Beam deflectors
teo questions -
1. Is it a legal requirement to fit headlamp be deflectors when driving in France even if you don't intend driving at night?
2. Has anyone found correctly functioning beam deflectors for a 2015 Ducato ?
the second question is because my Fiat dealer has sourced headlamp protectors with beam deflecting patches for me, but on fitting them they have negligible effect on deflecting the beams.
Comments
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The legal requirement is only not to dazzle oncoming traffic. How this is done is up to you. Many modern vehicles already have a symmetrical beam pattern and don't require any modifications anyway. For those that do have an asymmetrical beam it depends on whether they have HID (Xenon) headlamps or not. Those that do must not be fitted with beam deflectors as they can cause beam scatter which aggravate the dazzle and so defeat the whole object of the exercise. In such cases, the beam must be adjusted manually, sometimes by a lever on the headlamp assembly itself, otherwise by a dealer. Even if xenon headlamps are not fitted that is the best method of preventing dazzle.
Theoretically beam deflectors are even illegal if not type approved according to ECE R48, which I suspect none are. (They would be marked as such if approved.)
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People seem to get very exercised by beam benders. Your vehicle has the ability to lower the beam as does my Peugeot. I have just driven 2600 miles to Vienna and back with no beam deflectors. This journey involved driving through many,many tunnels including
one which was 12 miles long and two way. At no point did I get the impression that my lights were causing a problem to oncoming traffic. It was interesting to note, in a break in the oncoming traffic, that the beam pattern was pretty low to the road.David
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People seem to get very exercised by beam benders. Your vehicle has the ability to lower the beam as does my Peugeot. ....
But lowering the beam level is completely different from cutting of the dazzling upsweep to the left.
My car doesn't have the beam lowering set-up ..... Airmatic self leveling suspension ..... but does have the levers inside the headlamps that Lutz is referring too
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We have a 2113 Ducato and have never used a beam deflector in France.
I move the dip dial to the lowest point and have never been flashed by oncoming vehicles.
The only flashing from other drivers have been to warn me of a Police presence further down the road.
We are in France now and I can't recall seeing any other British plated Motorhomes with beam deflectors.
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..... We are in France now and I can't recall seeing any other British plated Motorhomes with beam deflectors.
They might (as you might have) symmetrical headlight beams or they have adjusted the beam using the lever inside the headlight. Lowering a beam & making it sutable for use on the 'wrong side' of the road are two separate things
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MM - the OP asked about a 2015 Ducato and if mine is okay for France then his/her MH should be better equipped with gizmos than mine and be fine when irritating Johny Foreigner with headlights.
PS - it's still daylight till well after 10 pm over here.
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MM - the OP asked about a 2015 Ducato and if mine is okay for France then his/her MH should be better equipped with gizmos than mine and be fine when irritating Johny Foreigner with headlights.
PS - it's still daylight till well after 10 pm over here.
But as you say, you've just done the same as Dave and tipped the beam to the floor as you would if you had a heavy load in the vehicle. I've no idea whether your vehicle has asymmetrical or symmetrical beam patterns on the headlights, but if it's the former,
then you really should do something other than what you're doing0 -
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Don't forget in France you have to use your lights in adverse weather,this could be anytime.
It's a shame they don't make that mandatory here too, rather than halfwits driving in fog & piddling rain with just DRL when their light switch has an ON position too.
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Don't forget in France you have to use your lights in adverse weather,this could be anytime.
It's a shame they don't make that mandatory here too, rather than halfwits driving in fog & piddling rain with just DRL when their light switch has an ON position too.
Remember tunnels too.
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