Chapter 9 :Lighting system

Lighting System
Automotive Lights
To provide light needed to operate the vehicle
safely

The various lights on automobile provides

vision and information to driver
Convenience for passengers
Signals and warnings to other drivers and
pedestrians

The lighting system consists of the components

(fuses, wires, switches, relays) that operates the
interior and exterior lights on a car
Lights applications
Light Bulbs
A light bulb may fit into a socket to form part of a lamp. When an
electric current flows through a filament in the bulb, it will get hot
and emits visible light.

 Some bulbs have two filaments. This allows a single bulb to

provide light in two circuits. The various bulbs and lighting
circuits usually receive power from fuse panel, ignition switch or
headlamp switch
Lighting circuit
Lighting circuit
Headlight Components
Headlamps
The headlamp system includes the battery, headlamp wiring, fuse
panel, headlamp switch / light switch, headlamps, marker lights and
instrument lights.

Headlamp Switch
The headlamp switch controls the operation of the headlamps and other
exterior and interior lights. It is located in the dash panel or on the
steering column

Itcontrols current flow to the bulbs in the headlamp system. It is also

may contain a rheostat for adjusting the brightness of the instrument
panel lights

Dimmer Switch
A dimmer switch controls the high and low headlamp beam function.
This switch may be mounted on the steering column or floorboard

When the driver activates the dimmer switch, it changes the electrical
connection to the headlamps causing it to produce high beam or low
beam
Headlight Types
1. Sealed-beam headlight
2. Halogen headlamp
3. High intensity discharge (HID) headlights
1. Sealed-beam headlamp
 The tungsten filament turns white-hot when connected to the
battery and gives out light.
 The light is reflected forward by the curved reflector. Then the
light passes through the lens which arranges it in a pattern to light
the road ahead
2. Halogen headlamps
 Halogen headlamps are used in many vehicles because of
whiter and brighter light emission than the sealed-beam
headlamps.
 The halogen headlamp has a smaller inner bulb filled with
halogen gas which protects the tungsten filament.
 The outer case is airtight
 The letter H or the word HALOGEN appears on the lens of a
halogen headlamp
3. High intensity discharge (HID)
headlights
A high-intensity discharge (HID) lamp is a type of electrical
lamp which produces light by means of an electric arc
between tungsten electrodes housed inside a translucent or
transparent fused quartz arc tube.
HID headlights
High-intensity discharge arc lamps showing glare when
installed in motor vehicle headlamp
4. LED Lighting
• Light emitting diode (LEDs) have certainly
found applications in the interior vehicle,
particularly in dashboard displays.
• However, until recently, LED has change in
use of ‘incandescent lamp’ as ‘light source’
•The advantages of LED lighting are clear,
the greatest being reliability.
•LEDs have a typical rated life of over 50000
hours, compared with just a few thousand
for incandescent lamps.
• The environment in which vehicle lights
have to survive;
• Extreme variations in temperature and
humidity as well as serious shocks and
vibration have
to be endured.
4. LED Lighting
•LEDs are more expensive than bulbs but
the
potential savings in design costs due to
sealed units being used and the greater
freedom of design could outweigh the extra
expense.
•A further advantage is that they turn on
quicker than ordinary bulbs.
• This turn-on time is important; the times
are about 130ms for the LEDs, and 200 ms
for bulbs.
•If this is related to a vehicle brake light at
motorway speeds, then the increased
reaction time equates to about a car length.
•This is also potentially a major contribution
to road safety.
•LED has shock resistance, which will allow
them to be mounted on the vehicle.
Regulations and requirements
A headlamp system is required to produce a low and a high
beam, which may be achieved either by an individual
lamp for each function or by a single multifunction lamp.

High beams (called "main beams" or "full beams" ) cast

most of their light straight ahead, maximizing seeing
distance, but producing too much glare for safe use when
no other oncoming vehicles are present on the road.

Low beams (called "dipped beams" ) have stricter control of

upward light, and direct most of their light downward and
either rightward (in right-traffic countries) or leftward (in
left-traffic countries), to provide safe forward visibility
without excessive glare.
Low beam
Low beam (dipped beam) headlamps provide a distribution of light
designed to provide adequate forward and lateral illumination with
limits on light directed towards the eyes of other road users, to
control glare.

This beam is intended for use whenever other vehicles are present
ahead. The international SAE Regulations specify a beam with a
sharp, asymmetric cutoff preventing significant amounts of light from
being cast into the eyes of drivers of preceding or oncoming cars.

Asymmetrical low beam illumination

of road surface – right-traffic beam
dipped/low beam show
High beam
High beam (main beam) headlamps provide a bright, centre-
weighted distribution of light with no particular control of light
directed towards other road users' eyes.

As such, they are only suitable for use when alone on the road,
as the glare they produce will dazzle other drivers.

Symmetrical high beam

illumination of road surface
high/main beam
Optical systems
Reflector lamps
Lens optics
Lens optics, side view. Light is dispersed vertically (shown)
and laterally (not shown).
Sealed-beam headlamp with lens optics. The flutes and
prisms spread and distribute the light collected by the
reflector.
A light source (filament or arc) is placed at or near the focus
of a reflector, which may be parabolic or complex shape.
Most sealed-beam headlamps have lens optics
Reflector optics
The clear front cover lens serves only a protective function.

Starting in the 1980s, headlamp reflectors began to evolve

beyond the simple steel parabola to development of reflector
headlamps with nonparabolic and complex-shape reflectors.
]

The optics to distribute the light in the desired pattern are

designed into the reflector itself, rather than into the lens
Projector (polyellipsoidal) lamps
Projector headlamps is system a filament is located at one focus of
an ellipsoidal reflector and has condenser lens at the front of the
lamp.
A shade is located at between the reflector and lens, and the
projection of the top edge of this shade provides the low-beam
cutoff.
The shade may have a solenoid actuated pivot to provide both low
and high beam
Light System Service

Light system service involves changing burned

out bulbs, testing bulb sockets, checking fuses,
finding shorted and open circuits and aiming
headlights

Lamp replacement
Lamp or bulbs must be replaced when burned
out. Headlamps are usually held in place with
small screws and a retaining ring. They are
normally held in their socket by a spring and
small dowels
Bulb socket test
 The figure shows how to check for current in a bulb socket.
With the light turned ON, there is a socket or circuit
problem if the test light does NOT glow
Flickering Lights (Lights go on and off)

 Such condition point to a loose electrical connection or a

circuit breaker that is kicking out because of a short

 Ifonly one light flickers, the problem is in that section of

the circuit. Check the bulb socket for corrosion. Clean the
socket and make sure the bulb terminal is not worn. If
needed, replace the bulb socket and bulb

 If all or several lights flicker, the problem is in a section

of the circuit common to those lights. If the lights flicker
only when the headlamps are on high beam, check the
component and wiring in the high beam section of the
circuit
Aiming Headlamps

Headlamps can be aimed using mechanical aimers

or a wall screen. Either method assures that the
headlamps beams point in the direction specified by
the manufacturer

A headlight that is misaimed by one degree

downward reduces the driver's vision distance by
156 feet.

 If the headlight aim is too high, the headlights tend

to reduce the vision of oncoming drivers creating a
possible driving hazard.
Headlamps aimers are devices for pointing the
car’s headlamps in a specified position. To use
aimers, follow the instructions for the specific
type of equipment. Some require a level floor.
Others have internally leveling mechanisms to
allow for an uneven shop floor
Headlamp beam alignment meter
Headlamp aiming screen
 A headlamp aiming screen is a series of measured lines marked
on a shop wall for aiming a car’s headlamps. The lines are drawn
on the wall at specific horizontal and vertical locations

 The car is located 25 feet (7.6 m) from the screen on a level floor.
When the headlights are turned on, the highest points of light
intensity (brightness) should be as shown in figure below
Headlamp adjustment
Headlamp adjusting screws are provided to alter
the direction of the headlamps beams. One screw
provides horizontal (left/right) adjustment. Turn
the screws until the aimer or screen show correct
beam alignment
 THE END

Any question?
Quiz

1. List THREE (3) types of headlights.

2.What will happen when a headlight

i) is misaimed by one degree downward?

ii) is aimed too high?

3. Explain how to do headlamp aiming alignment using wall

screen.
Draw the correct aiming light on the wall (right-hand side
drive).