Hi. Iv got a set of halfords off road bulbs they are higher wattage than standars but I'm still struggling to seen in the dark. To the point where it's dangerous. My question is do I upgrade the headlamps to something aftermarket with projectors and run hids or try some expensive bulbs?

Not sure exactly what bulbs you have from Halfords but with my Octavia part of the problem was that the headlight leveller motors were foobared so the lights were illuminating the road too close to the front of the car (ie no range). I got a couple of used headlights off eBay containing the motors as it was as cheap.

 

If your light motors are working ok and its just the sheer 'power' that's the issue, I would have a look at the Powerbulbs website. I and others got the Osram Nightbreakers which made a decent difference and I think there are some Philips ones that are recommended. (Search Autoexpress for headlight bulb tests)

 

You could also upgrade the internal fog light bulbs for a bit more spread near to the sides of the car but I didn't bother.

 

Other than that, coat them in Rain-X so you always have the best light you can...?

Edited 31 January, 201511 yr by Fabpreza

Some recent posts on here have highlighted that poor lights can be down to yellowing. Do a search to on here to see the discussion and fix.

 

My standard lights and bulbs are quite good and I don't feel the need to change anything, which suggests that glass degradation may be the cause of poor lights on some cars..

Lenses look crystal clear. To be honest they do seem rather low.

The adjusters work tho I believe.

There's zero street lights here and I was finding the standard bulbs very limiting, I've fitted nightbreakers which are a fair bit less than the Philips although Philips may be (very) slightly more effective and burn a tad cooler. Not driven in the dark to see the difference yet but knowing what they were like I'm confident there will be one! As said check the aim first as well though.

Buy 2 spotlamp wiring looms and relay your main and dip beam should make a massive difference with a pair of reasonable bulbs fitted

I have done this now and though its not quite as bright as the hid kit I removed I'm now not being flashed by people all the time so it's kind of a happy middle ground between the std candles and full on blind everyone cheap hid kit

Buy 2 spotlamp wiring looms and relay your main and dip beam should make a massive difference with a pair of reasonable bulbs fitted

I have done this now and though its not quite as bright as the hid kit I removed I'm now not being flashed by people all the time so it's kind of a happy middle ground between the std candles and full on blind everyone cheap hid kit

Not sure what u mean. Can u explain further lol

The std wiring Goes all over the place then back out to the bulbs which means you get quite a bit of current loss but if you trigger a relay with your std wiring then run direct battery power through it to the bulb you will up the current at the bulb and will notice a huge improvement in light output especially with uprated bulbs fitted.

If this sounds complicated I can assure you it isn't as I can do it so it can't be ☺

http://www.matey-matey.com/uprated_headlight_wiring.shtml

This is a better explanation of it but is done for a golf same thing in principal to any car/bulb type

http://www.matey-matey.com/uprated_headlight_wiring.shtml

This is a better explanation of it but is done for a golf same thing in principal to any car/bulb type

Thanks for that I will give it a try and report back.

The std wiring Goes all over the place then back out to the bulbs which means you get quite a bit of current loss but if you trigger a relay with your std wiring then run direct battery power through it to the bulb you will up the current at the bulb and will notice a huge improvement in light output especially with uprated bulbs fitted.

If this sounds complicated I can assure you it isn't as I can do it so it can't be ☺

In a bit more detail, the standard headlight wiring path is battery (at LHF headlight) to light switch (on RHD car, at RH of facia), to dip switch to headlights. This means that both the light switch and the dip switch have to switch the full power of the headlights, and this is where you get voltage drop, and burning of the dip switch contacts.

 

When you fit the relay kit(s), the standard path is used only to supply a signal current to the relays, and if you do the job right not only do you remove the current drop across the switches, but you shorten the wiring paths to about 1 foot for the LH headlight and and 5 feet for the RH.

 

If you're really not sure about the "how to", a competent auto electrician should  bill about 1 hour max for the job.

Can you buy a kit with all the parts needed or will I have to source the parts separately?

There is better and simpler way of wiring the lights which avoids a couple of pitfalls - namely if there is fault on one side the other lamp will still work (as originally required to meet the construction regulations) and secondly to ensure the lights go off when the ignition is turned off etc etc.

 

It needs one more relay, and each side is a duplicate of the other. For each side, run a suitable cable from its own dedicated fuse at the battery (the fuse is to protect the cable and prevent a fire if shorted) down to near the light and connect to one side of the main contact of a relay. Cut the existing light cable and connect the light end to the other side of the relay main contact. Take the cut wire that originally fed the light and connect to one side of the relay coil. Connect the other side of the coil to ground. Make sure the cables are tied to suitable points and protected from sharp edges. Mount the relay to a solid place.

 

Repeat for the other side.

 

Now you will have a short power feed to each lamp with hardly any volt drop, switched by the relay and working as originally intended by the switches or other functions in the car.

 

Without knowing the type of contact material used in the lighting switch and light flasher switch, they may be using a material that relies on switching heavy current to keep the contacts clean. With now only the relay current passing through they may get dirty over time. 

 

 

 

Without knowing the type of contact material used in the lighting switch and light flasher switch, they may be using a material that relies on switching heavy current to keep the contacts clean. With now only the relay current passing through they may get dirty over time. 

I see your point, but it's also known that the contacts in the dip switch burn over time/usage hours.

So got round to doing this today. Not sure if I can see any difference. Iv not driven it yet so can't 100% confirm if there is a difference tho. Just making sure if done it correct. I snipped the black and yellow wire on passenger side and linked that to the relay and to the yellow wire on passenger sid. Belive it was pin 5. Then a wire from the yellow and black cable car loom side to the relay. Then a wire from both terminals to the relay.

Iv also noticed the passenger side light doesn't adjust when changing the setting in the car.

I can't help you with the electrics but I have now actually driven in the dark and can say I'm impressed with the Nightbreaker bulbs for the money. Not just brighter and deeper but also wider.

Your passenger light adjust motor could be gone. Quite common if you visit vw forums, can pick them up for reasonable money. However my drivers side gave up once, came back to life and been fine since. Weird.

I'm just hoping iv not cut the wrong wires lol. It's stuck in 0 position and I heard a few funny noises from the motor when I turned it all back on. I assumed it was just reseting itself.

Just put a multimeter to it and it gained just over a volt at the bulb. It's sitting at 11.5v now.

Anyone got a part number for a motor?

Not found part number yet but found this ebay item 171587199030

Cheers. In talks with a guy on here too who is breaking one.

Scrap that I just realised that's a manual one! Sorry mate.

If you are reasonably handy, you could use this how to to overhaul your existing ones, I did both sides on my Vrs in about 2 hours including removing both motors in situ.

 

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/227719-octavia-mk1-headlight-adjusters/

 

Just a thought, they are built just like rc car servo's when you get them apart. bit of cleaning and some petroleum jelly, and you may be good to go.

 

At the end of the day, it does not work at the moment, you could fix it by trying, if it does not work you've still got to buy a new one - nothing to lose really, can only gain if it works.

 

Phil.

Could be worth a look at. Mine don't seem to move up and down like the guy has mentioned in the post. I suppose at the end of the day it's worth a try like u say.