On 06/08/2026 12:42, Scott wrote:
A very odd thing happened to me when I was driving late at night on
Tuesday. Three HGVs flashed their headlights at me, but no cars. I
definitely did not drive on full beam into oncoming traffic on three
occasions. When I looked at the headlights they seemed okay though
quite bright as the bulbs have recently been replaced. What set of
circumstances could affect an HGV driver but not a car driver? Is it
possible there is a stray beam pointing upwards? I think I'll take it
to the MOT station and ask him to check.
Although I've never heard of it and it /shouldn't/ be possible, have the >bulbs been put in upside-down, so that when on "dipped" it's the
complete opposite?
On Thu, 6 Aug 2026 13:00:42 +0100, Jeff Layman <Jeff@invalid.invalid>
wrote:
On 06/08/2026 12:42, Scott wrote:
A very odd thing happened to me when I was driving late at night on
Tuesday. Three HGVs flashed their headlights at me, but no cars. I
definitely did not drive on full beam into oncoming traffic on three
occasions. When I looked at the headlights they seemed okay though
quite bright as the bulbs have recently been replaced. What set of
circumstances could affect an HGV driver but not a car driver? Is it
possible there is a stray beam pointing upwards? I think I'll take it
to the MOT station and ask him to check.
Although I've never heard of it and it /shouldn't/ be possible, have the
bulbs been put in upside-down, so that when on "dipped" it's the
complete opposite?
That's an interesting thought. Also, the side light is in the the same
unit above the headlight so I wondered if it could be misaligned. Can
I easily check [both possibilities] or should this be a trip to the installer?
my Jazz has a control on the dash whereby if you've got a heavy weight
in the back you can turn a knob so the headlight points further down
On 06/08/2026 13:37, Scott wrote:
On Thu, 6 Aug 2026 13:00:42 +0100, Jeff Layman <Jeff@invalid.invalid>
wrote:
On 06/08/2026 12:42, Scott wrote:
A very odd thing happened to me when I was driving late at night on
Tuesday. Three HGVs flashed their headlights at me, but no cars. I
definitely did not drive on full beam into oncoming traffic on three
occasions. When I looked at the headlights they seemed okay though
quite bright as the bulbs have recently been replaced. What set of
circumstances could affect an HGV driver but not a car driver? Is it
possible there is a stray beam pointing upwards? I think I'll take it
to the MOT station and ask him to check.
Although I've never heard of it and it /shouldn't/ be possible, have the >>> bulbs been put in upside-down, so that when on "dipped" it's the
complete opposite?
That's an interesting thought. Also, the side light is in the the same
unit above the headlight so I wondered if it could be misaligned. Can
I easily check [both possibilities] or should this be a trip to the
installer?
Is the side light one of those bright daylight-running leds? Perhaps it
is misaligned.
Not sure how I'd check, other than at night put the main beam on a
couple of metres from a wall, and put a mark where the centre of the
beam is on the wall. Then switch to dipped beam and repeat. If it's
above the main beam mark /something/ is wrong. It might require a trip
to the dealer if it needs adjusting. However, my Jazz has a control on
the dash whereby if you've got a heavy weight in the back you can turn a knob so the headlight points further down, counteracting the tendency of
the back to be lower down and the front higher up.
Jeff Layman wrote:
my Jazz has a control on the dash whereby if you've got a heavy weight
in the back you can turn a knob so the headlight points further down
Most cars tend to be auto-levelling now, I believe it's mandatory (along
with headlight washers) above a certain brightness?
On 2026-08-06 13:57, Jeff Layman wrote:
On 06/08/2026 13:37, Scott wrote:
On Thu, 6 Aug 2026 13:00:42 +0100, Jeff Layman <Jeff@invalid.invalid>
wrote:
On 06/08/2026 12:42, Scott wrote:
A very odd thing happened to me when I was driving late at night on
Tuesday. Three HGVs flashed their headlights at me, but no cars. I
definitely did not drive on full beam into oncoming traffic on three >>>>> occasions. When I looked at the headlights they seemed okay though
quite bright as the bulbs have recently been replaced. What set of
circumstances could affect an HGV driver but not a car driver? Is it >>>>> possible there is a stray beam pointing upwards? I think I'll take it >>>>> to the MOT station and ask him to check.
Although I've never heard of it and it /shouldn't/ be possible, have the >>>> bulbs been put in upside-down, so that when on "dipped" it's the
complete opposite?
That's an interesting thought. Also, the side light is in the the same
unit above the headlight so I wondered if it could be misaligned. Can
I easily check [both possibilities] or should this be a trip to the
installer?
Is the side light one of those bright daylight-running leds? Perhaps it
is misaligned.
Not sure how I'd check, other than at night put the main beam on a
couple of metres from a wall, and put a mark where the centre of the
beam is on the wall. Then switch to dipped beam and repeat. If it's
above the main beam mark /something/ is wrong. It might require a trip
to the dealer if it needs adjusting. However, my Jazz has a control on
the dash whereby if you've got a heavy weight in the back you can turn a
knob so the headlight points further down, counteracting the tendency of
the back to be lower down and the front higher up.
If you park on the level and shine your dipped headlights at a wall or
your garage door you should be able to see the point of intersection of
the two linear cut-offs in the beam, one rising off to the left (the
part of the beam that illuminates signs to your left) and the other
falling less steeply to the right (to keep your beam out of the eyes of oncoming drivers). That point of intersection should be pretty much at
the same height as your headlamps and straight ahead.
If you get that pattern, the bulb is not in upside down!
On 06/08/2026 13:37, Scott wrote:
On Thu, 6 Aug 2026 13:00:42 +0100, Jeff Layman <Jeff@invalid.invalid>
wrote:
On 06/08/2026 12:42, Scott wrote:
A very odd thing happened to me when I was driving late at night on
Tuesday. Three HGVs flashed their headlights at me, but no cars. I
definitely did not drive on full beam into oncoming traffic on three
occasions. When I looked at the headlights they seemed okay though
quite bright as the bulbs have recently been replaced. What set of
circumstances could affect an HGV driver but not a car driver? Is it
possible there is a stray beam pointing upwards? I think I'll take it
to the MOT station and ask him to check.
Although I've never heard of it and it /shouldn't/ be possible, have the >>> bulbs been put in upside-down, so that when on "dipped" it's the
complete opposite?
That's an interesting thought. Also, the side light is in the the same
unit above the headlight so I wondered if it could be misaligned. Can
I easily check [both possibilities] or should this be a trip to the
installer?
Is the side light one of those bright daylight-running leds? Perhaps it
is misaligned.
2008 technology - Nissan Micra. Could the garage have fitted
unsuitable bulbs (LED in place of halogen)?
Scott wrote:I find that auto dip/high mostly works "as it says on the tin" though I
A very odd thing happened to me when I was driving late at night onMy newish car has LED headights, where the lights are split into
Tuesday. Three HGVs flashed their headlights at me, but no cars.
multiple zones and when put into "auto dipping" mode it can dip the
zones independently.
I was sceptical about using the autodip feature, but I did test it out
one night, it feels very odd leaving full beam on, and not worrying
about oncoming traffic, but you can see it adjusting the lights and no
cars at all flashed me for it.
However I do remember when I was at the bottom of a hill, and a lorry
was coming down the hill towards me, it flashed me at quite a long
distance, so probably something about the raised cab height can mean
lorries notice high-beams more than cars?-a I haven't used the auto-dip
much (at all?) since the night I tested it ...
Scott wrote:
2008 technology - Nissan Micra. Could the garage have fitted
unsuitable bulbs (LED in place of halogen)?
can you see any (E) markings on them?
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