If you do try a HID conversion many on here have used the kits from a seller called London Colour on eBay with good results and success, including myself, and his kit was far better quality and longevity than another I tried. 

20 minutes ago, Jocko said:

varoom was delighted that they had changed the law to allow HID and LED conversions. I was just pointing out that they hadn't and they are still illegal and a possible MOT failure.

I was excited about the possible changes, but sadly I did miss the full wording as I was busy yesterday and didn't read new rules correctly.

 

Mine are reflector's, but I won't be doing any conversion to HID/LED regardless of changes, I would drop in some better bulbs once the yellow candles fail inside 😆I find people fit wrong bulbs in these blinding people, lighting the top of houses on dipped beam 🙄

The standard projector headlights of that period were appalling, I did an HID conversion, it was much better but would dazzle if the beam was set to the standard MOT/CT test requirement, I had to lower them considerably and be very conscious of using the levelling control when loaded or towing, with them lowered significantly the illumination for me as the driver was nowhere near as good but still light years better than using the H7 halogen bulbs, the main beam performance went from being like a rally car to better than acceptable.

 

When I got the Yeti I was not expecting much of the standard halogen headlights but they are absolutely superb, I have sight problems and find night driving a challenge but feel no need to upgrade these from standard, they are not projector lamps, those are clearly the problem on Skoda vehicles, why were they even fitted if they were that crap? Was it a fashion thing, not being able to see the bulbs?

 

About as much use as the rubber band tyres that shred if expected to drive over anything but a marble car showroom floor.

10 minutes ago, J.R. said:

The standard projector headlights of that period were appalling.

 

Yes, but luxury cars were fitted with them so a lot of the crass children who used to infest these fora were always wanting to convert to them, I think projector type headlamps were also the basis for systems that could look round corners as found on much more expensive cars.

 

To be honest this kind of technology seems to me to be a solution looking for a problem, very bright headlights are frankly a bloody nuisance to motorists like me who rely more on their night vision and who rarely even bother using main beam because it's bleeding obvious where the road goes.

 

I'm not sure why you would need to illuminate the road that far ahead, what are you expecting to see, a pair of eyes in a roadside hedgerow half a mile away?

 

For why?

I don't think it was just projectors...  Bthe OE HID reflectors on my old 2006 Civic were poor too even when properly adjusted (they were adjusted far too low initially). 

 

However the OE Led projectors in my Swift are excellent. 

 

The reflectors on the Kodiaq seemed poor initially but new Night breakers and proper adjustment has made a lot of difference, although I do wish Osram would get approval for their Nightbreaker Led drop in kits in the Kodiaq as they have done for other vehicles...

I fitted Night breakers into my daughter's FII and it was a very slight improvement over OED H7s. I then fitted LEDs after I experimented on my really crap bike head light to improve night riding. LEDs in the FII are much better for output and visibility with still a very precise beam pattern.

I still have to wait for the first MOT failure due to the fitted LEDs in the head lights. The car has also got LED side lights fitted.

I'll just have to stick to doing what I do now, not going out after dark unless it is absolutely necessary. I seldom have to drive in the dark now. Different when I was working.

Gives me a good excuse for being anti-social.

6 hours ago, sepulchrave said:

I'm not sure why you would need to illuminate the road that far ahead, what are you expecting to see, a pair of eyes in a roadside hedgerow half a mile away?

 

For why?

 

I didn't need to nor want to, I had fitted the bulbs and adjusted the beam height in the same way as I have always done since forever, pattern marked on garage door with vehicle 18" away then drive back a couple of car lengths on a plane surface and readjust.

 

I went out and tested and the dipped beam was very good but I had the feeling was too high because it illuminated a long way up the road, it was when I put it on main beam that I got the rally car shock!

 

The light spread was clearly very different proving your thoughts on the subject, I had to drop them a long way bit by bit to be sure of not dazzling other drivers, the cast of the main beam and dipped beam was significantly reduced but the vision of the road I had was still far improved over the (to my eye) very dangerous stock projector set up.

Edited 5 February, 20233 yr by J.R.

Any garage that does MOTs will set the beam height for you at a modest cost. I went to a local garage one time as one light was obviously out of kilter. The mechanic adjusted both lights and then said no charge. I could hardly believe it.

Garages will set headlights yes......................but.......................this has been mentioned many times, just because headlights "pass" an MOT does not mean they are ideally set.

 

There is a large tolerance and being set to the lower limits which are still acceptable for MOT purposes are terrible for the amount of light thrown on the road at night and how far it goes.

The amount of variation can be experienced when using your headlamp range switch and seeing the huge difference between setting 1 and 4 for example and how far you can see in front of the vehicle, especially on unlit roads.

 

In combination with setting to optimum allowable height and a set of decent brighter bulbs makes the Projector lamps more than acceptable.

 

 

Edited 5 February, 20233 yr by UrbanPanzer

I suffered with this since 2013 when I got the car - looked at this forum and other palliatives. OK so I just cant drive at night.

Then the battery on my Mrs's CX-5 failed (and that thing has beautiful headlights that move in direction of turn!).

AA also checked batter on Skoda - it was 11.5v ... changed it.

Wow - I can see!!

 

So - have you checked battery condition and if the earthing is good - in my case it has made a massive difference. Hope others are also as lucky.

I have no idea how long the battery has been on the car but it starts great and I have it permanently connected to a SMART charger.

sure - that's why I hinted your mileage might very - for me the SOC of the battery was 40% and it would charge from 11.5 to 12.6 quickly - too quickly. The alternator was giving 14.4v at rest - but the battery would lose charge again - it has been in there since new ... 61 plate. I am surprised it made it this long 🙂

 

With the new battery the lights no longer have the missing patch - as if they were too high (ie when driving uphill the lights were full - flat or downhill was like to candles). Now they are ok on all roads in my area. Not a patch on the CX-5 but nevertheless better.

It does seem that this projector style headlight is a poor design choice at least for the UK roads I drive. It didnt work any better when I drove around Europe.

I used the car for about 10 miles today. After parking I had some jobs to do, then about 15-20 minutes later I checked the battery voltage (before reconnecting my charger) and it was 12.6 volts.

On 05/02/2023 at 20:48, UrbanPanzer said:

Garages will set headlights yes......................but.......................this has been mentioned many times, just because headlights "pass" an MOT does not mean they are ideally set.

 

There is a large tolerance and being set to the lower limits which are still acceptable for MOT purposes are terrible for the amount of light thrown on the road at night and how far it goes.

 

I dont think that there is a lower limit, the MOT test just checks that there is not illumination above the cut off line on their machine.

 

So you could pass an MOT with lights shining at the ground, OTOH if a mechanic adjusts the lights they will usually set them to just below the legal cut off point, I very much doubt that there would be a visible increase in light through raising them without exceeding the cut off point and failing the next MOT.

 

Skoda projector lights are rubbish, even brand new ones, they are transformed by a cheap HID conversion but then you must really pay attention to the beam setting and set it considerably lower than the MOT limit to not dazzle oncoming motorists, even set like that HID's are superb in comparison.

3 minutes ago, J.R. said:

 

I dont think that there is a lower limit, the MOT test just checks that there is not illumination above the cut off line on their machine.

 

So you could pass an MOT with lights shining at the ground, OTOH if a mechanic adjusts the lights they will usually set them to just below the legal cut off point, I very much doubt that there would be a visible increase in light through raising them without exceeding the cut off point and failing the next MOT.

 

Skoda projector lights are rubbish, even brand new ones, they are transformed by a cheap HID conversion but then you must really pay attention to the beam setting and set it considerably lower than the MOT limit to not dazzle oncoming motorists, even set like that HID's are superb in comparison.

 

100% yes there is....... its 2.75% and belive me there is a huge difference when setting them to the upper most limit.

1 hour ago, Jocko said:

I used the car for about 10 miles today. After parking I had some jobs to do, then about 15-20 minutes later I checked the battery voltage (before reconnecting my charger) and it was 12.6 volts.

Sure - like I said, my battery was definitely not OK. The lights had been getting worse. In my specific case a new battery was enough to make the lights ok - Still nothing compared to the Mrs's CX-5 but just fuller and without the missing middle part before the battery. I am wondering if it will degenerate as the battery ages.

 

From my perspective it means I have to drive the Fabia slower at night rather than during the day - but that's probably a good thing.

5 minutes ago, shooking_sybase said:

I am wondering if it will degenerate as the battery ages.

 

 

Only if whatever bad earth was corrected when fitting the new battery deteriorates again, your headlights will be seing alternator voltage no matter what state your battery is in.

 

You could even remove it after starting (a very bad idea) and the headlights would be bright, dimming a little at tickover if you have a lot of electrical load like screen heaters, seat heaters etc.

20 minutes ago, UrbanPanzer said:

 

100% yes there is....... its 2.75% and belive me there is a huge difference when setting them to the upper most limit.

Thanks, I should have checked before opening my mouth!

 

I need to raise mine slightly, if my CT is due this year I will do it during the test to the maximum height limit.

 

What does the % figure relate to? X% of 850mm?

1 hour ago, J.R. said:

Thanks, I should have checked before opening my mouth!

 

I need to raise mine slightly, if my CT is due this year I will do it during the test to the maximum height limit.

 

What does the % figure relate to? X% of 850mm?

 

the percentage is regarding how much below the imaginery 0% line the beam cutoff is.

 

The 850mm figures relate to the vertical distance from the floor to the centre of the beam, mostly where the bulb is. So for headlights lower than 850mm the max height setting is 0.5% below the 0 line, for headlights above 850mm high like some vans for example then the max height they can be is 1.25% below the 0% line because the headlight is to high in relation to the majority of other road users to be set up to 0.5% like most cars.

 

The difference between a headlight set at 0.5% (max) and say 2% is significant in how far down the road the headlight beam pattern shows, you can get a "feel" for the difference by adjusting your headlight range (height switch) at night and see the difference when on a dark road as the beams move up and down.