltage at the bulbs and also resistance in the earth line.
As we did at Evo Engineering so many times, I expect I shall have to fit additional relays close to the lamps and a proper earth - back to the battery or at least to a good earthing point. The lamps on Evos are pretty pathetic too and responded well to our special wiring harness.
Paul
Re: new headlights
You are right, Paul. The ground loop is often neglected and sometimes even overlooked all together.
It starts at the alternator. Most alternators are mounted in rubbers. They need a wire from the alternator body to the engine as on S2/3 Fulvia's.
Then you need a good ground connection from the engine to the body. On Fulvia's I often use a braided strip with M8 holes.
Drill an 8 mm hole in the inner wheel arch. Put through it an M8 bolt with a serrated washer under the head as well as on the other side under the nut. Tighten the nut. Put on a second nut to lock the first nut. You now have an M8 ground stud on which the strip can be mounted using a third nut and serrated washers again. If the connection has to be taken of for any reason one can leave the M8 bolt with its serrated washers and two nuts in place and not upset the cold welds. The other side of the strip goes under one of the bolts that fasten the fan pillar or engine support arm to the crank case.
The wiring of the S2/S3 Fulvia is ok for the headlights. The grounds go directly to the body unlike on the S1's where the ground wires go through a connector first. Also the currents to the bulbs are switched by relays on the S2/3. If the voltage regulator is all right, one should have over 13,2 volts at the bulbs. Note that the voltage of the regulator should not go over 14,5 volts with no load. If it goes over 14,5 volts the battery will use water. With the head lights on and the engine at 3000 rpm on S1 and 2000 rpm on S2/3 the voltage should prefereably still be 14,0 volt or higher. Certainly not less than 13,8 volts.
One may need to adjust the regulator which is easy on the mechanical ones.
If one really wants to squeeze out the last millivolt, putting in relays is a good solution. It is a good idea to give every headlight its own fuse. Voltage drop is smallest that way and if one fuse blows, there is only one light that turns off. Also run the wires around the back of the engine bay. Not along the front. This is to avoid the wires being shorted in case of an accident which is statistically at the right front most of the time.
On S1 Fulvia's the current to the low beams goes through a fuse first which is shared by other consumers of current. Then it goes to the relay. Then to the two fuses for the left and right head lights. I usually leave it that way as it does reduce the voltage on the bulb just a bit which gives longer life in exchange for the highest possible light output. If I still want more light, I bring in an extra thick wire from the voltage regulator which goes directly to the relay.
The main beams are a disaster or rather the wiring. It looks like that current is switched by the relay too. Well it is, but it goes though several contacts AND the light switch on the dashboard first. This is the current for 4 head lamps thus over 16 amps!!!! In my opinion this is a design error. One should never put 16 amps through a manually operated switch.
The wiring for the main beam is a disaster (on S1)
It starts at the alternator. Most alternators are mounted in rubbers. They need a wire from the alternator body to the engine as on S2/3 Fulvia's.
Then you need a good ground connection from the engine to the body. On Fulvia's I often use a braided strip with M8 holes.
Drill an 8 mm hole in the inner wheel arch. Put through it an M8 bolt with a serrated washer under the head as well as on the other side under the nut. Tighten the nut. Put on a second nut to lock the first nut. You now have an M8 ground stud on which the strip can be mounted using a third nut and serrated washers again. If the connection has to be taken of for any reason one can leave the M8 bolt with its serrated washers and two nuts in place and not upset the cold welds. The other side of the strip goes under one of the bolts that fasten the fan pillar or engine support arm to the crank case.
The wiring of the S2/S3 Fulvia is ok for the headlights. The grounds go directly to the body unlike on the S1's where the ground wires go through a connector first. Also the currents to the bulbs are switched by relays on the S2/3. If the voltage regulator is all right, one should have over 13,2 volts at the bulbs. Note that the voltage of the regulator should not go over 14,5 volts with no load. If it goes over 14,5 volts the battery will use water. With the head lights on and the engine at 3000 rpm on S1 and 2000 rpm on S2/3 the voltage should prefereably still be 14,0 volt or higher. Certainly not less than 13,8 volts.
One may need to adjust the regulator which is easy on the mechanical ones.
If one really wants to squeeze out the last millivolt, putting in relays is a good solution. It is a good idea to give every headlight its own fuse. Voltage drop is smallest that way and if one fuse blows, there is only one light that turns off. Also run the wires around the back of the engine bay. Not along the front. This is to avoid the wires being shorted in case of an accident which is statistically at the right front most of the time.
On S1 Fulvia's the current to the low beams goes through a fuse first which is shared by other consumers of current. Then it goes to the relay. Then to the two fuses for the left and right head lights. I usually leave it that way as it does reduce the voltage on the bulb just a bit which gives longer life in exchange for the highest possible light output. If I still want more light, I bring in an extra thick wire from the voltage regulator which goes directly to the relay.
The main beams are a disaster or rather the wiring. It looks like that current is switched by the relay too. Well it is, but it goes though several contacts AND the light switch on the dashboard first. This is the current for 4 head lamps thus over 16 amps!!!! In my opinion this is a design error. One should never put 16 amps through a manually operated switch.
The wiring for the main beam is a disaster (on S1)