How to adjust the headlights yourself?
Riding at night is dangerous, everyone knows about it, who drives the car. In the dark, the number of factors increases significantly, which may cause an accident. Therefore, the driver must take all measures to do so, to provide a complete overview of the road. This will help avoid unpleasant situations while driving.
Car headlights are one of the most important factors, affecting the quality of visibility, a lot depends on them at night. Therefore, every car owner should monitor the serviceability of signal lights and conduct regular inspections, to make sure, that they are fine. At the same time it is necessary to pay attention to serviceability of each of lamps, on the purity and transparency of the optics, as well as on such an important detail, how to properly adjust the headlight light.
If the car headlights are set incorrectly, then it creates problems both for the driver and for oncoming cars
If you have even a little driving experience, obviously, you know, that the light sources on the car need to be adjusted, since by themselves they do not provide the correct formation of the beam. That lighting of the road in the near and far mode was carried out correctly, it is necessary to adjust the low beam and adjust the high beam headlights. in addition, you need to adjust the fog lights, if they are in the car. The headlights can be adjusted at the car service station or by the car owner himself.
In this article we will analyze, how to properly adjust the headlights - this information will be useful, who prefer to take care of the car without assistance or want to avoid unnecessary financial costs.
Types of light sources on the vehicle
Before we start talking about it, how to adjust the headlights, worth understanding, which lights are installed on the car. There are three types of light sources:
- close;
- far away;
- fog lights.
The purpose of low beam headlights is to illuminate the road in front of the car at a distance 30 — 40 meters. At the same time adjustment of a passing light of headlights is carried out thus, so that they do not blind drivers, who are behind the wheel of oncoming vehicles. Dipped beam is used more often than others, as the use of high beam is not allowed by traffic rules within the settlements.
High beam is used by drivers for this, to ensure the visibility of objects at a distance 130-150 meters. Usually, it applies, to view road signs and markings from afar. Due to the increased brightness of this type of lighting, it is forbidden to use in settlements and then, when the driver notices the appearance of oncoming traffic. High beam blinding is often the cause of traffic accidents.
From that, how your headlights are set up correctly or not, will depend, the degree of glare of oncoming vehicles and the effectiveness of the headlights
Fog lights are used for this, to ensure visibility in the dark during rain or fog. Conventional lighting does not help much - the beam is reflected from moisture particles, suspended in the air, and blinds him, who is behind the wheel. Therefore, lanterns are used, are located below the boundaries of the fog and the beam of which is in the yellow part of the spectrum. Installation of fog-type headlights makes it possible to provide a full view of the road in bad weather.
Tuning headlights on the Prior with your own hands
stage of preparation
Before adjusting the signal lights on the car, you need to take care of that, to prepare for work properly. The headlamp leveling must be accurate, otherwise this procedure will not make any sense, you will only waste time and effort.
To adjust the signal lights on the car, you will need to find a horizontal pad about as long 10 meters, it must be adjacent to a clean vertical wall. Make sure, that there are no depressions and protrusions on the surface of the site - because of them the light setting may not be accurate enough.
To adjust the headlights, you have to make marks on the wall and draw lines. To do this, stock up on a piece of chalk or scotch tape, although chalk in this situation will be better.
For high-quality adjustment of headlights it is necessary to find an equal horizontal platform
Before adjusting the headlights, make sure, that they are located at working height. To do this, check the following factors:
- The level of air pressure in the wheels;
- Uniformity of air pressure in the wheels;
- Suspension serviceability;
- The distribution of the entire load on the wheels must be even;
- Fill the tank with fuel before refusing.
This completes the preparatory phase and the tuning of the lantern light can begin. This is a procedure, which is the same for all brands of cars, and it doesn't matter, what is meant - adjustment of headlights Ford Focus 2 or adjustment of headlights VAZ 2110.
There are cars, in which the low beam headlights are combined with the high beam, and there are brands, where these systems are separated. The only difference is, that in cars with a separate system will have to adjust each lamp separately, at that time, as in a combined system it is enough to adjust the low beam, far - automatically falls into place.
Adjustment of light sources can be done in two ways. We will consider them in order. You can choose that method to solve your problems, which will seem easier and more convenient.
the first method
All work to adjust the lighting, regardless of the method, we start with the setting of the low beam. Step by step this process is as follows:
- Install the machine on a horizontal platform, where we decided to carry out the procedure of adjusting the lanterns.
- We drive close to the wall and stop the car right next to it.
- We mark places with chalk on the wall, which correspond to the center of the car and the lights.
- Note the distance from the floor to each lantern.
- Note the distance from each lamp to the center of the car.
- We spend below on 5 centimeters another line.
- We drive away from the wall, that the distance was 7,5 m.
- We draw a border on the wall, which will connect the centers of both world sources.
- We draw two straight lines vertically through them.
- Through the central point of the car draw a horizontal line.
- Once we are done with the markup, low beam adjustment begins - turn it on.
- The angle of the lanterns will correspond to the horizontal limit. And the beginning of the rise of the light border will be there, where the drawn lines intersect.
- Adjustment is performed using two screws - they are located under the hood at the rear of each lamp. We have a ray this way, so that it is slightly below the mark of the center of the world source on the wall.
- The far beam is adjustable, so that the center of the beam falls into the center of the markings drawn on the wall.
Philips daytime running lights
You can see the location of the adjusting screws in the figure 1.
Mal. 1 Rear panel and adjusting screws
another method
The adjustment of the low beam by the second method takes place on the same horizontal platform, resting on a vertical wall. Before adjusting the near beam, make sure, that the height of the lantern corresponds to the middle position. To do this, check the following factors:
- The same tire pressure;
- Suspension condition;
- Uniformity of load distribution;
- Full refueling of the tank.
The next setup process can be represented as individual steps, to make it clearer:
- Note the points on the wall, which will correspond to the centers of the light bulbs.
- We draw a horizontal axis through them.
- On 12 centimeters below the axis draw a parallel line.
- On 22 centimeters above the axis draw the second parallel line.
- Set the dimmer to zero.
- Operating with adjusting screws, we seek such a position, so that the beam with the upper limit touches the lower horizontal line.
- The side of the light beam comes from the point of intersection of the bottom line and the vertical axis of the lamp. If not, adjust the position with the adjusting screw.
- For long-distance lighting, we also mark the centers of the lanterns and draw vertical lines through them, which intersect with the line at 5 see above. Adjust the beam to the markings drawn on the wall.
WTF settings
Fog lights are regulated in a similar way. The machine must first be loaded to 70 kg and to refuse to fill the tank with fuel. Install the car at a distance 5 — 10 meters from the wall.
Draw a horizontal line on the wall, which corresponds in height to the position of the fog lights. Above it we draw another one, its height will be twice as high.
Mark the center of the car with a dot and indicate the distance from it to the centers of the fog lights. Next, with the help of adjusting screws set the beam of each light source in position, shown in the figure 2.
Mal. 2 WTF beam adjustment
conclusion
Self-adjustment of car light sources is an interesting task, however, it is not quite simple. This procedure requires extreme care and accuracy, because your road safety depends on it. It is important to understand, that the setting in the car service with the use of professional equipment will give more guarantees of the correct result.
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