Dipped Headlights

[Swifty75]

Hi All
just a bit of knowledge needed on the stag headlights. I noticed that one of my headlights when in dipped only lit up half the bowl, and the other looked fine. I had a look and the one that I thought was faulty had an internal shroud limiting the light omitted. The other side does not have this. Is the shroud necessary on both sides to give dipped beam?

thanks for any help or knowledge passed on

Neil

[mole42]

If the car is in a country that drives on the left then there is unlikely to be a shroud. The dipped beam is formed by a combination of the position of the lamp filament and the fresnel lens on the front glass.
Many Stags have the H4 lamp in the headlamp unit but some have sealed beam lamps which might have a different appearance.
Does the dipped headlight beam light up the road correctly?

Richard

[nigele]

Sounds like you have an original H1 bulb on one side which needs an external shield for the dip beam. The other side will have an H4 twin filament bulb, with a built in shield over the dip filament.
Nigel

[Swifty75]

Thanks for the help. People have flashed their lights at me in the evening. I think the light without the shroud has a H1 bulb in it meaning it does not dip. Would I be better removing the shroud from one headlight and then installing two H4 bulbs. They would then be dipped by the bulb itself.

Thanks again for the advice.

[Lingen]

Neil. I don't think it s possible to fit an H1 bulb into a light unit designed to take the H4 one as the bases are quite different, and the shroud can't really be removed.
Now that the one with the shroud is no longer available, I think it would be best if you fit H4 units to both outer (dipped beam) bowls, and just connect up the "Dip" filament of each bulb. This has been the usual arrangement for many years now, and works well. You may have to modify the tags on the back of the reflectors to get them to fit correctly (upright) in the bowls.
Mike.

[022Dave]

Neil,

It would be worth checking that you have the correct light units in the correct positions; I believe it is possible to fit the inboards on the outer positions & vice versa. Although the wiring loom connections might be awkward to attach to the back of the lamps, Murphy's Law would probably allow it to happen.

Dave

[Lingen]

Dave.
The bowls that the light units fit in to have locating cut outs in their rims that will only allow the correct reflector to be fitted. However, if the bowls have been incorrectly fitted in to the headlamp panel, anything is possible!
Mike.

[Swifty75]

Hi All,
I had one new headlight with a H4 bulb in. Then an old (maybe original) headlight with a H1 with the built in aperture/shroud. I have cut out the shroud on the old headlight and fit it with a H4 bulb, it is held in by the old adjusted fitting quite well. They are now both the same, and seem to work well!
Thanks for all the help.
Neil

[022Dave]

Dave.
The bowls that the light units fit in to have locating cut outs in their rims that will only allow the correct reflector to be fitted. However, if the bowls have been incorrectly fitted in to the headlamp panel, anything is possible!
Mike.

Mike,

Me & Murphy rest our case!

Dave

[malc4d]

If you have H4 and H1 bulbs shouldn't the outer 2 be the H4 with the dip and mains and the center 2 the H1 mains......

[Lingen]

Malcolm. What I was trying to say is that the reflector units for H1 and H4 differ, in that the bulbs are not interchangeable. H1 dip beam (outer) reflectors have shields, and mains (inners) don't. As far as I know, these are no longer available, so if you need new reflectors, you will have to fit the H4 twin filament type for either application, connecting up the dip beam filaments for the outer lights, and the main beam ones for the inner.
Do not be tempted to have both filaments in the same bulb operating together, as they will overheat and have a very short life. It is possible to have four main and four dip beams working separately, but will require relays to arrange that.
Mike.

[jakesmig]

I changed my steering to Corsa electric PAS and I now use column switches from a Rover 45 which transposes the switches to the 'modern' indicators on the left and switching off the dip beam when going onto mains.
However prior to that I modified the existing Stag switch to switch off the dips when the main is engaged, allowing the switch to control 4 dips and 4 mains, which I wired through relays. The inner dip relays were, and remain, switchable so that 2 or 4 beam dip is available. That switching arrangement allows double filament bulbs to be installed in all lamps without worrying about burning the bulbs.
It has been a while since I carried out the modification but it goes something like this
Cable ABC is existing light switch to column switch and to dip light. cut feed A - B is the c light switch to column switch, C goes off to the dip lights. E-D is the switch - column feed, which I replaced with a white cable, which can be seen on the rear peg on the 'finished' switch. The cut cable F is attached to the front left peg of the switch, seen connected by a red/blue cable.
Care needs to be taken when soldering so that the plastic surrounding the metal connectors doesn't melt.