↓ Advertise on Defender2 ↓

Home > Technical > Dim Dip
Post Reply  Down to end
Page 1 of 4 1234>
Print this entire topic · 
Merlin



Member Since: 30 Oct 2010
Location: Newmarket
Posts: 980

United Kingdom 
Dim Dip
Does anyone know how the dim dip system works? Think this was on the TD5.

Merlin
Post #102048 23rd Nov 2011 6:54pm
View user's profile Send private message View poster's gallery Reply with quote
T1G UP



Member Since: 08 Dec 2009
Location: Bath
Posts: 3101

England 2011 Defender 110 Puma 2.4 XS CSW Orkney Grey
Re: Dim Dip
Merlin wrote:
Does anyone know how the dim dip system works? Think this was on the TD5.

Merlin


theres a gold thing on the off side inner arch, that does the dim bit
Post #102052 23rd Nov 2011 7:12pm
View user's profile Send private message View poster's gallery Reply with quote
ibexman



Member Since: 13 Dec 2008
Location: kent
Posts: 2871

United Kingdom 
dont know how but its behind binnacle
Post #102053 23rd Nov 2011 7:14pm
View user's profile Send private message View poster's gallery Reply with quote
RFT



Member Since: 13 Nov 2010
Location: Cheshire
Posts: 673

United Kingdom 2010 Defender 130 Puma 2.4 HCPU Zermatt Silver
LHD wiring diagram that I have does not show anything to create the dim dip. I have often wondered how it is done. I guess that dim dip is only a UK RHD fitment.

Options are either a voltage dropper, as lower voltage will produce dimmer lights or alternatively putting the lights in series, ie sharing 12v between the two, but I think series wiring is banned as if one lamp blows both lights are out. My guess is the gold thing in wheel arch is a voltage dropper, taking 12v off the side light feed. It is too cold and dark outside to investigate sorry, if someone knows please let us know.

Richard 130 Puma HCPU with an Artica 240LR Demountable Camper
Post #102066 23rd Nov 2011 7:42pm
View user's profile Send private message View poster's gallery Reply with quote
bpman



Member Since: 21 May 2008
Location: Oslo
Posts: 8069

2008 Defender 110 Puma 2.4 SVX Station Wagon Santorini Black
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
Post #102068 23rd Nov 2011 7:54pm
View user's profile Send private message View poster's gallery Reply with quote
noworries4x4



Member Since: 24 Dec 2010
Location: Newton Abbot Devon
Posts: 1195

England 
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
Post #102074 23rd Nov 2011 8:11pm
View user's profile Send private message View poster's gallery Send e-mail Reply with quote
Merlin



Member Since: 30 Oct 2010
Location: Newmarket
Posts: 980

United Kingdom 
Any idea the value of the resistor?

Merlin
Post #102216 24th Nov 2011 3:54pm
View user's profile Send private message View poster's gallery Reply with quote
blackwolf



Member Since: 03 Nov 2009
Location: South West England
Posts: 16812

United Kingdom 2007 Defender 110 Puma 2.4 DCPU Stornoway Grey
Merlin wrote:
Any idea the value of the resistor?

Merlin


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. Very Happy
Post #102231 24th Nov 2011 5:05pm
View user's profile Send private message View poster's gallery Reply with quote
T1G UP



Member Since: 08 Dec 2009
Location: Bath
Posts: 3101

England 2011 Defender 110 Puma 2.4 XS CSW Orkney Grey
blackwolf wrote:
Merlin wrote:
Any idea the value of the resistor?

Merlin


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. Very Happy


IRO £35
Post #102232 24th Nov 2011 5:05pm
View user's profile Send private message View poster's gallery Reply with quote
RFT



Member Since: 13 Nov 2010
Location: Cheshire
Posts: 673

United Kingdom 2010 Defender 130 Puma 2.4 HCPU Zermatt Silver
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
Post #102306 24th Nov 2011 8:01pm
View user's profile Send private message View poster's gallery Reply with quote
Sticky



Member Since: 07 Dec 2008
Location: Derbyshire
Posts: 245

England 2016 Defender 130 Puma 2.4 HCPU Stornoway Grey
Just read the last post and feel like Homer Simpson!!
Post #102322 24th Nov 2011 9:34pm
View user's profile Send private message View poster's gallery Reply with quote
diesel_jim



Member Since: 13 Oct 2008
Location: hiding
Posts: 6026

United Kingdom 2006 Defender 110 Td5 SW Epsom Green
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.
Post #102335 24th Nov 2011 9:55pm
View user's profile Send private message View poster's gallery Reply with quote
twopoint6khz



Member Since: 18 Aug 2011
Location: North Lakes
Posts: 652

United Kingdom 2005 Defender 110 Td5 CSW Java Black
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 Rolling Eyes

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 Rolling Eyes

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.
Post #102336 24th Nov 2011 10:04pm
View user's profile Send private message View poster's gallery Reply with quote
Merlin



Member Since: 30 Oct 2010
Location: Newmarket
Posts: 980

United Kingdom 
Hi Blackwolf, what's wrong with them?

Merlin
Post #107463 14th Dec 2011 5:06pm
View user's profile Send private message View poster's gallery Reply with quote
blackwolf



Member Since: 03 Nov 2009
Location: South West England
Posts: 16812

United Kingdom 2007 Defender 110 Puma 2.4 DCPU Stornoway Grey
twopoint6khz wrote:
Dim-dip was briefly an EU requirement in the early 90s but I think the regs got pulled before they were fully implemented.


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).

Merlin wrote:
Hi Blackwolf, what's wrong with them?Merlin


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.
Post #107566 15th Dec 2011 10:35am
View user's profile Send private message View poster's gallery Reply with quote
Post Reply  Back to top
Page 1 of 4 1234>
All times are GMT

Jump to  
Previous Topic | Next Topic >
Posting Rules
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum



Site Copyright © 2006-2024 Futuranet Ltd & Martin Lewis
DEFENDER2.NET RSS Feed - All Forums