Dipped beam

[JoePeddos]

Since I got the car (1.2 sel petrol April 2015) I have found the dipped beam lights no where near as bright as on my old Skoda 1.9 PDI 2005 estate especially on dark winter night even worse when it's raining as well. Took the car to my old independent garage today, they checked the light beam settings which were ok. He agreed with me the lights are not particularly bright. I asked what the alternatives were he suggested replacing the bulbs with brighter ones which he confirmed were road legal and would give a 50% boost and would not affect the cars warranty so the car is going in next Thursday to have them fitted. Joe

[thamestrader]

Take a look at powerbulbs website, I've fitted  Phillips X-treme vision 130 H7 bulbs replacing the std bulbs in my other car and they are so much better. The kerb side beam is much brighter and projects further. Osram Nightbreakers are also reckoned to be good too. I plan to put the Phillips X-treme H7 bulbs into the Fabia too. Its a 5 minute job to swap the bulbs over.

Edited 25 August, 2016 by thamestrader

[rum4mo]

Yes, Philips Extremes from Powerbulbs is what I kept using in wife's last Polo for 13 years from new, also in main beam!

[Octy09]

Are the bulbs relatively easy to replace on the Fabia Mk3? I may invest in some when mine arrives. Swapping bulbs on my DS3 was a total nightmare!

[rum4mo]

I think that car makers have been forced to abide, a bit more with the "most be able to replace legally required light bulbs at the roadside without tools" dictate from EU.

After Brexit, all UK market cars will have light units sealed for life to teach us a lesson!

[alltorque]

I think that car makers have been forced to abide, a bit more with the "most be able to replace legally required light bulbs at the roadside without tools" dictate from EU.

After Brexit, all UK market cars will have light units sealed for life to teach us a lesson!

Presume the last line is purely in jest...and that you're not a 'Project Fear' merchant.

[jlwah]

Are the bulbs relatively easy to replace on the Fabia Mk3? I may invest in some when mine arrives. Swapping bulbs on my DS3 was a total nightmare!

It's not too difficult though it helps if you have small hands!

 

Access is via some pull off covers in the inner wheel arches, though it is still a bit fiddly. Some people have moved the battery slightly on the near side to make it easier. 

[rum4mo]

Presume the last line is purely in jest...and that you're not a 'Project Fear' merchant.

Eh?  I  think that you might have problems, especially if we take the DRL thread posting into account as well!

Edited 26 August, 2016 by rum4mo

[peter3197]

I think that car makers have been forced to abide, a bit more with the "most be able to replace legally required light bulbs at the roadside without tools" dictate from EU.

After Brexit, all UK market cars will have light units sealed for life to teach us a lesson!

That would be nothing new, I take it you do not remember sealed beam headlight units.

[rum4mo]

That would be nothing new, I take it you do not remember sealed beam headlight units.

 

I'm wondering if you really remember them properly?  A sealed beam headlight unit, for those too young to have seen one, is when the front glass, reflector and dip/main beam bulb were built into a single unit.  This worked really well as it avoided cars having really duff/corroded reflectors, which were common at that time! You just needed to remember if you needed the type with no side light window, or the version with a clear section in the reflector to allow the side light to shine through.

 

Edit:- ie this type of head light had no serviceable parts, just replace complete unit, very easy and quick to do!

Edited 26 August, 2016 by rum4mo

[peter3197]

I'm wondering if you really remember them properly?  A sealed beam headlight unit, for those too young to have seen one, is when the front glass, reflector and dip/main beam bulb were built into a single unit.  This worked really well as it avoided cars having really duff/corroded reflectors, which were common at that time! You just needed to remember if you needed the type with no side light window, or the version with a clear section in the reflector to allow the side light to shine through.

 

Edit:- ie this type of head light had no serviceable parts, just replace complete unit, very easy and quick to do!

I think I remember them properly, they generally replaced round pre focus units which had a separate bulb and reflector. Sealed beams started to go out of fashion when the factory at Corby , British Sealed Beams, closed down and other shapes of headlights became popular along with halogen bulbs becoming available with decent round headlights such as Bosch and Hella.

[JoePeddos]

I learnt to drive in a Morris minor in 1962 inline engines made it easier to replace the light bulbs but the reflectors were prone to rust and I remember using silver paint to make them last longer. A bit like relying on Gun Gum to repair blown exhaust boxes till you could afford a replacement. The sealed bulbs were good but if you took your car abroad you had to put black patches on the lens so you did not blind oncoming traffic with the bright kerbside light. On this car you move a lever to change the light setting and off you go to the continent.

It will be interesting to see what difference the new bulbs will make    

[Nathanio]

Check Euro car parts as they are having a 30% off sale over the weekend. Use Holiday30 code.

I use Osram NightBreaker Unlimited in our cars with halogen. If they do fail early then just take them back and they'll replace them without issue if you have the receipt.

[Octy09]

Check Euro car parts as they are having a 30% off sale over the weekend. Use Holiday30 code.

I use Osram NightBreaker Unlimited in our cars with halogen. If they do fail early then just take them back and they'll replace them without issue if you have the receipt.

Are the Osrams noticeably whiter?

[Nathanio]

Not noticeably whiter but they produce a longer beam through tweaking of the gas and other stuff.

Definitely and improvement over a stock 55w bulb

[rum4mo]

Just remember that all these "Ultra" bulbs are being run harder/hotter, so the light output is increased and the average life will be decreased - though this should not be taken as a reason for not using them as retro-fit to your car - but it will be one of the reasons that car makers do not fit them, the other reason being cost, for them in general, "Premium" bulbs are the correct choice and they give a good balance of unit cost, life and light output.

[Nathanio]

Just remember that all these "Ultra" bulbs are being run harder/hotter, so the light output is increased and the average life will be decreased - though this should not be taken as a reason for not using them as retro-fit to your car - but it will be one of the reasons that car makers do not fit them, the other reason being cost, for them in general, "Premium" bulbs are the correct choice and they give a good balance of unit cost, life and light output.

All true but it's worthy trade off if you do a lot of mileage.

ECP had no problems swapping mine when a pair failed. Just took in the receipt.

Plus you can usually pick them up on one of ECPs "rare" sales for less then £15 a pair. Thats good value IMO

Edited 1 September, 2016 by Nathanio

[JoePeddos]

Check Euro car parts as they are having a 30% off sale over the weekend. Use Holiday30 code.

I use Osram NightBreaker Unlimited in our cars with halogen. If they do fail early then just take them back and they'll replace them without issue if you have the receipt.

My garage has fitted the Osram NightBreaker Unlimited will be trying them for the first time in the dark tonight Joe

[JoePeddos]

My garage has fitted the Osram NightBreaker Unlimited will be trying them for the first time in the dark tonight Joe

The Osram NightBreaker Unlimited are a big improvement over the original bulbs they light up the kerbside better and have a longer reach. Used them on a narrow winding unlit road last night. Dipped beam much better/longer view of upcoming corners. Street lighting tended to kill the dipped beam light on the old bulbs but that view has improved as well. Missed the Euro Car parts 30% discount but got 20% off a spare set I am picking up this morning from them, that offer may still be running. Joe

[Nathanio]

Glad you saw an improvement

[pfaff]

The real problem is that Skoda doesnt offer HIDs or LEDs for the Fabia. Which would be better than all the bling available.

[CapstanPlug]

Just fitted the Nightbreakers today. And had a short run just now.

 

Light certainly improved compared to the tired looking originals. The beam cutoff is very obvious now - it's like somebody tweaked the contrast control !

 

However - doing the switch-over was quite the pig. Think my hands and fingers are not as strong as they used be.

Took the battery out completely, to do the near-side. Even then, it is so difficult to get a good purchase on the fittings - either to remove or install. Taking out that panel in the wheel-arch was a waste of time - apart from giving a view of the fitting. It didn't help getting a hold on the bulb-fitting.

 

Took pics of the bulb-holders - dips slightly different to main-beam - even though both are twist, bayonet-type fittings.

It is also a puzzle as to why they offset the access hole for the main-beam bulbs. Were they considering shoe-horning a bigger engine in there? As it is, no need to offset those - it's really difficult to get good purchase on mains too. Especially re-installing. (didn't change bulbs on Mains - just took one out to see how stupidly awkward they are.)

Switching a sealed beam would have been easier! Even if it meant popping a grille out.

 

Having re-installed battery - clock needed resetting (but not the date), short and long logs were zeroed - but .. the speed limiter still held its set-speed. Odd these days for clock not to have a backup.

Edited 4 September, 2016 by Dithane

[rum4mo]

Just picking up on one of your comments, ie the loss of time when the battery was disconnected, when my wife's new Polo went in for its first service, it came back with the service indicator reset - good, but the trip mileage also got reset, hopefully unintentionally, unless now when the service indicator is reset, other things accidentally get reset, not a big issue, just an observation.

[CapstanPlug]

Just picking up on one of your comments, ie the loss of time when the battery was disconnected, when my wife's new Polo went in for its first service, it came back with the service indicator reset - good, but the trip mileage also got reset, hopefully unintentionally, unless now when the service indicator is reset, other things accidentally get reset, not a big issue, just an observation.

 

Yep - trip was reset (like the other logs) but, I really doubt service interval will get a reset after battery disconnect. Certainly in my old Passat, just those temporary logs got reset, but the service interval seemed to be on permanent memory as it still kicked in around the expected times.

 

The whole experience was bemusing, considering the appropriate instructions in the Handbook have "Do-it-yourself" at the bottom of the pages !  Can't see that many owners running with their socket sets and popping batteries out! And the bulbs being really difficult to move then as well.  The air intake had to come out for the drivers side dip on the Passat - but no tools needed! It just popped out. And then clear access to bulbs. Easy peasy.

[rum4mo]

I used to have a B5 Passat 4Motion and did all my own servicing over 13 years of ownership from new, except for the first - in warranty one and cleared the service "terms" using VCDS, so I know that it should not mean losing trip reading when resetting these service "terms".

On that car, Passat, it had HIDs so changing headlight, well, side light and mainbeam (I think) meant removing the ballast assemblies, which was a bit tricky as these screws had tiny heads and by 11 years old had corroded a lot! I seem to remember that the sidelight bulbs needed some force to get them out, by yanking them out by the wires!

One thing I found with newer bulb designs, it really pays to, if possible, look in from the outside to see the bulb while removing/fitting it as some of these newer designs of bulb holders do tend to give a "correct" feelings when the bulb is not in right! Same goes for knowing how to hold the bulb so that it just pops back into the holder. Someone on a Polo forum, unwisely got a bit creative and removed the tiny Torx screws that held the bulb holder on to the light housing (on a 2002 Polo), then was not phased by dropping one screw into each head light - then failing an MOT a few months later due to incorrect bulb aim, I've ever been tempted to do that - that is just asking for trouble and probably caused a lot of other motorists a lot of grief!