insufficient Highbeam - advised cops will target me as drunk

[cowlum]

After nealry a years worth of work I took my car down for a 'warrant of fitness' (not sure what you Americans call it)..

The car has passed on everything except the power of the highbeams. There is approx 10.3 volts reaching the lamps - is this enough - or should I concentrate my effort on the lack of reflectivity the mirrored surface inside the light?

Any other suggestions on increasing the brightness of my lights.

* the comment in the title is what the warrant guy said would happen if I drove the car with its current lighting situation. "the cops will think you're drunk and have the lights in park" (although they are much much brighter than that, they burn to look in after dark. I think im being dicked)

[MatthewCervi]

Do you have normal voltage coming though on the regular beam circuit?

I guess I'd start out by seeing what you're getting at the battery while the system is charging (off the top of my head I think it should be at least 13.2 volts). Assuming that is fine, then figure out what is wrong with the high-beam circuit. Probably either the switch or the wiring is toast.

One recommendation would be to install a relay in the circuit (actually one each for high and low beam) with some updated wiring between the relay(s) and the lights. That cuts down on the current flowing though the switch and gets a lot more voltage to the lights.

[ray_]

I'd check the grounds. But Curtis would tell me that's a crap answer!

;-)

Cheers,

Ray

[Tommy]

Check it at battery and if you have over 13 V there you should concentrate on wiring of the lights. If you have low voltage at battery too you should check charging system.

Tommy

[Guest Anonymous]

We call your warrant of fitness an "inspection". You definatly have a voltage problem, relays are always a nice addition but you still have to fix the original problem first.