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Headlights. ... New thread

Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2014 3:25 pm
by Bigdougal
Apologies for not following on to previous threads.

Haflinger technic have just quoted me £170 plus VAT for two headlights. This seems somewhat steep. Does anyone know if they were fitted to other vehicles. mine is a 1972 french civilian model so LHD needed.

Any suggestions gratefully received.

Doug

Re: Headlights. ... New thread

Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2014 4:07 pm
by Julian B
Doug, Do you need complete units, or merely the conical reflector part? I have obtained the latter from Haflinger Technik in the past, and can't believe that they were that expensive. Swapping out the old reflectors is a two minute job.

Re: Headlights. ... New thread

Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2014 7:00 pm
by heinkeljb
Doug,

I don't believe the reflectors are handed, so any light direction is down to the Fresnel lens (ribbing) on the glass. That being the case you could do a rebuild job on your existing lights if you have the remains of the reflectors with the mounting brackets attached to them.

Any suitable 5.75 inch reflector with a hole for the side light should be able to be used.

Take the old reflector out of the rim by depressing the spring wires just inside the lip (watch out the don't "ping" out and fly away never to be found again)!

Place the new reflector inside the old one so the pilot light holes line up.
Mark on the outside of the old reflector a suitable line that will allow the bulb holder from the new reflector to go through.
Cut round the line on the old reflector.
Line everything up and "sandwich" the new reflector inside the old reflector, put the glass in place and use the wire clips to hold the two parts inside the aluminium trim ring.

If this is something you want to do and need more detail, I can dig out the photos I took when I did mine (before I changed them to HIDS).

John

Re: Headlights. ... New thread

Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2014 7:20 pm
by Bigdougal
The lights are disassembled and the issue is that at some point each lens has been epoxied to the reflector so splitting without damaging is going to be impossible. Looks like araldite has been used.

Cheers

Doug

Re: Headlights. ... New thread

Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2014 7:39 pm
by heinkeljb
If you are going to junk the reflectors in any case because they are rusty or damaged in some way, you could try putting the whole light unit into a bath of diesel for a few days, even araldite doesn't like that stuff much!

You could also be very careful with a "Dremel" type rotary grinding tool and grind off the araldite in order to separate the glass lens and the reflectors. As long as the 3 brackets that the mounting system uses are still attached to the old reflectors, then the idea above should still work.

You could of course, go for LED headlights as these are becoming more common and although expensive would allow you to fit them reasonably easily. They should also be at least as bright as the original glow worms whilst using less power.

John

Re: Headlights. ... New thread

Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2014 5:49 pm
by Bigdougal
Hi John,

Yep, your Dremel suggestion worked a treat, albeit at the cost of 3 cutting wheels. Thanks again for the idea.

Cheers

Doug

Re: Headlights. ... New thread

Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2014 6:51 pm
by heinkeljb
So it's on with the rebuild then?

New bits all over the place, old bits still in abundance - just needing to be brought together!

John

Re: Headlights. ... New thread

Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2014 7:19 pm
by Bigdougal
Sounds as if you have been sneaking into my garage!

Re: Headlights. ... New thread

Posted: Sat Dec 15, 2018 9:07 am
by wojo12
I went for my first night drive just now since owning this Haflinger. I had a friend walk in front of me with a candle to find my way home!! LOL Seriously, my headlights are not bright and I would not currently drive it at night. What legal upgrades have other owners done. Should the dynastart be able to generate enough "power" to more modern headlight technology?

John W

Re: Headlights. ... New thread

Posted: Sat Dec 15, 2018 9:50 am
by Ole
When i bought my polycab it already had bigger headlights than the original polycab type. Now i know why the previous owner chucked the original ones. He probably ran out of friends willing to do the candlewalk:)

Re: Headlights. ... New thread

Posted: Sat Dec 15, 2018 10:06 am
by heinkeljb
Your options from me are as follows:-

Change the bulbs for quartz halegon ones, you can buy 35/35 watt 12 volts ones (try an old Brit motorcycle supplier)
Change the whole reflector / headlight unit for a modern unit - might have a few issues with the mounting system.
Change the bulbs for modern 50/55 watt bulbs, but this means your Dynastart is not providing all the power so you will slowly deplete the battery . Gary has this option on his Haf and has a bigger battery to compensate.
Change the headlight units for LES ones, but ones that are bright enough are also likely to require more power from the Haf than it was designed to provide.
Replace the headlight units with HID (main and dip in the one projector unit) This is the option I have on my Haf. Brilliant lights, up to modern car standards. The units I have were designed for kit cars so are road leagal in the UK. The bulbs are 35watt and with the ballast require 43watts. So I changed the other bulbs - rear lights, brake, side lights to LED ones to reduce their power consumption and even out against the higher requirement of the main lights.
I think there is a build thread on here for my conversion. If not I can produce one.
Which ever way you go, good reflectors are necessary.

The Haflinger Dynastart is rated for 240 watts at 14 volts. So a nominal 12 volts means less than 240 watts and the power output will drop further as the Dynastart heats up. I based my calculations on the Dynastart being able to produce about 15 amps max when cold and down to about 11 amps when hot. The 2 HID units use about 7 or 8 amps, then you have the other things like the engine needing about 3 amps, so reducing any other load is crucial.

If you want a more in-depth detail I can provide the relevant calculations .

John