Going to France/Germany in my vRS, but reference the lights. I looked into the guides on here but no one mentions xeons, only halogens. Looking at the beam shape on mine (it is pretty flat) I don't think it needs adjustment anyway before making the chunnel trip. Anyone got any advice or done it before?

Also reference the EU anyone know a cheap place to pickup a xeon compatible (i.e. no spare headlight bulb) spare bulb set for an Octy2? The factory one is something like £21 (£1 more than the halogen one.. which has more bulbs :thumbdwn:).

Advice much appreciated.

Xenon lights are flat and so suitable for right or left hand driving.

Not sure about spare bulb though..........

Steve

Thanks.

Cheapest spare set I have found is this:

Skoda Octavia 5dr (05 on) :Ring H4 complete spare bulb kit (BU007) no. LG040

Much better than the £20 factory set.

My xenon beam cut offs 'kick' up diagonally on the left hand parts of the beam spread, if yours kick like this they will be no good for continental driving whether xenon or halogen as the 'kick' will be facing the continental oncoming traffic

Mine are roughly like this:

\____ \____

A continental setup will need to be like this:

____ ____ or ____/ ____/

EDIT: there is a guide on this somewhere, I am looking for it now.

Found it http://briskoda.net/forums/octavia-ii/changing-headlights-continental/81652/

The same rule applies to Halogen and Xenon headlamps

Going to France/Germany in my vRS, but reference the lights. I looked into the guides on here but no one mentions xeons, only halogens. Looking at the beam shape on mine (it is pretty flat) I don't think it needs adjustment anyway before making the chunnel trip. Anyone got any advice or done it before?

Xenons on my Octy. I've modified my headlights as per the guide when I did the Prague trip last year. I'd recommend you practice at home first, it's pretty straightforward once you've done it, but I don't think waiting for the chunnel is the best time to start messing around with it.

alan are yours still flat lined?

Nope, put them back to UK spec the day after.

you couldnt show me at the next meet how to do it as i couldnt figure it out. also do you get more light on the road being flat lined?

I think I should point out I meant I put them back to UK spec the day after I got back home.

Paul, yep, no problem, although usual disclaimers apply, send me a PM a day or two before the next meet as I need to remember to pick up my torx screwdriver and another small screw driver.

Hmm, I wonder if this what is confusing the OP?

On cars with xenons the rear of the light unit (ballast box?) needs to be removed, to do this there are two torx screws that need to be undone, after that it is the same as the halogen unit, just be carefull as IIRC the ballast box doesn't move completely out of the way as there is a wire that keeps it attached to the rest of the headlamp unit.

Also, if and when fiddling with the xenons ensure the lights cannot come on for any reason while fiddling with the ballast pack (auto lights for instance), the striking voltage can be upward of 20,000volts. Unlpug the light fitting before proceeding.

cheers for that!!!

Hmm another reason to possibly just leave them as is.

Mine has to go in for a service next month anyway so might see if they'll tack it on for free (I know I'm hoping).

So does this mean that EU and LHD Octavia lamps are different from the UK market? Daft they just don't have a switch on the back to flip them over.

Some LHD Octavias have reflector type headlamps, all UK RHD models have projectors as it's easier to set them up via the beam switch rather than design a new RHD reflector.

will more light be shone on the road if they are flat lined?

Hard to say. With the kick up to the left the left hand side of the road is illuminated further ahead, which is useful for roadsigns, pavements etc. Tbh, back in the UK I did notice a difference with the beam pattern being flat (didn't notice abroad but didn't drive much when it was dark) and I definitely prefer the lights with the kick up to the left.

just thinking really of keeping the ns with kick up and right flatflined.

will more light be shone on the road if they are flat lined?

No, you just lose the asymmetric properties of the lamp.

meaning in laymans terms?

If the beam is flat lined you will be obscuring more of the lens with the beam cut-off meaning less light will escape out on to the road.

This means you lose the longer range of the beam on the nearside of the road, you rely on this to spot potential hazards on foot paths and verges.

If you look at the throw of light from a projector it is supposed to be asymmetric.

but the problem is im suffering idiots slamming their brakes on or then following with their lates of full beam as they dont realise the image kick up to the left is part of the light design and its not me driving on full beam nor am i flashing them.

I don't have such problems with my xenons, you know the next question I am going to ask..............

Are your xenons setup correctly? The xenons on my First Octy II were miles too high, my current Octy (and SWMBO's vRS) xenons are setup correctly.

i have reset them loads of times with the vag com as ive never been happy with them but im told they are fine, maybe someone near me with knowledge could look at the height of them on the oxon meet as the garage i got them from just told me it was cos i wasnt use to xenons, but these have never seemed right to me.

The headlights also have horizontal/vertical adjustment for the projector lens too. IIRc you can put the levelling into a setup mode so you can manually set the beam height.

According to that diagram your level cutoff points look like they should be around the 850mm mark from level ground. Might be somewhere to start from.

Failing that, a direct side by side comparison might help.

UKMOT.com MOT Manual 1.6 Headlamp Aim

ill think i will compare them against another mk2 octy first and go from there unless a mot minded/trained person ;)phil;) could look at them.