Just to add another viewpoint to this thread, Arriva buses throughout the UK now have a blanket policy that dipped headlights are to be lit on their buses during daylight hours as well as after dark.
It's apparently to make other drivers/cyclists/pedestrians more aware of the prescence of the bus and therefore reduce the risk of accidents.
PP
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The law regarding dim-dip was that manufacturers had to offer either electric headlamp beam adjustment OR dim dip. Suffice to say that many in the British car industry just wired in the old dim-dip relay and saved a fortune on existing designs. I cant think of one car that had both dim dip AND electric beam adjustment.
Tony
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Arriva buses throughout the UK now have a blanket policy that dipped headlights are to be lit on their buses during daylight hours as well as after dark.
The army have had this policy for years, when using their vehicles on the public road in the UK, partly because their vehicles are all painted with a matt finish.
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for Dim (not dip) headlamps: My first suggestion would be some Phillips Vision Plus bulbs, £20ish and worth every penny. Supposed to be 50% more light and i've only used them in one car (Saxo) but they're amazing considering the cost.
Daytime Running Lights: As of 2003? the EU has decreed that all new cars (but is that newly supplied or newly designed?) have to have ABS and Daytime Running Lights as standard.
www.channel4.com/apps26/4car/jsp/main.jsp?seek=day...s
Whilst we're on the subject of lights, I had a Peugeot 406 hire car a while back with automatic headlamps - cant get excited sorry, how hard can it be to decide when to put the lights on then turn the switch? But what would happen if (a big IF) you were driving along and someone was waiting to pull out just at the exact same time that the computer goes 'bye jove lads its getting dark, lets light the candles', and he decides youve flashed him out. Smash? He'd be at fault, but i bet he'd have a try to blame you!
Ho hum.
Tony
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Hi J500ANT, Why would they have legislated that one, as the requirement is to have Dip beam whan conditions require it i.e. it's dark, and that is when you may require headlight adjustment as the back of the car is loaded, you can't just switch to Dim as the power output is not compliant with the regulations. regards Peter
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Perhaps dim-dip was made redundant by those who like to drive all day with sidelights and front foglights permanently on.... ;-)
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Anyone got a comment on the daytime running lights I have seen in some foreign countries, incl USA IIRC whereby the main beam filaments are illuminated albeit dimly. More noticeable but definitely not dazzling.
Different slant on it I thought.
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I to have hired 406s, very nice cars, but didn't like the auto headlights as I couldn't find away of turning them off, ie even when the switch was in 'O' off position they would automatically light up - would be no good for tailing someone secretly like in films! At least you could decide when to switch the wipers to auto mode.
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Whilst we're on the subject of lights, I had a Peugeot 406 hire car a while back with automatic headlamps - cant get excited sorry, how hard can it be to decide when to put the lights on then turn the switch?
How lazy are auto lights (& wipers too!)
I've been chatting to a traffic officer here in S Wales who loves[not] the automatic headlights.
He watches cars go through the Bryn Glas tunnels whilst on patrol and the ones he spots without lights get a warning if he has nothing better to do!
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Automatic head lights on my scenic were instatly dissabled on the first trip, at a petrol station under a canopy they came on and startled the girl behind the till as she was facing the lights at the time.A total unecessary gimmick .
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rustbucket (the original)
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I like my automatic lights & wipers, theres nothing wrong with the system if its a good one.
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But what would happen if (a big IF) you were driving along and someone was waiting to pull out just at the exact same time that the computer goes 'bye jove lads its getting dark, lets light the candles', and he decides youve flashed him out.
This has happened to me a couple of times, nothing dramatic, but people have crossed the road and started to pull out then suddenly stopped, and it was the lights coming on that did it.
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The army have had this policy for years, when using their vehicles on the public road in the UK, partly because their vehicles are all painted with a matt finish.
More to do with the colours they paint them, rather than the finish, I think! ;-)
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PP, personally I would have thought that if a road user really can't see a bus in daylight then he/she should probably be carrying a white stick!!!!
Cockle
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On a point of fact, dim dip vanished because it was UK-only legislation. It was scrapped because the requirement to fit UK-bound cars with dim dip was declared to be contrary to single-market legislation once challenged in court by the SMMT.
V
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"I've been chatting to a traffic officer here in S Wales who loves[not] the automatic headlights.
He watches cars go through the Bryn Glas tunnels whilst on patrol and the ones he spots without lights get a warning if he has nothing better to do!"
Is it a requirement to put lights on in the tunnel? There is no mention in the Highway Code.
As a regular user for the last 15 years of this tunnel there used to be signs instructing drivers to turn on lights as the tunnel lighting was very poor. A few years ago the tunnel underwent some major improvements to improve the lighting and the signs disappeared.
I now have auto lights, but previously I never put lights on when going through tunnels in the UK.
I have noticed on the continent that many tunnels are preceded by a lights warning sign and another telling you to turn lights off as you exit.
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On a point of fact, dim dip vanished because it was UK-only legislation. It was scrapped because the requirement to fit UK-bound cars with dim dip was declared to be contrary to single-market legislation once challenged in court by the SMMT.
That's exactly right - I used to a supplier to one of the Lucas factories that made the dim/dip units. Car manufacturers stopped fitting it to UK cars the instant the EU refused to mandate the UK rule.
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Being only 21, please could someone explain exactly what dim-dip is, and why you're raving on about it?
Ta,
Dave.
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It was a system whereby if you switched on your sidelights *and* the engine was running, the dipped beam headlights would also be switched on, although they would be fed via a resistor, and so would be dimmed - hence dim-dip.
>>why you're raving on about it?
Ah, you have me beat there! But, that's one of the joys of this site!
My main run ins with these systems were when the nasty Lucas relays would cause radio interference.
Number_Cruncher
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lucas the prince of darkness ;-)
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Does anyone else here do what I do? I use the headlamp leveller at its most downward setting when I'm just using the headlamps to make me more visible in gloomy daylight. I do this rather a lot in my dark green Volvo (whose daytime lights I had disabled) but still find it useful in our fire engine-red Fabia.
Quite agree on the automatic lights point. I tested a (grey) C4 Picasso Exclusive the other day in typically dull winter light and wanted to show some lights for conspicuity. This required the Citroen salesman to perform a protracted rummage in the instruction book to work out how to enable the lights, when all I wanted to do was flick a switch. I'll raise this in another thread but the gizmo factor is why I see the C4P losing out to the S-Max in the contest to replace the Volvo.
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Im very surprised a Citroen salesman struggled with getting the lights to work in either auto or manual mode.
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its not so long ago this was still fitted to a land rover defender ,might even still be on the new one ,must have a look
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My Berlingo has automatic lights. This does not affect the normal operation of the light switch - if you want any lights in bright sunshine just turn the switch as on any other car.
Also, auto operation also disabled by a simple press of button on end of stalk if you prefer totally manual operation.
Youtr post says more about the salesman than C4 - as for "protracted rummage" perhaps he should have used the index - or didn't he know how to operate a handbook either??
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Phil
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I'm sure it's true that there's a simple manual control my Citroen salesman and I could have found, but even he barely knew the car since it had only come in two days before. My real concern about these things is that knowing what lights the car is showing is the responsibility of the driver, not the car and, as others here have noted, there are already too many out there who don't give enough thought to this.
BTW, I'm not anti-technology - I do it for a living, and I thought the reverse-parking device on the C4P was great. Let's automate things because it solves problems, not just because we can. (Retires to wind up gramophone.)
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If the car turns the lights on automatically you still have the normal headlamp warning light come up on the dash.
Plus as already said if you want to turn the lights on yourself while they are set in auto mode all you have to do is twist the light stalk 2 clicks.
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