These lights have got me confused.. Think they are called 'black pack' version

Side lights utilise DRL's - understand that bit.

Dipped lights in main unit in what looks projector like - bloody poor output though

High beam uses same bulb as dipped - now these are using a crap torch compared to my old mondeo.

Within the main unit there is also a blue looking bulb that never illuminates not matter what switch is used. What are they? And how are they switched on?

Ordered a HID kit but want to get my head round the whole lighting situation before fitting them.

blue bulb in the black pack lamps assembly is a blanking bulb, not wired to anything. but some here have made it functional with some soldering and relays.

Maybe just fit better bulbs to the Dipped and Full beam..

 

 and forget the redundant sidelight bulb in the unit unless you are going to change the Sidelight/DRL units.

IMHO the projector style headlights fitted to Fabia Mkii's are a disaster & not fit for purpose. In 52 years of driving I have never had headlights as bad. I have spent time money & effort intrying to improve them, but with no real improvement. Compared to my wife's Clio, they are absolutely cr4p.

I have tried a HID conversion - no real improvement, & problems with flashing. Have also tried Philips Xtreme & Osram Nightbreaker. Again brighter than original, but no more light on the road.

IMHO the problem is 2 fold. 1) Skoda's penny pinching attitude of only using 1 bulb for main & dipped beam, & using a mechanical shutter to mask the beam when dipped. Basic common sense dictates that a shutter is going to reduce the light output! (It's like holding your hand over a torch beam).

2) The design of the projector optics is in doubt. The beam pattern when the lights are dipped, seems to be concentrated in a tight spot ahead of the vehicle, rather than diffused over a wider area, so as to illuminate immediately in front of the car and the kerb.

I am currently using Osram Rallye 80w - Yes I know they are illegal. But nobody flashes me, & I'd rather break the law than run somebody down on an unlit road.

It will interesting to see if Skoda continue with this design in the next evolution of the Fabia.

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You can always just eat more carrots,

and as bad as the lights are, you are usually on dip as other vehicles come towards you, or other road users mean you need to dip your lights.

 

Full beam is hardly a problem at UK NSL.   Just my Opinion.

 

Personally i manage to see much better driving anything in the dark when on dipped beam,

when not being blinded  by others coming towards me with Upgraded or badly adjusted Dipped Beams.

 

george

You can always just eat more carrots,

and as bad as the lights are, you are usually on dip as other vehicles come towards you, or other road users mean you need to dip your lights.

 

Full beam is hardly a problem at UK NSL.   Just my Opinion.

George, it's dipped beam I have the problem with. I've tried realignments at Skoda dealer & Halfords - no real improvement. My eyes aren't especially bad - I have them checked every year as part of my PPL renewal. I have to drive several miles before I get to a lit highway, & frankly it scares me to death. I didn't have a problem with my previous car (Seat Leon Cupra) or my wife's current car (new Clio), so it's not me, it's Skoda!!!

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They are poor, very poor, so upgrading and getting light to the verge and ahead is good.

 

Thats nothing to do with lighting up the world while on Dipped Beam. 

 

& full Beam can be bright as people like, but there are other road users that might not like being Blinded from a distance or right up close by Over Bright & illegal full Beams.

 

You need to see and be seen, and see pedestrians and the likes, but some drivers never bothering Dipping except where it is a vehicle coming towards them.

 

80W Full beam is all well and good to light up into the distance, but there are those that keep that full beam on as they go past walkers at a road side.

 

A Million Candle Torch carried by Pedestrians might teach more drivers to dip and consider other road users.

They are poor, very poor, so upgrading and getting light to the verge and ahead is good.

 

Thats nothing to do with lighting up the world while on Dipped Beam. 

 

& full Beam can be bright as people like, but there are other road users that might not like being Blinded from a distance or right up close by Over Bright & illegal full Beams.

 

You need to see and be seen, and see pedestrians and the likes, but some drivers never bothering Dipping except where it is a vehicle coming towards them.

 

80W Full beam is all well and good to light up into the distance, but there are those that keep that full beam on as they go past walkers at a road side.

 

A Million Candle Torch carried by Pedestrians might teach more drivers to dip and consider other road users.

 

Nobody is more appreciative of other road users than me. 52 years driving & not so much as an accident claim or a parking ticket.  (lucky or what?).

I also appreciate how dangerous being blinded by inconsiderate motorist can be. I have been zapped by laser pointers on more than one occasion (it is subject to an ongoing police enquiry at my local airport)  when night flying in my 2 seater Jodel.

Before I decided to stick with my Osram Rallye 80w bulbs (the only real improvement I have managed) I carried out tests using my wife to drive down the same unlit road we have to use every day. In our tests with me following on dip beam & then driving towards her on dip beam, she didn't feel dazzled at all!! 

I dare say that the same 80W bulb fitted in a car with decent headlights would produce some dazzling, but the short comings of the Fabia headlights means less light on the road than you would normally expect.

 

Sent by my Sinclair Spectrum using Crappy Chatter

HID's = Problem solved

HID's = Problem solved

What make HID?

As previously posted my HIDS DIRECT retrofitted kit made matters WORSE.

 

 

sent from Sinclair Spectrum using Crappy Chatter

I got a 6K kit off eBay from Direct HID's I think they were called. Yes there is the problem with the flashing when the lights arent on but if they are on they look OEM. Give a crisp white flash like the Germans.

Derek, I agree with you. The dipped beam is dire. The vRS is a great car, which I intend to keep for a few more years, but the overall Skoda experience has not been good. I have owned many Fords, Vauxhalls and Fiats in the past. None have been as bad for any of the following issues (in order of disappointment level): -

• oil consumption
• dipped beam
• slight pulling to the left (the extent of this is dependent on tyre choice)
• bad condensation on windscreen (occasional)
• interior rattles

My oil consumption on the replacement engine is now at an acceptable level and I can live with the lights since fitting Philips Xtreme and raising the beam a little, but they are still a crap design. 

Webb, are we talking about Monte Carlo black pack lights here.

Mine has the blue bulbs which are used as the sidelight bulbs that come on whenever the lights are switched on.

I don't know what you mean by blanking bulbs that don't work unless the lights you're on about aren't Monte lights.

Webb, are we talking about Monte Carlo black pack lights here.

Mine has the blue bulbs which are used as the sidelight bulbs that come on whenever the lights are switched on.

I don't know what you mean by blanking bulbs that don't work unless the lights you're on about aren't Monte lights.

His response is to my initial post? Which is headed "2011 vRS headlights" so I presume he means vRS as the sidelights on this are part of the DRL set up.

I got a 6K kit off eBay from Direct HID's I think they were called. Yes there is the problem with the flashing when the lights arent on but if they are on they look OEM. Give a crisp white flash like the Germans.

Problem with flashing, what do you mean? Or is it me being thick? Probably :(

I thought the comments of Flashing were about,,

 Pulling the Light Stalk to Flash other Drivers with 'Full Beam'  as in, you go first,

Problematic with HID Upgrades.

 

The 'Flashing' that annoys me is cars with Headlights Flashing because they do not Self Level quick enough to not dazzle on coming cars.

 

vRS Lights, not Black Pack. also with Blue Bulb.

An auto electrician can have this work as your Sidelight, not straight forward, but it is to a Sparks,

and then use the DRL/Sidelight locatiion to fit Fog Lights.

Or even Spot or Driving Lights

I thought the comments of Flashing were about,,

 Pulling the Light Stalk to Flash other Drivers with 'Full Beam'  as in, you go first,

Problematic with HID Upgrades.

 

The 'Flashing' that annoys me is cars with Headlights Flashing because they do not Self Level quick enough to not dazzle on coming cars.

 

vRS Lights, not Black Pack. also with Blue Bulb.

An auto electrician can have this work as your Sidelight, not straight forward, but it is to a Sparks,

and then use the DRL/Sidelight locatiion to fit Fog Lights.

Or even Spot or Driving Lights

Get you on both 'flashing' counts..

Don't want to wire the blue bulbs, happy with sidelight/drl mock up

I was not happy with my dipped beam (came from Audi A3 with much better beam 'spread'), but last week fitted some Osram Nightbreaker Unlimited bulbs and turned the height adjusters up two full turns (three at first but too high) and things are greatly improved.

I've looked at my sidelight bulbs and they are wired up to the headlight but never come on.

As anybody got a wiring diagram for the headlights.

Ant

Nobody is more appreciative of other road users than me. 52 years driving & not so much as an accident claim or a parking ticket. (lucky or what?).

I also appreciate how dangerous being blinded by inconsiderate motorist can be. I have been zapped by laser pointers on more than one occasion (it is subject to an ongoing police enquiry at my local airport) when night flying in my 2 seater Jodel.

Before I decided to stick with my Osram Rallye 80w bulbs (the only real improvement I have managed) I carried out tests using my wife to drive down the same unlit road we have to use every day. In our tests with me following on dip beam & then driving towards her on dip beam, she didn't feel dazzled at all!!

I dare say that the same 80W bulb fitted in a car with decent headlights would produce some dazzling, but the short comings of the Fabia headlights means less light on the road than you would normally expect.

Sent by my Sinclair Spectrum using Crappy Chatter

Its not about how bright the light is, its about where the light is aimed. Thats how the oem audi/bmw xenon lights are deemed safe for road use. They use self leveling, thus obviously if dipped to the right place theyre safe.

A 35w halogen honda cg125 light can seem dazzling if its aimed too high up.

I ride a motorbike. It can achieve speeds any fabia can only dream of. I ride with 2 x 55w standard halogen bulbs in not very well designed reflector housings. I can see just fine right until plus 100mph, when its not possible to see further than the speed im riding.

You seem very insistant on whats 'right' today. Maybe its your eyes? Maybe buying a non 'blackpack' car would help, if your that fussy

I dont know.

Edited 4 February, 201412 yr by Otaylor38

Its not about how bright the light is, its about where the light is aimed. Thats how the oem audi/bmw xenon lights are deemed safe for road use. They use self leveling, thus obviously if dipped to the right place theyre safe.

A 35w halogen honda cg125 light can seem dazzling if its aimed too high up.

I ride a motorbike. It can achieve speeds any fabia can only dream of. I ride with 2 x 55w standard halogen bulbs in not very well designed reflector housings. I can see just fine right until plus 100mph, when its not possible to see further than the speed im riding.

You seem very insistant on whats 'right' today. Maybe its your eyes? Maybe buying a non 'blackpack' car would help, if your that fussy

I dont know.

Fussy? Of course I'm fussy. I paid 15 grand for a performance car. I expect therefore all parameters to match in terms of performance. If the brakes didn't stop me, I would complain. I road tested the car before I bought it, and I was more than happy with the performance. But oh! How remiss of me I didn't test it in the dark. Would you think to do that? You say maybe it's my eyes? I'm a qualified pilot, & as such I'm subject to strict CAA annual medical check. I pass it, no problem, and regularly fly at night with no problem.

Fussy? It's not a question of being fussy; more a question of being safe. That the Fabia ii headlights are inferior is not in doubt. I have satisfied myself in side-by-side comparison tests with other modern cars. The beam pattern in the Fabia is demonstrably poor in comparison. Remedial action? I've tried realignment (twice), replacement bulbs (Osram Nightbreaker & Philips Xtreme- no real improvement, also a retrofitted HID kit, which made matters worse. Now finally "illegal" Osram Rallye 80w, which has made an improvement.

Fuusy? Me? No I'm not fussy. I love my Fabia vRS; I wouldn't swap it for the world. But if I had road tested it in the dark, chances are I would have bought a Cooper JCW, a Fiesta ST, or a Clio Cup. Or even kept my previous car, a Seat Leon Cupra, which I had in Spain. From the same stable, but much better lights.

So you have a vrs with black pack i take it? (I cant see because im on phone).

Just get a non blackpack vrs if your that 'fussy' about lighting.

I like good lights, but iv got a fabia with the best lighting set up.

If your that bothered about lighting you should of done some research before you spent your £15k.

I dont know, i really dont care. Just sick of hearing how nothing is good enough for you.

Stick some spotlights on, i really dont care.

The headlights on the Mk II are not good. There seems to be some fundamental design issue with them. I have a friend who ended up swapping the projector lights for the reflector lights on the basic model. Problem solved. It doesn't look as pretty, but she can see.

Friendly bunch on here... For those who tried to provide an answer, thanks!

To the 'no answer', angry, unhelpful hijacker, I ride a fast motorbike with 55w bulbs but have more intelligence than to push it to the limit in the dark so probably won't be needing your advice.

Bet his bike is the cg125 he alluded to, but thinks it's a blade......