xantia headlights (morettes)

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Post by Peter.N. »

:? Will that one do?
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Post by Paul-R »

Thanks but not really as I'm not at all confused about this.
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Post by lurchy666 »

my bulbs are h1's not h4's, 100w's are illegal yes but 55w's just dont work in these headlights (in my opinion)

my last xantia had 100w's in cause i couldn't see anything in that one even with the uprated bulbs in fact i always used fogs on that one cause i couldn't see at night with the standard lights,

if i put 55w's and the shields in the headlights i cant see anything, i actually use the cars in front as a torch (if u get what i mean), but high beam is brilliant and they are running 55w's

i know it is the patterns on the glass cause when i tried the headlights agenst a garage wall with out the glass there was a stupid amount of light coming out of them, as soon as i put the glass back on they was duller than my old mini's sealed beams and i know that they were crap,

as far as i can see there is nothing wrong with the glass, no chips etc so i think it is the patterns as designed by citroen what are crap kinda like the mk1 m0nde0 made by ford that had exactly the same problem

that was why i asked about the morettes to see if anyone had fitted them and if they were better than standard,
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Post by Kowalski »

All modern reflector based dipped headlight designs have the shield in one form or another, If you have an H4 or H7 bulb, the shield is built into the bulb itself, thats the black or silver part on the end of the bulb. H1 and H3 designs have the shield built into the headlight enclosure itself.

The simple fact is that without the shield an oncoming driver can look directly at the filament of the bulb but with the shield they can not. That means there is a direct light path from bulb filament to driver eye.
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Post by Xaccers »

Stunned Monkey wrote:I'm with Lurchy on this - the Xantia headlights are bleeding awful (and both my units are fairly new thanks to a stray pebble on one and a deer on the other - don't ask).

I've been getting a little worried about my vision at night recently, till I drove the other half's smart roadster - what a difference! Imagine: high beams that actually light up the whole road and not just a blob immediately in front of you! That thing has little sealed beams and H7's.

Hell, a DeLorean chucks out better light than a Xantia - 4x6" Hellas with H4's.

I don't want to be chavvy, but I like the look of the Morette units -anything is better than standard. Do they make them for a mk2 Xantia?
You've got a S2 like Juliet, bloody awful headlights, as you say a blob rather than a floodlight.
The S1 when getting the right voltage, right bulbs, later lenses and cleaned are much better, you can actually see the whole road, no lines just pure light.
Best headlights I've had on a car to be honest.
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Post by Brigsygtt »

Morette lenses arent very good mate, beware. Even though the lenses are made by cibie, my set on my old sierra cossie werent that good at all. There for looks rather than function, a hid upgrade would be essential.

Probably better than the std xantia headlamps though, they really are rubbish imo.

Have you looked on ebay for a hid upgrade? there are loads of options.
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Post by lurchy666 »

brigsygtt i looked into hid's when i had my volvo with hid's and hid's need either reflector (where the pattern is made by the reflector ie high beam on a lot of modern cars like vw's and audi's and range rovers high beam or the new astra low and high beam) or projectors (such as the morette lights low beams/ new rangerovers etc), they cant be used in the type of headlights like xantia have (pattern on glass) unfortunatly because they wont give the pattern for some reason they just give a blob of light and are very dazzling to other people,
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Post by addo »

It's my honest belief that headlights haven't been the best since glass lenses went out.

That said, I've punted an Xantia II quite a lot through back roads at night and found lighting to be adequate (would be better if correctly aligned). Maybe the UK has more light bleed from urbanisation?

One trap some fall into, is using the foggies when driving alone at night. If it's not foggy, this actually shortens the distance forward you look - quite dangerous. I've demo'd this to a few people; the difference is remarkable.
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Post by Kowalski »

Brigsygtt wrote:Morette lenses arent very good mate, beware. Even though the lenses are made by cibie, my set on my old sierra cossie werent that good at all. There for looks rather than function, a hid upgrade would be essential.

Probably better than the std xantia headlamps though, they really are rubbish imo.

Have you looked on ebay for a hid upgrade? there are loads of options.
Not all of the Morrettes are Cibie, some of the newer ones seem to be Valeo, I'm not sure which is which, but it seems like Valeo make the projector ones.
addo wrote:It's my honest belief that headlights haven't been the best since glass lenses went out.
I don't think it was the loss of glass lenses that caused the problems, both the Xantia and XM had glass lenses on their headlights. It seems the switch from big round functional headlamps to compact square lights shaped for looks rather than lighting the road didn't do good things to headlight performance. Headlight technology has improved, halogen bulbs arrived, projector headlights are a step forward and of course there is HID and directional lamps.
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Post by lurchy666 »

to be honest the best lights i've ever had on a car was my old ford mk3 granada, they has the glass lenses or the volvo with the hids (but they were a completly diffrent sort of light)

but the xantia's i've had have had the worst, dont get me wrong i love xantias and how they can asorb bumps and how good car they are and hiw ecomical they are, its just these headlights what annoy me,

my uprated heads with uprated loom and shields removed are about the same brightness as my mums mk1 disco, they are adaquate but not brilliant, that is the only reason i asked about the morettes, if as Brigsygtt says they aint great they wont be worth the 340 quid price,
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Post by lurchy666 »

I don't think it was the loss of glass lenses that caused the problems, both the Xantia and XM had glass lenses on their headlights. It seems the switch from big round functional headlamps to compact square lights shaped for looks rather than lighting the road didn't do good things to headlight performance. Headlight technology has improved, halogen bulbs arrived, projector headlights are a step forward and of course there is HID and directional lamps.
i would totally agree with that,
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Post by rmunns »

Bearing in mind all that's been said in this posting, I reckon your best bet is to stay in at night. After all, what's round Wisbech after sunset?

(Just a little crack from a born-and-bred Fenman). No harm intended.
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Post by lurchy666 »

lol very true but some times go out to see friends at night cause thats onlt time they free,
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Post by Xaccers »

Yours aren't set too low are they?
I found Cassy's needed raising considerably, they don't dazzle on coming traffic and are much improved.
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Post by lurchy666 »

according to the mot man who set them up for me said thet was spot on
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