beam deflectors/benders

[Brian Peters]

hi all, i am going to france for a few weeks and im taking my mercedes based burstner mh. i need to sort out my headlights before i go. is it possible to buy portective covers for the headlampms and fit the beam deflectors/ benders to these because i have heard stories that if you fit the deflectors directly onto your headlamp lens the heat can affect the lens. it would be ideal to fit the benders onto lens covers then i could just use these when i travel abroad, any comments would be helpful, and also a supplier for headlamp protectors for a 2005 merc sprinter model van.

thanks in advance

brian

[mike 202]

suggest you ring the mercedes dealers as a first try. When I needed some lens covers for my 2008 Fiat base the main dealer supplied them. Cost £60 to give you a ball-park figure to aim for.

[david lloyd]

If you draw a blank with the headlamp protectors try using WHITE insulation tape to mask off the high beam. If you use white it does not heat up as much as black tape and affect the lens, also the headlight still looks 'normal' to oncoming traffic.

 

It is relatively easy to find the correct place to blank off. Just position your vehicle a couple of yards from a wall and shine the headlights on it. The 'high' part of the beam will easily be seen and just mask over it.

 

I have even done this on the rear of a bus or the partition wall on the tunnel crossing. Last June I walked around the campsite at St Omer and found virtually NO british registered cars and motorhomes with masked headlights or beam benders! Yes, you might even get away with it but what if you do cause a serious (fatal) road accident?

 

Best regards, David

[Derek Uzzell]

Brian:

 

Can't help with the headlamp protectors, but you should be able to obtain beam deflectors easily enough. There is a multi-purpose product called "Eurolites" that can be adapted/positioned for most vehicles' headlamps. This is marketed by a company called Travel Spot

 

http://www.travel-spot.co.uk

 

I've seen Eurolites in Brittany Ferries on-board shops, so I expect most ferry companies offer them on cross-Channel routes.

 

Eurolites come with comprehensive instructions on how to position them and, for 2003-onwards Mercedes Sprinter with 'clear' headlights, it's just a matter of sticking a 60mm disk in the appropriate position on the light unit's front surface.

 

As Eurolites are designed to deflect rather than obstruct the light beam they should avoid overheating problems. As far as I'm aware the only reports of damage to headlights has involved 'masks' rather than beam deflectors. I note David's use-white-tape-for-masks advice and, while agreeing that this practice should be better than using black tape, the plastic headlights on my last motorhome 'crazed' behind white tape masks. My own feeling is that using any obstructive mask on a plastic head-light risks overheating and that deflectors are preferable.

 

Incidentally, Eurolites are bi-sexual in that they can be used inverted to convert LHD-standard lights to RHD dipped pattern. They are sold in LHD or RHD packaging, the only difference being in the fitting instructions.

 

Like David, I don't recall seeing many RHD vehicles recently in France with any sort of headlight modification, though it used to be common practice to add masks. And I've never seen LHD 'Continental' vehicles in the UK with masks/deflectors on their headlights other than UK-registered motorhomes that shouldn't legally have them.

[John H]

Hi Brian,

 

Formula 4x4 sell protective covers for headlamps. I bought some for our 2005 Ducato and they came with the masks to divert the beam but it doesn't look like they supply the masks with the sprinter. The price is £35.90 inc VAT.

http://formula4x4.co.uk/products/ProductList/Sprinter-Mk2-00-06/SCF4VAN/GCMESP2/PRvehicle.html

John.

[Way2Go]

I thought Formula 4 x 4 had gone into receivership?

[alan k]

4x4 are operating having been taken over i understand, but when I tried to order some headlight protectors for my sprinter I got " a certificate" warning when moving to the checkout.

 

So I've ordered mine from Proppa cars, but there appears to have been some effects with suppplies with various takeovers and I'm assured mine will be with me by the end of next week. Then I intend to stick deflectors on them as suggested by other correspondents using the old "wall method" to position them

 

alan

[Vernon B]

Derek Uzzell - 2008-06-28 9:58 AM

 

Incidentally, Eurolites are bi-sexual in that they can be used inverted to convert LHD-standard lights to RHD dipped pattern. They are sold in LHD or RHD packaging, the only difference being in the fitting instructions.

 

 

Interesting piece of information Derek, so why don't the French, German, Dutch et al, fit beam defectors when they visit the UK? Is this another case of only the Brits following the rules?

 

V

[ike]

Derek  Thanks for the info re Eurolites. I was considering buying headlight protectors 'cos I was worried about crazing but no need to now.

cheers Irene

[bob M]

Hi,Renault Owners

If you pass my van (Renault Master) at St Omer you will see no stickers on the headlights as a 6.5mm socket on an extension & ratchet applied to the hexagon thread stub protuding from the rear of the headlights will swing the units to French side.

Make a note of the threads exposed before you start so when you come back you can revert back to UK.

Facing the vehicle from the front ratchet to the left for the offside, ratchet to the right for the nearside.This swings the lights right over and can be adjusted to suit when over there.

I still have yellow bulbs in my garage from when you had to have yellow headlights, used to drive a lot through the night then and hated the poor quality of light. When did they get phased out. ?

[Brian Kirby]

So far as I know, all the current crop of base vehicles, and definately the "face lifted" previous Sevel vans, all have headlamp adjusters settable from the cab.  If the headlamps have been properly adjusted for angle when the coachbuilt body was added (and both my present [Ford] and previous [Fiat] vans seem to have been), this adjuster turns the headlamp beams down by a considerable margin.

We use our van abroad only during "summer time", and do not drive late in the day, so have never driven after lighting up time.  The only times I have used the headlamps, therefore, have been in rain/poor visibility, in tunnels, and where the law requires daylight running lights - in other words where the need is to be seen, rather than to see.

The legal requirement, so far as I know, is not to cause dazzle to oncoming traffic, and my impression is that by setting the cab adjuster to maximum depression, the dipped beams are so short that dazzle would be very unlikely indeed.  With the lights turned down as far as the adjuster allows, I think you will find that the left side "kick up" of the dipped (RHD) asymetrical beam hits the road closer to the front of vehicle than does the horizontal portion of the beam when in its "normal" position.  This should suffice to prevent dazzle so, unless you intend night driving, should surely be adequate.  What do others think?

[Derek Uzzell]

Brian:

 

I agree that using a dashboard-mounted adjustment-control to lower the headlamp beam to a point where it doesn't dazzle oncoming drivers should be OK legally when driving abroad. The Catch 22 will come if unforeseen circumstances force you to drive at night when (based on my own experience of driving my Hobby with LHD beam-pattern lights on UK roads when I brought it back from Germany), to avoid offending other drivers, you need to lower the beam so much that forward vision on dip is seriously compromised.

 

Vernon:

 

I did say that few Brits driving on the Continent seemed to (visibly) modify their vehicles' headlamps nowadays, so I don't think we can be considered blame-free on this.

 

I suspect that many Continental drivers visiting the UK are blithely unaware that their vehicles' headlights are pointing the wrong way as, everywhere else they go in Europe, the lights' beam-pattern will be fine. As far as I'm aware no 'foreign' driver has ever been prosecuted in the UK for having dazzling lights, so perhaps that's another factor.

 

 

[Hopesy]

I can confirm that formula4 have gone into recievership because i'm still waiting for an order and when i phoned the new company(?) they told me they were honouring exisiting orders but i'm still waiting and probably will be until hell freezes over :-( :'(

[rupert123]

I have been driving in Europe for many years, including spending up to four months at a time in France during the winter running ski holidays. I have never had beam deflectors and after the yellow headlights were abandoned have never had any problems. Headlights now dip pretty much straight down so if correctly adjusted will cause no problems to other drivers, as Brian states simply adjust a little lower if bothered. If you want them the eurolite beam deflectors mentioned on here are sold by pretty much everybody including the AA, you can buy them on Ebay under various names

[HWO]

Hi all

I understood the reason that the continentals don't mess around with bits of tape etc is because of the way they lights dip.

Where our lights dip and move towards the curb, hence the need to deflect the beam, Johnny foreigner's just dip straight down the road therefore it don't matter which side of the road he is.

[Derek Uzzell]

HWO:

 

This is a popular urban myth that regularly comes up on motoring forums and publications.

 

The headlights of Johnny Foreigner's LHD vehicle produce a dipped-beam mirror image of the pattern produced by Billy Beefeater's RHD version of that vehicle. My LHD Transit's original headlights plainly dipped hard to the right with a very obvious 'kick-up' to illuminate the kerbside - RHD versions dip hard left with an on-the-left kick-up. My understanding is that EU regulations state that the only headlights that can legally produce a 'straight down' symmetrical dipped-beam pattern are those used on motorbikes.

 

It may be the case that the dipped-beam of modern headlights is more tightly controlled than in the past so, even if not modified by deflectors or masks for other-side-of-the-road driving, is less likely to cause dazzle. My own theory is that so many headlights are poorly aligned or savagely powerful nowadays, that road users have got accustomed to being dazzled and can't pick out the ones that dip in the wrong direction. I remember driving in France during the period when orange lights were still in general use there but not obligatory. French drivers used to take great offence at vehicles with white lights (as they were clearly 'foreign') and I used to get headlamp-flashed at regularly at night despite having masks on my car's lights.

[Brian Kirby]

rupert123 - 2008-07-01 10:20 AM I have been driving in Europe for many years, including spending up to four months at a time in France during the winter running ski holidays. I have never had beam deflectors and after the yellow headlights were abandoned have never had any problems. Headlights now dip pretty much straight down so if correctly adjusted will cause no problems to other drivers, as Brian states simply adjust a little lower if bothered. If you want them the eurolite beam deflectors mentioned on here are sold by pretty much everybody including the AA, you can buy them on Ebay under various names

Well, yes....but.  Experience of what happens when you drive on UK pattern dips abroad is not a wholly reliable guide as to what others may experience, or as to whether it causes dazzle, or meets the legal obligation not to do so.

Your point as to how lights dip is well answered by Derek above.  They do not dip straight down and if correctly adjusted will undoubtedly cause problems to other drivers.  However, when/how these problems manifest will depend on factors such as whether the road is straight and level and how level your own vehicle rides.  Meeting oncoming traffic on tight right hand bends will seldom cause trouble for oncoming drivers, but meeting them on a gentle right hander, at the crest of a hill, most certainly will.  Meeting oncoming traffic on left hand bends will not cause problems.  Undulating roads will also cause your UK dips to intermittently dazzle any oncoming traffic, as you crest each rise.  How oncoming drivers react is a matter of chance, depending on circumstance and temperament. 

I agree the reaction is now muted compared to the days of the yellow perils - when some (French) drivers would put their main beams on and drive straight at you - but I don't think a lack of homicidal aggression is a reliable indicator that no-one now minds being dazzled, albeit momentarily!  It is surely better to fit the masks/deflectors when driving at night, and not to risk causing annoyance, or worse, with dazzle? 

My original comments referred solely to use of left dipping units as daylight running lights/in tunnels/during poor visibility, not for night time driving.  In fact, our own van is LHD and has right dipping lamps, so all alignments are correct for right hand traffic.