ZB Commodore LED Upgrade

[Skylarking]

I’ve also adjusted the lights up a bit so the low beam cutoff is about bonnet height when facing a wall perhaps 30 metres away - should keep it below other drivers sight line.
When doing this I suggest adjust lights as high as possible using dssh control, then open the bonnet and use a phillips head to adjust up (likely) a bit more
Then if oncoming cars flash me (they haven’t) I can adjust down via dash control

There are clearly defined methods on how to adjust headlight aim so “should be enough“ isn’t very scientific and doesn’t really cut it.

And relying on others to flash you as a warning you’ve incorrectly adjusted your headlights, which in itself could be a dangerous activity on a fast bend on a narrow road, isn’t the correct method of checking your headlight aim… Instead I’d suggest you download a copy of the ZB service manual (link on the forum somewhere) and use the correct procedure to do a sanity check of your headlight aim….

HIDs and leds in halogen headlamp assemblies is a pet hate of mine as often it’s done rather poorly. Then there is the mindset that adjusting lights so you can see better is ok. It can be like standing on a box at the footy so you can see better and it smacks of selfishness. Do us all a favour and adjust your lights correctly so that you don’t have to rely on others flashing you (which everyone won’t always do, in fact it’s illegal to do so)…

 

[MattSAU2XR8]

Thanks for the heads up about the manual! I downloaded it and may well make use of it one day. But at present since it does not seem to have an index and I don't have enough time to scroll through 9000 pages I've had a look elsewhere also. Although if I was smarter I'd probably work out how to use the search function in the PDF viewer...

So anyway I had a look around on the net and came up with the following points...

1. We're only really talking about vertical aiming since (I think) the ZB does not offer horizontal adjustment. And the concern seems to be about blinding oncoming drivers, as opposed to not being able to see where we are going because the headlights are aimed way off to one side and waking up sleeping infants or marsupials.

2. According to Hella (below) there should be a drop of 10 cm per 10 metres for the low beam, or a 1 % drop, to ensure they are just below the horizontal. Which incidentally means that in the ZB, whose headlight globes are about 68 cm above the ground, the low beam should run out at about 68 metres. So trucks with the lights mounted higher up have a big advantage here...

Headlamp adjustment – instructions | HELLA

Headlight adjustment | Beamsetter headlight adjustment tool instructions ✓ Video: Headlamp adjustment ✓ Setting light distribution ✓

www.hella.com

3. Hella make the point that for many years headlights WERE adjusted by shining against a wall 10 metres away, and that headlight 'beamsetters' have become popular because they can do away with the need for a wall, and 10 metres (or 15 including car) of flat floor. And that one can still use the wall method. I would suggest that if one wanted to be really accurate one could use a wall even further away, eg. 20 or 30 metres in an underground carpark, to check that the lights are a little below horizontal...

4. And that because the beam is measured much closer to the car with a beamsetter, the likelihood of error is much greater. Eg. being 5 mm out at 10 metres using a wall is just 5 mm out. But using a beamsetter at 50 cms and having a 5 mm error will lead to a 10 cm error at 10 metres, and 60 cm at 60 metres, which might be a reasonable following distance.

5. And that if the floor is not level then this can produce errors too. ZB Commdore wheelbase is about 2.8 metres. Per Victorian building regulations (below) floors may vary in level by 4 mm per 2 metres. So lets say 5 mm per 3 metres. Which means about 17 mm at 10 metres and 100 mm at 60 metres..... So if you were to go to a workshop and ask them to scientifically adjust the headlights with a beamsetter, you'd need to first ask whether their floor had been checked witha laser level, and what was the relative height of the floor 50 cm in front of the car, and under each of the wheels...

https://www.vba.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/134355/Guide-to-Standards-and-Tolerances-2015.pdf

6. Then lets assume we do manage to adjust our headlights to be absolutely correct, with the car parked on a floor accurate to say 1 mm over 10 metres, brand new tyres, and exactly the amount of fuel and people that we will carry at all times. And then put some large people in the back seats and a week of shopping in the boot. Rear suspension sags by maybe 12 mm as compared to front. 12mm/2.8 metres means the beams have come up 42 mm at 10 metres, and a full 252 mm at 60 metres... This might be why the ZB has a little pot on the dash to adjust the headlights up and down...

7. Having read a bit about this a think a reasonably scientific take which could be useful in the real world would be to say:
- Low beam headlights are supposed to have a drop of 1 percent, so 10 cm at 10 metres
- There is going to be an unavoidable error of around +/- 17 mm at 10 metres due to most floors not being flat to wihin eg. 1 mm. So no matter how hard one tries, using the wall method, or a beamsetter, the stated aim is not entirely realistic. But using a longer distance will reduce error.
- One practical way to check whether the beams are above, at, or just below level would be to:
- Park car 2 metres from a wall in a large (and empty) underground carpark
- Put some sticky tape on the wall to show the low beam cut off
- Back up 10 metres, or even better 20 metres
- If the cutoff has climbed up above the tape then the lights are above level, if still on the tape they are level, and if below the tape then all good
- Would probably want to check on a number of different walls and average the results to allow for the floor itself not being level
- Doing nothing just means that we don't know if they are properly aimed or not
- Paying a professional to do it may well be a good solution, but after he (or she) has done it, it would still need to pass the wall test...
- Or even simpler, just pace out the distance to where the low beam cut off hits the road. If its about 70 metres in front of the car, then it MUST
be below horizontal, and the science suggests a drop of 10 cm per 10 metres is 68 cm per 68 metres. This might even be better since it is
measuring the drop over a much longer distance!
- And as it stands my headlights are definitely hitting the road well inside of 68 metres, which would be about 4.5 standard (in my area) house
blocks, as these are about 15 metres frontage

 

[MattSAU2XR8]

PS - I do agree though about badly aimed lights being a pain. In a perfect worked everyone gets to see where they are going. Only offering the above for people who want to see where THEY are going, without messing things up for other people. I think a lot of ZB owners have been a little bit disappointed in the lights. In a perfect world motoring journalists might report on headlights rather than cupholders and then the manufacturers would have an incentive to make them work better. It can be done - VE Commodres and FG Falcons definitely had better standard lights than the ZBs...

 

[MattSAU2XR8]

Low and high beams wifh light bar on my back fence. No befores although I think I have a link in my long term review thread...

 

[Chalks1971]

Thanks for the heads up about the manual! I downloaded it and may well make use of it one day.

Try Ctrl F

 

[Skylarking]

@MattSAU2XR8 the point was more about the fact “should be enough“ and “haven’t been flashed yet” isn’t the correct process nor the correct way to look at it, especially to someone with an engineering mindset like myself. The “not very scientific“ quip was more around your relaxed mindset which in relation to headlights can mean others may suffer from glare and blinding light Obviously, you can be scientific if needed

Yes, finding a very flat quiet road to check headlight aim is the best but finding 60m of flat road isn’t so easy. A nice flat underground parking garage is usually easier to find and enough to check towards manufacturers specs. And these manufacturers specs would cater for the variances of aussie building tolerances

Hella, we’ll, like many manufacturers who sell test equipment, their is a bias to say one must use them but the good old manual test with a lux meter should still be sufficient. And the reason for a lux meter? There are issues with dirt on the headlamp lens itself where that grit can causes blinding glare which is why HID/LED headlamps must have washers as well as auto levellers if the globe is over a specified output (>2000 lux?).

And yes, many car manufactures should hold their heads in shame for providing such piss weak headlamp systems. IMO headlamps are a safety item and the best available should be specified on all model variants (just like ESC these days).. But given what one has, the real solution is to slow down if vision isn’t great in those specific driving conditions. It‘s the same principle one uses in fog, rain and other adverse driving conditions. So the solution isn’t to be that guy at the foot. Installing HID/LED globes in halogen headlamps that can more easily blind oncoming traffic so one can drive faster isn't really the solution

But oddly lots of people do install HID/LED globes in halogen headlamp assemblies and for the most part, other people aren’t crashing into things in appreciable numbers after being blinded. From what many people say, as long as it’s a projection headlamp assembly and the HID/LED aren’t too powerful, then they work ok if well aligned; just not compliant. Outcome is not so good with reflector assemblies which can be very bad from light control and glare perspective

In any case, your an adult so you make your own choices and take the consequences is any. My only suggestion is to persevere with the ZB workshop manual as it is a great resource. Use a computer and open the index (left pane) and learn how the doc is structured (yes it does have an index) It’s time we’ll spent and it will be easier to find the sections needed in future

 

[iZ_]

Any tips on how to unbend the holding clip. I pushed it out to open and now it doesn't close. And the space is unbelievably tight.

Cheers

 

[stooge]

something like a jewellers screwdriver where the green line is and bend the middle tab out

 

[MattSAU2XR8]

Bit of an aside but one extra reason ZB lights not as good as VE for example is that VE used H4 globes for the low beams which switch to a high beam pattern when high beam is selected. So once selected have all four globes set to high beam rather than only the inner two as on a lot of newer cars...

 

[stooge]

Bit of an aside but one extra reason ZB lights not as good as VE for example is that VE used H4 globes for the low beams which switch to a high beam pattern when high beam is selected. So once selected have all four globes set to high beam rather than only the inner two as on a lot of newer cars...

none of the ve variants(s1/s2 omega/berlina/sv6/ss) i had owned had h4 bulbs, they were all h7(low) h9(high)