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Range Rover Classic Headlight Upgrade


Darren Roberts

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Hi All,

With the nights starting to draw in, but with more lanes on the agenda to drive, I'm frequently coming back from lining trips in the dark. I have 1992 Classic hard dash - I''ve got a couple of LED spots which are very bright mounted above the number, but only work on the full beam.

I'm looking for a budget (say max £100) main headlight upgrade. I can't seem to find any details about the "Clearview?" ones they did on DIY SOS. Not fussed about LED but just better than the standard 1992 ones that are on it at the moment, One is already starting to deteriorate so only a mater of time before they are an MOT fail.

Any suggestions appreciated.....

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  • 2 months later...

Although I thought my old 1987 RR, that's before the days of being called 'classic',  the lights wen't brilliant compared with the car I had before, reduced no doubt by the tinted windscreen that's fitted to the RR, so I replace the head lamps with the  Cibies items, and the change in light output was dramatic still using the existing bulbs, it would been unbelievable if the Xenon gas filled 120 % etc bulbs were available then. 

Anyway forget about rewiring the lighting circuit there's no need,  the relay (with additional complications) kits available are for the 50-60s vehicles that may or not benefit depending on the state of their wiring now.

Edited by teabag
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Changing the headlights wiring so the dip/main switch is only required to power relays is a worthwhile operation.

Mine's a 1986 & I did that a few years ago. DIY, not any of the kits which appear to have a mixed review.  Improvement in light output was surprising.

Also takes the load off the contacts in the switch which are known for overheating with resultant failure - occurs on other non LR vehicles that use the same switch.

Edited by paintman
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So one of my mates upgraded the headlights on his 50th 90, from one set of LEDs to another. At £100 for the set which were only a few months old (£260 new) I went down that option instead. 

At some point I will be looking for some LED's for the side lights as now they look carp compared to the headlights and spots. 

Thanks for the feedback everyone - if the LEDs hadn't come up so cheap I would have gone down the route that Bowie suggested....

Edited by Darren Roberts
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Some years ago I had reason to have the headlights apart on my 1990 RRC, and performed some general cleaning up in that area. When looking at the bulbs I found they were 80/100w items, which I realise are not E approved or legal or anything like that. It goes to explain why I had always found them to be so much better than my Defender's headlights.

I guess the Rangey's headlight switch must be made of sterner stuff than Defender ones as it has given no trouble due to the extra current being drawn.

Anyhow, the addition of relays to the wiring is normally considered to be a worthwhile upgrade. I am not advocating the use of high wattage bulbs ;)

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Those numbers look like the early type RRC indicator stalks.

In Defender context I've always found it was the main light switch that melted all too easily. The switches I've bought have been too cheap really. I wonder if a genuine part is any better quality. It only needs a different type of plastic around the terminals to tolerate the heat better. Thicker (more expensive) terminals would probably not get so hot either.

The later RRC main light switches that were sourced from the Maestro/Montego parts bin must have been a bit more robust.

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14 hours ago, mickeyw said:

Those numbers look like the early type RRC indicator stalks.

In Defender context I've always found it was the main light switch that melted all too easily. The switches I've bought have been too cheap really. I wonder if a genuine part is any better quality. It only needs a different type of plastic around the terminals to tolerate the heat better. Thicker (more expensive) terminals would probably not get so hot either.

The later RRC main light switches that were sourced from the Maestro/Montego parts bin must have been a bit more robust.

I'm inclined to agree.

Mrs P has a 307 & they're well known for the multiplug to the heater blower resistor that controls the heater fan speeds getting too hot & melting/burning the plastic of the plug. Symptom is one or more of the speed settings on the switch stop working.

Peugeot have a modified replacement harness which replaces this section & has one less wire than the original. I fitted one of these. It lasted around 18 months before the symptoms started again & examination showed this too had gone at the plug.

I then bought one of the kits from ebay which replaces just the multiplug & a few inches of each wire. This appears to be a different plastic and - so far! - has been fine.

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  • 2 months later...

 

They are obviously getting some juice from another circuit. With halogens you wouldn’t see this, but with LED’s they typically switch on at 9v, and draw so little current.

When you installed them, did you just plug in or look at removing dim/dip modules, isolating wiring etc.?

To get them working ok, you’d need to look at isolating the circuit and directly wiring them in to the main beam and hi beam switches. If you want the option to be able to retrofit in halogens in the future you’d have to do this via relays for a good install.

Hopefully this helps. 

cheers, Steve 

Edited by SteveG
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Thanks Steve. Just wired them in on the stand 3 pin flat bladed plug. I think I'm going to sell them and go with the suggestions made previously on the thread. I prefer the original look of the Classic new to these anyway, even if they are better than candlelight power!

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