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Post by Bob Sacamano v2.0 on Jan 16, 2018 9:14:40 GMT
I think all cars should have dipped beam come on through a light sensor, without the facility to switch it off while the engine is on. It would save a lot of lives - loads of people drive around in the dark or semi-dark (or fog) with no lights on, or just front DRL's. We had dim dip in the UK until about 1988 but the EU took us to the European Court of Justice and gained and successful prosecution for making up our own lighting regs. |
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Post by michael on Jan 16, 2018 9:39:17 GMT
I think all cars should have dipped beam come on through a light sensor, without the facility to switch it off while the engine is on. It would save a lot of lives - loads of people drive around in the dark or semi-dark (or fog) with no lights on, or just front DRL's. We had dim dip in the UK until about 1988 but the EU took us to the European Court of Justice and gained and successful prosecution for making up our own lighting regs. What were our rules? Didn't know anything about that. The Volvo has DRLs but I think the rear lights go on with them. Most of the time the headlamps seem to be on but there is no visible tell to say that they are on which is a bit annoying as there are times when it would be useful to know. |
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Post by Alex on Jan 16, 2018 9:46:21 GMT
We had dim dip in the UK until about 1988 but the EU took us to the European Court of Justice and gained and successful prosecution for making up our own lighting regs. What were our rules? Didn't know anything about that. The Volvo has DRLs but I think the rear lights go on with them. Most of the time the headlamps seem to be on but there is no visible tell to say that they are on which is a bit annoying as there are times when it would be useful to know. I remember growing up, that all Volvos and Saab’s had DRL’s which were just above the indicator and also lit the tail light. It would seem a backward step if they only lit the fronts these days. |
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Post by LandieMark on Jan 16, 2018 9:54:18 GMT
We had dim dip in the UK until about 1988 but the EU took us to the European Court of Justice and gained and successful prosecution for making up our own lighting regs. What were our rules? Didn't know anything about that. The Volvo has DRLs but I think the rear lights go on with them. Most of the time the headlamps seem to be on but there is no visible tell to say that they are on which is a bit annoying as there are times when it would be useful to know. Sidelights made the headlights come on dimly so you couldn’t drive around just on sidelights. The Land Rover had it until recently when the resistor pack gave up the ghost. dastern.torque.net/techdocs/dimdip.html |
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Post by PetrolEd on Jan 16, 2018 10:23:04 GMT
Tape holders in the 993 that you couldn't reach from the drivers seat as they were positioned behind you. That and it was 1994 and the tape had been well replaced by the Compact Disc.
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Post by Bob Sacamano v2.0 on Jan 16, 2018 11:14:37 GMT
What were our rules? Didn't know anything about that. The Volvo has DRLs but I think the rear lights go on with them. Most of the time the headlamps seem to be on but there is no visible tell to say that they are on which is a bit annoying as there are times when it would be useful to know. I remember growing up, that all Volvos and Saab’s had DRL’s which were just above the indicator and also lit the tail light. It would seem a backward step if they only lit the fronts these days. As far as I'm aware the daytime running lights of Volvos and SAABs never lit up the tail lights of those cars. The front running lights were mandated in the Nordic countries as there was less ambient daylight, particularly in the darker months and the lights on the front made the cars more noticeable and contributed to safety. They found rear lights made no difference to safety and just increased the drain on the battery and therefore reduced economy. Two things have overtaken this; modern LED lights draw so little power you can light up a vehicle like a Xmas tree and it won't effect the fuel economy, and backlit instruments that fool people into thinking they have all their lights on when it's just the front DRLs. I'm not sure what the rules are around DRLs now but it if not already done it's probably time to re-visit and mandate the rear lights being on all the time as some sort of anti-numptie nanny law. |
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Post by LandieMark on Jan 16, 2018 12:27:40 GMT
We had Volvos and they lit up the rears when the ignition was on.
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Post by Blarno on Jan 16, 2018 16:34:43 GMT
On my SAAB, if you leave the lights switched to the On position, they switch off when you turn the ignition off and come back on again when you resart, so my lights are pretty much on all the time because I'm too lazy to switch them off. Switching to sidelights results in them staying on when the ignition is killed and the buzzer going off when the door is opened. It's a simple system that works.
DRLs not illuminating at the rear is a bugbear of mine, as well as the backlit dials that Bob mentioned.
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Post by ChrisM on Jan 17, 2018 8:11:24 GMT
My 1990 Rover 820 had dim-dip, IIRC it worked along the lines of running the dipped headlamps in series rather than parallel so you had 6V through the bulbs, not 12V. As said above, they came on automatically with the sidelights so when driving with lights you either had dim-dip or proper dipped, never sidelights only... sidelights only was "parking lights". When one headlamp bulb blew, the dim-dip stopped working (sidelights only) until the bulb was replaced - and that was in the days when you could get to the back of the headlamps easily to change a bulb in a few seconds
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Post by Ben on Jan 20, 2018 7:35:57 GMT
The Prius came with heated seats which were completely useless in Singapore.
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Post by ChrisM on Jan 20, 2018 20:41:53 GMT
The Kuga has heated front seats.
Recently discovered it has LED "mood lighting" and you can adjust the colour of the illumination
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Post by PG on Jan 24, 2018 10:00:47 GMT
On my SAAB, if you leave the lights switched to the On position, they switch off when you turn the ignition off and come back on again when you resart, so my lights are pretty much on all the time because I'm too lazy to switch them off. Switching to sidelights results in them staying on when the ignition is killed and the buzzer going off when the door is opened. It's a simple system that works. Our Shogun does the same. |
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Post by michael on Jan 24, 2018 14:49:57 GMT
On my SAAB, if you leave the lights switched to the On position, they switch off when you turn the ignition off and come back on again when you resart, so my lights are pretty much on all the time because I'm too lazy to switch them off. Switching to sidelights results in them staying on when the ignition is killed and the buzzer going off when the door is opened. It's a simple system that works. Our Shogun does the same. Best system I've used was on my Punto. The lights went off with the ignition regardless of them being on dipped or side. If you wanted to leave them on for whatever reason without the key in the ignition you could be pressing a button on the ignition barrel as you turned the key. Simple but brilliant. |
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Post by Tim on Jan 24, 2018 15:47:15 GMT
Recently discovered it has LED "mood lighting" and you can adjust the colour of the illumination I think mood lighting is quite common now. We can have red or white on the 320 but friend with an A4 have a whole rainbow of colours to choose from!
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Post by Boxer6 on Jan 24, 2018 18:49:28 GMT
Recently discovered it has LED "mood lighting" and you can adjust the colour of the illumination I think mood lighting is quite common now. We can have red or white on the 320 but friend with an A4 have a whole rainbow of colours to choose from!
I think our Uno was the same; pressed the button and the key went one 'click' the opposite way for parking lights? I might be making that up though. |
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Post by Martin on Jan 24, 2018 19:52:54 GMT
Recently discovered it has LED "mood lighting" and you can adjust the colour of the illumination I think mood lighting is quite common now. We can have red or white on the 320 but friend with an A4 have a whole rainbow of colours to choose from!
Classic (Orange) and Modern (White) on BMWs! Back to best headlight switches. My headlights come on when it gets dark or rains and turn off when not required. It’s been the same for years...... The 2006 Passat also turned the lights on above 85mph, which was referred to as ‘High Speed Mode’ in the manual. |
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Post by Roadsterstu on Jan 25, 2018 9:20:01 GMT
My 1990 Rover 820 had dim-dip, IIRC it worked along the lines of running the dipped headlamps in series rather than parallel so you had 6V through the bulbs, not 12V. As said above, they came on automatically with the sidelights so when driving with lights you either had dim-dip or proper dipped, never sidelights only... sidelights only was "parking lights". When one headlamp bulb blew, the dim-dip stopped working (sidelights only) until the bulb was replaced - and that was in the days when you could get to the back of the headlamps easily to change a bulb in a few seconds Dim dip was particularly idiotic on Volvos. What had been bright, 21w DRLs in the sidelights became 5w in the sidelights and a feeble half power dipped beam. Dim dip made the Volvo system worse but it had to be complied with. I just leave the V60s lights on all the time. No point in ever changing that. |
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Post by michael on Jan 25, 2018 10:38:00 GMT
I just leave the V60s lights on all the time. No point in ever changing that. Take it the dealer never showed you how to turn them off?   |
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Post by ChrisM on Jan 25, 2018 13:29:46 GMT
I've discovered this morning that the Kuga has some form of cornering lights... not the front fogs that are low down on the front bumper, but it appears that main beam comes on at reduced power when dipped beams (Xenons) are on. More investigation required, I think .......... have to look for another building with a large area of glazed wall and parking spaces handily placed outside......
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