The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

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PostPosted: Thu Oct 11, 2012 11:28 am 
Hello folks, I do hope all is well in your worlds...?!

I purchased these tasty little 70's Raydyot spot-lamps the other day...

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...and wondered the following thing.

Do these lamps have to be wired in so they only come on when I flick to full beam or can they be used on normal, dipped beam (which is what I want to really improve my current night time lighting situation)...? I just wanted to know before everything gets wired in and finalised as I'd hate to drop a major clanger :roll:

Any advice would be hugely appreciated so thanks a million in advance...


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PostPosted: Thu Oct 11, 2012 11:38 am 
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Only main beam. If you want better normal driving light then replace the 55w bulbs to (illigal) 100w bulbs or if you have twin headlamps put two normal driving lights next to eachother and have double dipped beam.

Jeroen

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PostPosted: Thu Oct 11, 2012 11:49 am 
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And being halogen you should fit some relays.

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Meetings take place on the first Wednesday of the month at 8.00pm at The Old Brickworks, Wakefield Road, Drighlington, Bradford, BD11 1EA

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PostPosted: Thu Oct 11, 2012 2:58 pm 
As Jeroen says, they have to be wired so they can only come on with main beam. I'd also relay them and add a separate switch so that you have the option of dipped headlamps only, main headlamps only or main + spots.

As to bulbs however, it depends on the age of the car as to whether you have to have e-marked bulbs (which are all, afaik, 55w) or not. I forget the cut-off point but it should be on the net somewhere - look for the Construction & Use lighting regs.

If you're still running sealed beams replace them with relayed halogens, that'll make a massive difference.


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PostPosted: Thu Oct 11, 2012 3:58 pm 
A mate has just done mine,fitting relays,made a bit of loom etc,i've written etc because i haven't got a clue really what he was doing and although probably not everyones cup of tea on here,i think its nearly pornographic


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PostPosted: Thu Oct 11, 2012 6:14 pm 
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Those look more like fog lights....

AFAIK you can have those wired to come on with just side lights and stay on with anything above that.

Bit pointless though as in fog everything just gets reflected back.

With H4 conversion on the outers and H1 inners I dont see that you would really need a lot more light myself. And relays are a good idea to save the barely adequate
contacts in the column switch.

Jonners

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PostPosted: Thu Oct 11, 2012 6:27 pm 
Well thanks for all your help and advice folks... I shall be fitting my spots by adding them to the full beam circuit with the addition of a relay as suggested... I've said it before & I'll say it again, this forum is bloomin' tremendous :wink:


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PostPosted: Thu Oct 11, 2012 7:59 pm 
The difference between fog and spot lights is in the beam pattern, spots have a long, round beam wheras fogs have a low, wide beam to illuminate the side of the road. There are rules as to how high off the road they have to be though - both a max height for fogs and a min height for spots...


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PostPosted: Fri Oct 12, 2012 10:19 am 
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and a distance from vehicle centre line and edge too.....

I think the numbers change on vehicle build date as well...bit of a minefield.

Jonners

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PostPosted: Fri Oct 12, 2012 11:25 am 
Taff your car looks darn tasty... :wink:

Mr.Tilson, thanks for your added advice... It all seems a bit confusing doesn't it?! I was just going to go for the positioning similar to below

Image

As that looks just about right to me...?!


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PostPosted: Fri Oct 12, 2012 11:51 am 
The dolly looks lovely with spots I reckon. Here's Adams old 1500 auto
Image
And my old 1300
Image


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PostPosted: Fri Oct 12, 2012 1:07 pm 
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I think on the 2 square light jobbies I would have them a bit further out to avoid radiator flow restrictions...

but yes the spots do look good. You can also fit H4 bulbs to a square light.

Jonners

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PostPosted: Fri Oct 12, 2012 2:07 pm 
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But not the 100w type, they burst, the lucas ones. i did replace my units by hella ones from a classic fiat and those stay in one piece.

Jeroen

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PostPosted: Fri Oct 12, 2012 3:26 pm 
Quote:
I think on the 2 square light jobbies I would have them a bit further out to avoid radiator flow restrictions...

but yes the spots do look good. You can also fit H4 bulbs to a square light.

Jonners
Yeah - As far out as you can go without restricting the beam from the headlights themselves. Going on that photo of the white tolly, I'd aim to have the centreline of the lamps directly above the overrider holes you can see in the lower valence.

You could probably fabricate some kind of bracket to bolt to the outer bar of the bumper mount as well, to save drilling holes in the bumper.


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PostPosted: Fri Oct 12, 2012 3:31 pm 
That white Toledo has an overtaking mirror on the Near Side! :shrug:


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