Rollerteam Pegaso 740 Headlights

[jobboyce]

Is there anyone out there that has a Rollerteam Pegaso 740 who has driven at night in Europe (having bought their van in the UK) If there is could they contact me please as I am in need of some advice.

rjcoxwhf@hotmail.co.uk or through the forum.

My Question is simple:- WHAT DO YOU DO TO AVOID DAZZLING OTHER MOTORISTS?

:-( We drive to Italy in April

[Derek Uzzell]

When you asked before whether there were any forum-members who owned a Pegaso 740 there was a nil response.

 

http://forums.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/Motorhomes/Motorhome-Matters/Roller-Team/46258/

 

In that earlier forum-thread the driving-abroad headlamp issue was discussed at some length by Brian K and myself, but our comments were either based on general principles (use stick-on ‘masks’ or beam-deflectors) or guesswork (there might be an a dipped-beam pattern alteration-mechanism built into the headlamp units).

 

You had already been in touch with the Roller Team dealership that sold you your motorhome, plus the Roller Team Aftersales people at Grimsby. The obvious choices were to do nothing to alter the dipped-beam pattern, use stick-on ‘masks’ or beam-deflectors, or to establish whether the headlamp units had a mechanism to modify the beam pattern. As no forum-member apparently owned a current-model Roller-Team Pegaso and might be in a position to say if its headlamps were designed to have their dipped-beam pattern easily altered, the ball was really back in your court about the last possibility.

 

Did you inspect the headlamps as I suggested? If you did and found no means to alter the beam pattern, you are back to doing nothing or sticking something on the lights.

 

(Some people who drive in Continental Europe a lot resort to swapping UK-norm left-dipping headlamps for right-dipping ones, swapping them back when they return to the UK. If your lights have no alteration mechanism, and you don’t want to stick tape/deflectors on them, it’s a further possibility you might explore.)

[jobboyce]

Derek it does look like the only legal/correct way is to change the Headlight units each time (which isn't a five minuet job given the access restrictions) you cross the channel, not a very good option really and at a cost of £140 + vat each.

I have cobled something together but what a thoughtless thing for a Major manufacturer to do and all for the sake of a few pounds. And all you get from AFTERSALES is "it's made for the UK so it's lights comply for the UK"

No good moaning anymore, deal with it and move on. We are off to Sorento in April so I will see what they have to say when I knock on the factory door and ask which Muppet thought this was a good idea.

Thanks to every one for help and advice.

[Derek Uzzell]

To the best of my knowledge the only motorhome fitted-as-standard headlamps with the capability to modify the dipped-beam pattern for non-dazzle driving in countries with ‘left hand traffic’ (eg. the UK) or ‘right-hand traffic’ (eg. Continental Europe) are Hella-made units. These are normally fitted only to A-class models and are either round small-diameter lights that need screws to be loosened, the light to be rotated and the screws to be retightened (often far from easy) to modify the pattern, or the complex (and hugely expensive) light-units used on Hymers where the modification is made by moving a lever.

 

Otherwise (and the same will be true for the majority of cars) there will be no ‘technical’ means of altering the dipped-beam pattern when a RHD vehicle is to be driven in Continental Europe, or a LHD vehicle is to be driven in the UK. Many travellers don’t bother to do anything (particularly drivers coming to the UK); others attach ‘masks’ or beam-deflectors to their headlamps.

 

As far as cost is concerned, £140 + VAT doesn’t sound so bad - though that does of course depend on how much of the complete light-unit you are getting for that price. Replacing a headlamp of a current model Ducato X290 with a genuine Fiat part would cost about £200 for a ‘basic’ unit, or around £480 for a unit with LED daytime running lights. I believe ‘pattern’ copies are now available that should be a fair bit cheaper, but it’s not like the old simple round-headlamp days when headlghts cost a tenner apiece.