HID Headlamp Upgrade

I had really poor Headlights which I believe is standard across the VW T4 range. I fitted a modified loom with a pair of relays along with Philips Extreme Vision Bulbs. I had the same set up on my last T4 but with Osram Nighbreakers. They where very good but these Philips bulbs are epic. Still 55 watt and no change to beam pattern. Just crisp clean white light with a very slight tinge of Blue.

I have a VW T4 and I find that my headlights are good haven`t changed anything, is it just on the older models, or have I struck lucky ?

Yours may well have had the Loom upgrade at some point Daisy. Its non intrusive and difficult to find if its integrated correctly.
An easy check is if your Dim Dip still works. If it doesn't, chances are its been done.

wakaday wrote:Yours may well have had the Loom upgrade at some point Daisy. Its non intrusive and difficult to find if its integrated correctly.
An easy check is if your Dim Dip still works. If it doesn't, chances are its been done.

Quite possibly true that it's been done, but I don't ~think~ a 2003 van would have had Dim Dip from the factory, so that won't be an indication of whether it has been done or not on a van that recent.

My 2001 T4 has dim dip, or it did have until I upgraded the loom and fitted osram nightbreakers as already mentioned ! 

Excuse my ignorance of VW lighting but why do you have to replace the loom. Surely the loom can handle Osram Nightbreakers as they are 55w the same as original VW headlamp bulbs.

As I understand it, the loom upgrade allows more power to the lights,so you can have brighter standard bulbs or go the whole hog and fit the brighter bulbs as well .It is explained much better on the T4 Forum ! They do work tho'  I was going to fit auxillary driving lights 'cos the standard lights were pretty hopeless but after fitting the loom upgrade and osram nightbreakers I haven't felt the need.

-mojo- wrote:

wakaday wrote:Yours may well have had the Loom upgrade at some point Daisy. Its non intrusive and difficult to find if its integrated correctly.
An easy check is if your Dim Dip still works. If it doesn't, chances are its been done.

Quite possibly true that it's been done, but I don't ~think~ a 2003 van would have had Dim Dip from the factory, so that won't be an indication of whether it has been done or not on a van that recent.

I am totally confused now, very easy I know   the dim dip does work on mine, mentioned it to my husband, we must both be a bit confused,he cannot understand it either,  if after upgrade I take it you no longer have dim dip, so what happens when on main beam in oncoming traffic, told you I was confused.

This is the second T4 that I have had and never had the lights altered,

You still have a dip and high beams. Dim/Dip was a short lived version of DRL, a low powered dip beam on with ignition.

Thanks for the explanation,

As above, Dim Dip was a feature which meant that dipped headlights are on at half brightness all the time that the engine is running (but not with just the ignition on), even with the lights turned off. Mandatory for only a short period in the UK until the EC ruled that this mandatory requirement was illegal. I think they were only mandatory for a very short period - 1987-1988 or thereabouts. I'm pretty sure that dim dip would be rare any later than than the late 90s, at which point DRLs (that look similar but use separate lamps that must extinguish or dim when the headlights are on) became the norm.

Paulmold wrote:Excuse my ignorance of VW lighting but why do you have to replace the loom. Surely the loom can handle Osram Nightbreakers as they are 55w the same as original VW headlamp bulbs.

VW's wiring of the headlights is quite widely recognised as poor - they use very light gauge wiring and this leads to a big voltage drop - IIRC someone did some tests on a pre-facelift T5 and found that the voltage at the bulbs was more than 2V lower than alternator voltage with the engine running! The wiring on the facelift T5 is also puny but does not appear to be so bad. Perhaps VW reduced the length of the wiring - I don't know why exactly.

Just to confuse matters further, when my dim dip worked,i.e before the loom upgrade, it worked with sidelights on and ignition on. No lights with ignition on unless switch operated. Definitely dim dip not DRL. Must be a freak VeeDub 

My old 2002 T4 had Dim dip so i guess it must have been fitted across the range.
The nighbreakers are epic but the Philips extreme are even better.
The lights are better than my modern T5 work Van.