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Headlight Corrosion - can it be reduced or prevented?

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Old Aug 27th, 2017, 10:33   #11
Clan
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Originally Posted by rtbcomp View Post
If you think heat is a problem you could fit LED bulbs which run cooler than incandescent ones.
powerful LEDs now run hot , the car headlamp bulb LEDs have huge heatsinks .
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Old Aug 27th, 2017, 10:43   #12
rtbcomp
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powerful LEDs now run hot , the car headlamp bulb LEDs have huge heatsinks .
Yes but the light emitting part doesn't run as hot as a bulb and the heatsinks are outside the lamp shell.
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Old Aug 27th, 2017, 20:14   #13
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Why does the unit need venting? Sealed beam units aren't vented
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Old Aug 27th, 2017, 21:10   #14
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Why does the unit need venting? Sealed beam units aren't vented
Because the bulbs are removable I suppose there's always a chance moisture could get in round the bulb flange, or maybe the seal between the glass & reflector isn't perfect. Sod's law says moisture will get in at those places but not out.

A sealed beam on the other hand is just one great big lightbulb.
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Old Aug 28th, 2017, 11:54   #15
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Yes, but the argument was that the reflectors had to be deliberately vented to cope with the heating. I'm wondering why not seal them with a packet of desiccant inside, renewable when you change a bulb?
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Old Aug 28th, 2017, 12:09   #16
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^^ That may work, but the heat from the bulb may draw the water out of the dessicant.

If you replace both headlamp units put dessicant in one and report back in five years.
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Old Aug 28th, 2017, 12:52   #17
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I'm also rather curious about the ventilation concept. Very interesting.

re fitting LED. That sounds generally interesting. From what I can see looking at LED for sale: is there enough space behind the headlamps for the heatsink and on some LED for the fan; would removal of the gaiter to fit the LED increase or not the problem of ingress of moisture; some LED say they will not work with a headlamp dust cover does that refer to the gaiter; some LED specify that the dim dip will not work because that voltage is too low but can that be sorted by a simple disconnection.

Can anyone recommend particular LED and/or supplier from experience of fitting them to a 240? Practical fitting issues and headlamp performance improvement?
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Old Aug 31st, 2017, 01:36   #18
Jungle_Jim
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Regarding LED replacement lights...

It turns out that fitting LEDs to most cars is illegal, unless the car came with them new.

I was in Halfords recently, looking at their range of LED lights, and each one has smallprint on the back... 'offroad use only'.

Here's an article about it...
https://www.motoringassist.com/motor...ght-bulbs-car/

It seems that insurance companies might try to use this to void policies.

The only LEDs you can use legally are interior lights - no exterior or road lights including numberplate lights.

The other problem which can happen with LEDs is that the bulb failure warning light will come on, because the LEDs will show a very different resistance to the old bulb, so the sensor will think that the bulb has blown. I don't know how to fool the bulb failure sensor - it might involve putting a resistor in series or something.

It's a shame they're illegal, because they use around 20% of the power of normal bulbs and last much longer. I bought some tail-light ones last year, before I realised they were illegal, and they worked well, though I never rectified the bulb failure light. But I continued using LED interior lights - replacing 5w bulbs are 4w LED bulbs which throw out the same light as a normal 20w.

John

Last edited by Jungle_Jim; Aug 31st, 2017 at 01:40.
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Old Aug 31st, 2017, 10:10   #19
rtbcomp
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I was given to understand that the bulb sensor on a 240 works by comparing the current drawn by the nearside lights to that off the offside, so if you have identical bulbs in each it should work OK.

That said, the current drawn by the lights must still be enough to call the warning relay.

Last edited by rtbcomp; Aug 31st, 2017 at 10:12.
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Old Sep 4th, 2017, 17:20   #20
Stephen Edwin
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Default An Ode to PlusGas

Having been duly frit by stories of doom re the headlamp housing stud fixings, I have been sprayinbg those fixings with PlusGas regularly for at least a year, and recently treating them with PluaGas daily. This afternoon I armed myself with a stubby little ratchet that couldn't exert much force so fairly safe, and a 10mm hex socket. The nuts moved on their threads like silk. Then I moved the nuts the length of the threads by my finger tipe. When I re-fit I will use copper based grease on those threads.

I've not done headlamp reflectors before. I'll probably start the job tomorrow. Now, how hard can a handful of clips be? Famous last words init?



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