 | Home > Technical > Dim Dip |
 
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| Merlin Member Since: 30 Oct 2010 Location: Newmarket Posts: 981  
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Does anyone know how the dim dip system works? Think this was on the TD5.
Merlin |
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23rd Nov 2011 6:54pm |
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| T1G UP Member Since: 08 Dec 2009 Location: Bath Posts: 3101  
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theres a gold thing on the off side inner arch, that does the dim bit |
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23rd Nov 2011 7:12pm |
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| ibexman Member Since: 13 Dec 2008 Location: Essex Posts: 2945
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dont know how but its behind binnacle
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23rd Nov 2011 7:14pm |
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| bpman Member Since: 21 May 2008 Location: Oslo Posts: 8069 
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I have dim-dip on my 90/300 - had some great advice from Diesel-Jim, there is a resistor on the inner wing, nightmare to get to, have a look on the tdi sub forum for more details
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23rd Nov 2011 7:54pm |
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| noworries4x4 Member Since: 24 Dec 2010 Location: Newton Abbot Devon Posts: 1195
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All it is is a resistor very simalar to one that does the speeds on your heater fan, the reason its in the wing cavity is to keep it cool, on UK spec vehicles you either have dim dip on sidelights or electric head light level adjustment in the cab If everything is under control you are not going fast enough.
Every Day 16 MY Discovery 4 Commercial Workshop and Escort Vehicle Weekends 07MY L322 TDV8 Vogue SE Series 1 80" 3ltr 6cyl with overdrive No Worries 4X4 |
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23rd Nov 2011 8:11pm |
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| Merlin Member Since: 30 Oct 2010 Location: Newmarket Posts: 981
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Any idea the value of the resistor?
Merlin |
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24th Nov 2011 3:54pm |
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| blackwolf Member Since: 03 Nov 2009 Location: South West England Posts: 17443 
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Worthless if you ask me, I disconnected mine! Dim dip is a stupid and pointless idea, and there is no legal requirement for it. But I rather inagine that that isn't quite what you meant.  |
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24th Nov 2011 5:05pm |
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| T1G UP Member Since: 08 Dec 2009 Location: Bath Posts: 3101
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IRO £35 |
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24th Nov 2011 5:05pm |
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| RFT Member Since: 13 Nov 2010 Location: Cheshire Posts: 680 
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Copied from an electronics forum. http://www.electronics2000.co.uk/forum/vie...&t=217
Power (W) = V * A Voltage (V) = I * R - ohms law Rearrange the above equations as necessary. Current through 55W lamp = 55 / 12 = 4.58 amps Resistance of 55W lamp = 12 / 4.58 = 2.62 ohms Adding a 1 ohms resistor in series will give a total of 3.62 ohms Current through lamp & resistor = 12 / 3.62 = 3.32 amps Voltage across the lamp (the remainder being dropped across the resistor) = 3.32 * 2.62 = 8.7 volts Wattage dissipated in lamp = 8.7 * 3.32 = 28.88 watts Wattage dissipated in resistor = (12 - 8.7) * 3.32 = 10.97 watts. I also think they are useless, I only ever use them when stopped at night at side of road (one of my pet hates is parked cars with head lights on) Richard 130 Puma HCPU with an Artica 240LR Demountable Camper |
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24th Nov 2011 8:01pm |
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| Sticky Member Since: 07 Dec 2008 Location: Derbyshire Posts: 245 
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Just read the last post and feel like Homer Simpson!!
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24th Nov 2011 9:34pm |
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| diesel_jim Member Since: 13 Oct 2008 Location: hiding Posts: 6093 
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They may be useless now, but were obviously law at some point, otherwise LR woudln't have fitted them.
If you want to remove the dim/dip system, just pull the pink relay out of the socket (behind the dash) and then make up a substantial short lead with large spade terminals on eitehr end, and link out the 2 main power cables to the lights. Or get the proper plug in link, which looks like a large relay, but just has the link inside it. |
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24th Nov 2011 9:55pm |
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| twopoint6khz Member Since: 18 Aug 2011 Location: North Lakes Posts: 654 
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I did a lot of research on this a few months ago as (unlike others) I think dim-dip is great and gives a useful sidelight - unlike the two candles fitted to my 110 CSW
Dim-dip was briefly an EU requirement in the early 90s but I think the regs got pulled before they were fully implemented. However a number of cars ended up with them, and obviously LR's parts-bin mentality means it was still being fitted all the way up to Td5
Commercials seem to have it whereas station wagons don't, although apparently there are exceptions to this! I believe it's accomplished through a resistor under the wing as people say, but I believe there also may be another relay involved. This was about as far as I got in my research before I decided it was going to cost £££ to put in, and a better option would be crystal headlamps with pilots. |
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24th Nov 2011 10:04pm |
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| Merlin Member Since: 30 Oct 2010 Location: Newmarket Posts: 981
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Hi Blackwolf, what's wrong with them?
Merlin |
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14th Dec 2011 5:06pm |
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| blackwolf Member Since: 03 Nov 2009 Location: South West England Posts: 17443
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No, dim-dip was never an EU requirement. Dim-dip was a UK requirement introduced on cars first used on or after 01/04/1987 unless they were type approved to ECE Regulation 48 with respect to the installation of lighting equipment. This exemption was necessary since it was illegal under EU law for the UK to prohibit vehicles which were compliant with ECE R48 (it is legal to stipulate regulations additional to the ECE regulations but no to prohibit vehicles which comply). The intention was to provide a night-time "town beam", since it was considered that sidelights alone were insufficient and full headlamps too bright for use in dark conditions in built-up street-lit areas. They were thus intended to be used during the hours of darkness instead of normal headlights in areas with 30mph limits and streetlights, ie areas where it is currently legal to drive with sidelights alone. In 1988 the UK government was successfully prosecuted by the European Commission in the European Court of Justice on the basis that the UK requirement for dim-dip was illegal under EC directives prohibiting member states from enacting vehicle lighting requirements not contained in pan-European EC directives. As a result, the UK requirement for dim-dip was quashed, though it remains entirely legal to have them fitted and/or to use them. Equally, it is entirely legal to remove or disable the dim-dip system from a vehicle fitted with one. So, the important points to note are:- 1) it was UK legislation which (briefly) required certain vehicles to be fitted with them (not European law), 2) it was Europe which caused the requirement to be removed (possibly the only benefit that the Europe legislature has ever had on UK motorists!) 3) they were intended for use instead of normal headlights in built up areas with 30mph limits and streetlights during the hours of darkness 4) they were never intended to be daytime running lights. It was also rapidly established that running headlight bulbs on reduced power is damaging to the bulb and before long causes its light output on full power to be diminished (due to some technical reason about the gas filling not getting hot enough).
My personal view is that they are utterly useless, and I resented being required by an idiotic UK law to have an utterly useless feature installed on my vehicle (at the time I had a Vauxhall Astra, and the only discernable effect of the dim-dip system was to create a loud buzzing noise on the radio whenever the sidelights were on). If it is dark enough (or visibility is bad enough) to need lights, then it is bad enough to need either headlights (or possibly front fog lights - on their own - if fitted). It is also, by the way, illegal to have the headlamps on when stationary (unless you are stationary in traffic), and it is illegal to have the headlamps on when reversing. This is clearly another aspect of the law which most UK motorists don't know, if the number of people who leave the lights on when stopped is anything to go by. It is particularly tiresome when they stop on the wrong side of the road (also illegal) with headlights on. This requirement also applies to police vehicles, although the police conveniently forget about it, and there seems to be a growing trend for stationary police vehicles to have every available light on. There is generally a trend now for all road vehicles to be grossly over-illuminated. Headlights are far too bright, and are used far to much, and DRLs are also arguably dangerous. As long as cars share the roads with other users who do not or cannot be as brightly lit (such as pedestrians, cycles, bikers, old vehicles, etc) this unnecessary over-illumination only serves to put other users at greater risk. The brightness of oncoming modern headlamps at night makes it far, far harder to see poorly-lit objects ahead. |
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15th Dec 2011 10:35am |
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