Adjusting Headlamps for Driving in Europe

C350Carl

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 16, 2014
Messages
4,580
Reaction score
898
Location
Middle East
Your Mercedes
BMW 740Ld xDrive
The Russians DO have an odd mindset but they have a different conops for their attack helis.

The big thing at near peer level is that the airspace below 12000' is pretty much closed off over the modern battlefield due to increasingly advanced MANPADS and battlefield gun/ missile systems. As in, it's plain lethal now. Doesn't matter whether fixed or rotary wing; the US A-10 force in Germany in the 80s was restricted to short range weapons, which required low altitude. The expected force casualties were 50%/ sortie...

So pretty much after Vietnam for the US, and GRANBY for us, everyone ditched low altitude and went to 15k, which means that FW have increasing advantages over rotary. It also means that an F-16 can do the job as well as an A-10 hence the move to kill off the Hog.

This concept is directly behind the development of BRIMSTONE, it can be used standoff in large quantities from med alt for relatively low cost (and low risk to the launch platform), vs. close range, low enough for light AA and small arms and hossifers pistols, and high risk to the launch platform.

I don't know where you have got the info from about below 12k. But it's wrong!

An F16 (or any other fast jet for that matter) can not do the job as well as a Hog. For a start it can't fly as slow so can't operate as low nor is it built to withstand as much as the A10. An F16's only use for CAS is to drop ordnance or conduct a SoF. It can't do strafing runs anywhere near as effectively (it can do them but not as precise or as intense). It was tried to be killed off because of the expense of keeping it going and the cost of developing a new version. They are currently keeping it in service as the need for CAS will remain, even in a modern battlefield. It is also very useful in COIN ops as the Gun is the easiest to achieve a 0/0 CDE vs Brimstone or any other bomb. They are however looking at a replacement and they are looking at employing the same design idea. I.E build the plane around the gun.

Anyway we are waaaaay off topic now. Planes, Helo's and Ships don't have to worry about headlights in Europe. :p
 

Craiglxviii

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 6, 2015
Messages
17,781
Reaction score
7,426
Location
Cambs UK
Your Mercedes
970 Panamera Turbo; W221 S500L AMG Line, C215 CL500, W251 R350L AMG Line, plus several more now gone
I don't know where you have got the info from about below 12k. But it's wrong!

An F16 (or any other fast jet for that matter) can not do the job as well as a Hog. For a start it can't fly as slow so can't operate as low not is it built to withstand as much as the A10. An F16's only use for CAS is to drop ordnance or conduct a SoF. It can't do strafing runs anywhere near as effectively (it can do them but not as precise or as intense). It was tried to be killed off because of the expense of keeping it going and the cost of developing a new version. They are currently keeping it in service as the need for CAS will remain, even in a modern battlefield. It is also very useful in COIN ops as the Gun is the easiest to achieve a 0/0 CDE vs Brimstone or any other bomb. They are however looking at a replacement and they are looking at employing the same design idea. I.E build the plane around the gun.

From the blokes who are working on the policies behind phasing the A-10 out of service. Right ok, where to start. NB here I'm talking about near-peer and NOT COIN Ops, they have a different conops as well you know. All data here is UNCLASS.

The airspace below 12k' give or take is pretty much totally closed off. We (RAF) never bought into this until we started losing Tonkas over Iraq. It has been effectively closed off since around 1945 only that wasn't fully appreciated until the Cousins started piling Tac a/c into Vietnam and got some rather rude lessons in return. They key to it is the interaction of MANPADS and LAA. small arms- 14.5mm effectively close the airspace upto around 5k. These weapons are cheap, ammunition is cheap and they don't need to be aimed even- they just need to fill a patch of sky with barrage fire at a particular time. That is because strike aircraft have to come in through various (usually well known) routes, those routes can be further defined by own-side threats such as fighter BARCAP etc. So what the Vietnamese (and ze Germans before them, who they took the lessons from) learnt was that low-flying aircraft can be brought down by having an observer with a stopwatch at various points with a radio or telephone to an LAA battery, pointing to a predetermined point in the sky (their choke point). As soon as the inbound strike flies over the observer, he knows they're doing (say) 450kts, he is a known flight distance from the battery, he calls them up and says "Open fire in 15 seconds". The battery don't even need to know what to aim at, they just brass up the sky. This can be further enhanced by the use of very simple expedients such as wires strung off pylons- the first F-111 sortie (6 ship) lost 3 a/c, 2 to LAA and 1 to a wire strung across a valley that took its vertical stab off. So, that's low level. We and the Swedes especially really bought into low level- we don't anymore.

Now raise that above 5000'. This brings us into the realms of MANPADS and battlefield SAM gun/ missile systems. Everything from STINGER to RAPIER to PATRIOT and the various Combloc stuff. Now we see an interesting thing when it comes to anti-aircraft missiles, ground or air based. Plot their variant date of design versus kill probability and we get a linear trend. Well several dependent on seeker type. E.g. the newer the missile the more likely it is to hit the target it is employed against. The increased visibility horizon at around 5k' allows more time for the missile operator to acquire, track and fire and not enough for the pilot to deploy countermeasures. So, one has to get out of range of those weapons which takes us to the 12-15k' bracket...

So once we get to here, standoff weapons become the in thing. Aircraft have enough time to take warning of missile launch and employ countermeasures, ECM pods which are of very little use below 500-1k' due to the limited horizon become much more effective. Guns cannot be employed for strafing runs due to the altitude, but then don't need to be because they place unnecessary risk on the (very expensive) strike platform.

Case in point, look at A-10 ops outside of COIN. Almost all taking place in the medium altitude bracket... why?

All these issues apply to attack helis too.
 

C350Carl

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 16, 2014
Messages
4,580
Reaction score
898
Location
Middle East
Your Mercedes
BMW 740Ld xDrive
Craig,

I'll continue the discussion with by text/PM. But tactical low level sorties will still continue, even in modern warfare unless NATO went to war with itself. Then it would continue once Air Superiority has been achieved by whoever.
 

paalw

New Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2015
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
Location
TØNSBERG
Your Mercedes
w211
Hi there, first of all sorry if my question has already been answered in this thread, I have not read all the 9 pages.

I have a 2006 SL55 AMG with Xenon. Are these programmable with STAR, or is there any adjustment inside the headlights?

I have a japanese car with original left hand traffic beam pattern, and I have imported it to Europe so I need to change the assymetrical pattern to either flat or opposite of what it is now (both is ok here from government point of view).

Or do I need to buy new headlights? That sounds ugh...expensive...
 

Bogdan Cazacu

New Member
Joined
Jul 18, 2018
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
Your Mercedes
E220/2015/2.1
I`m confused , i have a 2015 e220. I`m going to Europe ,do i need to put those stickers on or not ?
 

LostKiwi

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 25, 2006
Messages
31,326
Reaction score
21,574
Location
Midlands / Charente-Maritime
Your Mercedes
'93 500SL-32, '01 W210 Estate E240 (RIP), 02 R230 SL500, 04 Smart Roadster Coupe, 11 R350CDi
I`m confused , i have a 2015 e220. I`m going to Europe ,do i need to put those stickers on or not ?
I'd be surprised. If you have Xenon lights there will be a little lever (hard to see but it's there) to activate a shutter to change the beam cut off. If you have ILS its set in software I believe and tweaked in the menu system.
 

Bogdan Cazacu

New Member
Joined
Jul 18, 2018
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
Your Mercedes
E220/2015/2.1
Does your cars in car manual give any advice/options

It says that the Intelligent Headlights adjusts automatically on the road/motorway & weather conditions , but i want to check with somebody that faced this problem in the past
It is not about lack of knowledge , it's about a second opinion !
 

Wighty

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 4, 2016
Messages
13,435
Reaction score
12,466
Location
Sunny Essex
Your Mercedes
W211/E320cdi/2009 and CLK200k 2009
It says that the Intelligent Headlights adjusts automatically on the road/motorway & weather conditions , but i want to check with somebody that faced this problem in the past
It is not about lack of knowledge , it's about a second opinion !
No doubting your knowledge buddy , I didn't know if you had checked the manual from your first post . Good luck with finding a way to alter them , I've resorted to stickers after spending over 2 hours these last couple of year trying to find any levers on both my cars .
 

rf065

Senior Member
Joined
May 30, 2007
Messages
3,518
Reaction score
996
Location
Grossbritannien
Your Mercedes
SLC300 - C250d Estate 4 Matic & Z900rs
Intelligent light system requires to be changed through the menu from left-hand driving right hand driving

It says that the Intelligent Headlights adjusts automatically on the road/motorway & weather conditions , but i want to check with somebody that faced this problem in the past
It is not about lack of knowledge , it's about a second opinion !
 

Craiglxviii

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 6, 2015
Messages
17,781
Reaction score
7,426
Location
Cambs UK
Your Mercedes
970 Panamera Turbo; W221 S500L AMG Line, C215 CL500, W251 R350L AMG Line, plus several more now gone
Intelligent light system requires to be changed through the menu from left-hand driving right hand driving
On the facelifted 212 this is done using the centre display and joywheel thingy.
 

Craiglxviii

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 6, 2015
Messages
17,781
Reaction score
7,426
Location
Cambs UK
Your Mercedes
970 Panamera Turbo; W221 S500L AMG Line, C215 CL500, W251 R350L AMG Line, plus several more now gone
Hi there, first of all sorry if my question has already been answered in this thread, I have not read all the 9 pages.

I have a 2006 SL55 AMG with Xenon. Are these programmable with STAR, or is there any adjustment inside the headlights?

I have a japanese car with original left hand traffic beam pattern, and I have imported it to Europe so I need to change the assymetrical pattern to either flat or opposite of what it is now (both is ok here from government point of view).

Or do I need to buy new headlights? That sounds ugh...expensive...
Remove the rear cap on the back of the headlamp and feel inside, there will be a little (very thin wire) lever, Push it up or down, whichever way it will move and it in turn moves a cutoff beam shade into place. It's only on one headlamp.
 

thebiglad

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 15, 2018
Messages
410
Reaction score
233
Location
Central France
Your Mercedes
2005 CLK 270 cdi
I just bought a 2005 CLK with halogen (not projector style) headlamps and brought it back to my house in France, where I live permanently.

I thought I would have to get an LHD set of headlamps and found some second and reasonably priced. However, when I came the check the std. dipped beams I found they were almost flat beams. In other words they were ____ rather than \___ . So I've left them in place for the time being.

A question please? Can someone tell me (as I don't yet have an owners manual or workshop manual) what these adjusters do :

P1050915.JPG P1050914.JPG

Also there seems to be a problem with the RH headlamp and the motorised load-dependant adjusting - How do I remove the motor from the headlamp to replace it. I've tried twisting it and it comes undone but still attached by something inside the headlamp??

Many thanks for whatever help you guys can give.

Cheers
Dave
 

LostKiwi

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 25, 2006
Messages
31,326
Reaction score
21,574
Location
Midlands / Charente-Maritime
Your Mercedes
'93 500SL-32, '01 W210 Estate E240 (RIP), 02 R230 SL500, 04 Smart Roadster Coupe, 11 R350CDi
Those are the aiming adjusters. One for up/down, the other for left/right.
 

thebiglad

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 15, 2018
Messages
410
Reaction score
233
Location
Central France
Your Mercedes
2005 CLK 270 cdi
Those are the aiming adjusters. One for up/down, the other for left/right.
Thanks for that LK, but do you know which is which, as I had a bit of a play with them and couldn't really see a lot a difference ?

Also do these adjusters just work on the dipped beam pattern, or on both simultaneously?

Sorry for pestering you LK, but you know loads of good stuff and I'm just a newbie.
 

LostKiwi

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 25, 2006
Messages
31,326
Reaction score
21,574
Location
Midlands / Charente-Maritime
Your Mercedes
'93 500SL-32, '01 W210 Estate E240 (RIP), 02 R230 SL500, 04 Smart Roadster Coupe, 11 R350CDi
Can't remember off hand which is which but they affect both high and low beams.
 

RUBBER_UNDIES

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 5, 2018
Messages
213
Reaction score
55
Your Mercedes
2003 w211 E270 177 BHP
Headlamps with projection system (vehicles with halogen, xenon or full LED headlamps) ....

Model 216, model 211 with Intelligent Light System and model 207 and model 212 up to 30.11.09 (YoM 09/2) with bi-xenon headlamps are adjusted using STAR

Model 172, 207 and model 212 as of 1.12.09 (YoM 09/2), model 204.0/2/3 with Intelligent Light System and model 218 with full LED headlamps, adjustment is done using the cluster menu.

Model 172 and 204.9 with halogens are adjusted using the range controller (must be checked with headlamp aimer)

Model 204.0/2 as of YoM 11/1 and model 204.3 with halogen headlamps, no headlamp adjustment is necessary!

All others are done using the levers inside the light unit.
You could drive your car upside down....
 

thebiglad

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 15, 2018
Messages
410
Reaction score
233
Location
Central France
Your Mercedes
2005 CLK 270 cdi
Adjusting Halogen headlamps for travel in Europe

Hi, Can u tell me exactly why no adjustment is required if halogen headlamps are fitted please?
It's not that they are halogen lamps, it's because they are not projector lamps.
 

Sophie Leguil

New Registration
Joined
Feb 24, 2019
Messages
1
Reaction score
0
Your Mercedes
2009 CLC 200 CDI Sport, 2002 A170, 2014 B180
Hi,
I have just exported my 2009 CLC 200 CDI to France and would like to register it there.
The headlights are halogen (these ones : https://www.onlinecarparts.co.uk/magneti-marelli-1853180.html).
Do I need to change them completely in order to comply with French MOT standards ? (apologies if the question has been asked previously!)

Thanks
Sophie
 

thebiglad

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 15, 2018
Messages
410
Reaction score
233
Location
Central France
Your Mercedes
2005 CLK 270 cdi
Hi Sophie, I recently imported my CLK into France and now need to sort out the beam pattern of the dipped beam headlights. I bought some 2nd hand headlights off leboncoin and intend to fit them tomorrow. However if the beam pattern is NOT correct I can buy brand new LHD headlights from Oscaro.com at 200 € apiece.
 

WE HAVE NOW MOVED: 8 Hazel Road, Woolston, SO19 7GB
Service, Repairs and remapping service
Any queries, please do not hesitate to contactEmail@mbsofsouthampton.co.ukor alternatively you can phone Colin or Dave on 02380 445820, out of hours numbers are 07787913313 or 07907631681.
Top Bottom