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More Candle Power Needed! This little story started while driving home after a
very enjoyable Bernie Frazer Memorial Training Day – 2001. It was dusk, which as everyone knows, is the most dangerous time to drive. There's not enough daylight to give good vision, and the light energy
from your headlights seems to disappear with little effect.
I was really struggling to see as I wound my way through the country roads, and had to adjust my speed accordingly. I was pleased to reach the
motorway with all of its additional street lighting.It wasn't until the next morning that I discovered the problem. Now, I've always wanted a pet goldfish, but never had room for the goldfish bowl, and the
Range Rover is certainly not a suitable place for fish. However, the left hand head light was impersonating a gold fish bowl! The muddy water that had entered through the rear of the light, had now settled
out leaving a 10mm deep layer of silt, on top of which was another 20mm of clear water. Not a good look. Due to a lack of time, and the fact that I don't drive the Range Rover every day, two weeks passed before
I got around to sorting out the problem. I had to remove the front grill to expose the light assembly, then remove the chrome light surround and extract the reflector and bulb assembly.  
With the reflector, and the reflector mounting assembly removed, a full inspection can be carried out.
I immediately identified the problem. The rubber boot that mounts over the bulb assembly and seals against the back of the reflector had deteriorated over the years, loosing its sealing abilities.
I also discovered, to my horror, that the electrical plug, which connected the wiring to the bulb, had at some stage, got very hot and melted. I also found that the electrical wiring was very hard
and of a small cross section.   
The wiring issue prompted me to consider upgrading the wiring to both of the headlights in an
effort to improve the light out put. The use of wiring with a small cross sectional area is a common fault. Under load, it results in a high current draw and a voltage drop, reducing the
performance of whatever is demanding the power supply. In the area of lighting, this will cause poor light output, and in extreme cases, damage to the bulb. If your halogen bulbs turn black
and loose performance, it can be a sign of low voltage. So, the decision was made – bigger wiring! I had no intention of completely rewiring the lighting system. All that was needed was a larger
diameter wire to feed the power supply from the battery to the lights, and some means of switching them on and off. The on/off and dip control was already being supplied to the lights
via the original wiring, so all that was needed was to use these electrical supplies to switch two new relays which would control the new electrical feed from the battery.
To achieve this, I drilled a 25mm hole through the panelling on the left-hand side of the radiator, and fitted a panel grommet. This allowed me to mount the two new solenoid switches in an
easily accessible location. I then ran a length of trailer wiring cable from the right hand side of the engine bay to the left, through the hollow rubber bonnet sealing strip mounted on the top of
the radiator. This gave me 7 individual cables to play with.  
The panel grommet protects the cable from chaffing. Two of the cables were used to supply power from the battery to the two new solenoids, and
another two were used to take the high and low beam supplies from the solenoids back to the drivers side lights. The rest remain as spares for future projects!
The existing wires feeding the high and low beam on the passenger side, were connected up to the two new solenoids. The original wiring to the drivers side light was pulled back at taped up
to prevent it from shorting out. The new feeds from the solenoids to the lights were run, and that completed the task.
All that remained was to clean out the mud from the "fish bowl". Unfortunately, I had put this job off for too long, and the mud had reacted with the reflective lining, causing it to fall off! So,
I had to purchase a new reflector unit, and for good measure, got two new boots as well. I did price out the option of fitting a high power sealed beam unit, but at 3 times the price of the
unsealed one, I decided to stick with the status quo. The new boots are a good investment. They are much bigger than the original ones, and provide a much better seal. No more gold fish bowls – I hope!
  
The new sealing boots offer a far better seal against the ingress of water Did I get an improvement in the lighting performance? I would guess somewhere in the order of
150-200%! Well worth the effort and at a cost of under $40.00, provided you don't have to by a new reflector. |
