V70 daylights too bright

Hi

My P reg V70 T5 has extremely bright daylights. I don't want to turn them off but is it possible to alter the brightness to something more reasonable like the later models. Is it just a question of different bulbs?

Thanks in advance

Hodge

[liuleichan]

>Hi
>
>My P reg V70 T5 has extremely bright daylights. I don't want
>to turn them off but is it possible to alter the brightness to
>something more reasonable like the later models. Is it just a
>question of different bulbs?

Without getting into that whole DRL debate issue, given the registration / approx. age of your V70, I believe it should be the same as in my S70.

There's a small screw in the headlight switch - visible just below the main switch. It has 3 positions - DRLs off, DRLs showing as dim-dip (Canadian setting?) and DRLs as dipped headlights.

When I test drove my car, it was set to dipped beams. By the time I picked it up, they had been turned off <shrug>

Lei Chan

What are you doing, driving behind a mirror, they are not dazzling you are they? The purpose of them is for safety, so the brighter they are the safer you should be.

Dave
V70 'R' AWD

[liuleichan]

>What are you doing, driving behind a mirror, they are not
>dazzling you are they? The purpose of them is for safety, so
>the brighter they are the safer you should be.

Um, the brighter they are, the more resources they consume, and the shorter they live.

Given that the H7 bulb isn't the most long-living bulb out there, and that halogen (and in this case xenon is in the mix, in the H7s) bulbs deteriorate over time, I'm not fully sure it makes sense to always have them on.

Which brings you to the option of running the DRLs on dim-dip - given that DRLs are there so that you are seen, rather than lighting up the whole damn road - all that really matters, where DRLs are concerned (for those that are convinced they should be mandatory) is that the car is seen. If every car runs with them, you then have an escalating issue with ensuring that individual lighting is sufficient for individual cars to be noticed more... you see where that's going.

Mine were switched off by the dealer I bought the car from. I have had no reason to change this. I felt fine, safety wise, in previous cars that I've driven / owned, that didn't have DRLs - and I actually had to decide as and when lights were necessary / beneficial. There are millions of cars on UK roads, that do not run with DRLs - and have done for decades. The old, tried-and-tested have the driver use his / her judgement on when to light-up is out of vogue, now, I know - but it still has to be expected in general driving.

Dipped headlights is a bit overkill for DRLs - especially these days. DRLs never started out with such intensity. It's a reasonable question, for this person to ask how the intensity can be reduced - it is unnecessary for most daylight hours driving.

Lei Chan

[jaytee]

Hodge, you may have the same setup as my 96 850 Tdi, as far as I am aware there was a period, or a range of models which Volvo decided to fit with DRL's which were normal dipped beam, which of course is a lot brighter than 'dim-dip' which is much more common. There is no ballast resitor(s)? in the headlamp circuit, to do the dimming. The resistor is shunted out when normal headlights are required, as in night-time use. The 3 way selector setting by the light switch has no effect on this.

A good example of the function of the DRL's is if you are driving into the sun, you will see the drls of a volvo well before you notice an unlit car coming towards you. They were never meant to be allways on in case the driver didn't realise that it was lighting up time! In any case the drl's cant be switched to main beam, it's a fixed dip circuit.

Assuming that your lights are adjusted correctly they should not appear to be too bright to oncoming drivers, as the beam centre will be on the road ahead of you and not in anyones line of vision.

Jim

Hi
I've tried the previous suggestion with the little screw but they were either off or with the other two settings, back as they were.

Perhaps I need to get the alignment checked because when I'm in my other car (Ford escort, please excuse) and my wife is following in our BEST car (T5) they do seem extremely bright and the drivers side more so than the other.
Thanks for all your help and input.

[liuleichan]

>Hi
>I've tried the previous suggestion with the little screw but
>they were either off or with the other two settings, back as
>they were.

There should be a noticable difference between the two "On" settings. One should be dim-dip, which just uses a rather small, low wattage bulb in the headlight assy.

>Perhaps I need to get the alignment checked because when I'm
>in my other car (Ford escort, please excuse) and my wife is
>following in our BEST car (T5) they do seem extremely bright
>and the drivers side more so than the other.
>Thanks for all your help and input.

Not necessarily an issue - isn't there some asymetrical aspect to headlight alignment?

Lei Chan

Although the lights shoudn't be pointing in the same direction, neither should be pointing 'up' giving the impression of one bright light.

Stu