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  #1  
Old 02-28-2009, 08:31 PM
Luke Mahon
 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Australia
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108 American light puzzler!

This ones really got me thinking. Ive got a RHD W108 (280SE) and then you turn the headlights on clockwise(theyre californian stacked lights) they work fine. I only found out the other week that they infact turn the other way aswell (anticlockwise) and when turned into 1st position, the right hand side brake light, and tiny triangle light opposite blinker comes on, when in 2nd position exactly the same thing but on the left hand side, brake and traingle fog light.

My question is whether or not it is mean to do this, perhaps some faulty wiring?? I cant see why only one side coms on - Ive never seen a manual for the car either so have no other resources.

Thanks all in advance

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  #2  
Old 02-28-2009, 08:56 PM
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Euro lights have low wattage side street parking lamps, front and rear, for parking the car overnight on the side streets..The requirements are for the lamps to be on the side closest to the center of the road for traffic safety, so the direction or the side of the street of the parked car determines which side is used. The sidewalk side is not used to both save battery power and oncoming traffic knows the single lamp is roadside for clearance orientation.
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Last edited by Arthur Dalton; 02-28-2009 at 09:05 PM.
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  #3  
Old 02-28-2009, 09:16 PM
Luke Mahon
 
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Thankyou very much Arthur! Interesting information - amazing that I hadnt noticed it until now. I thought they were meant to come on when the normal lights go on and a simple wire was faulty - never investigated it though! Thanks again
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  #4  
Old 02-28-2009, 09:22 PM
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I will get the manual out and see if I can make a copy of the Light Sw positions and what they do for Euros ..I have it somewhee here in my stack.. [ I have a benz library that goes to the ceiling after 45 years}


Being Euro, that car shuld also have "Flash to Pass" high beam on the column stick...US version don't cuz the DOT would not allow it [ dumb] , but the wires for it are in the harness from the factory, just not hooked up... but it is easliy done...

That feature does not require the headlamps to even be On b/c they want it available even in the daytime for Autobaun.................out of the way, Sport. ..coming thru !!!!

Euro Lighting was so technically far ahead of US/DOT back then it wasn't funny....
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Last edited by Arthur Dalton; 02-28-2009 at 09:31 PM.
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  #5  
Old 02-28-2009, 09:33 PM
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Every Mercedes that I have owned has had this feature and none was Euro. 6.3, 300D, couple of 300SD's, 380 SEL. I thought this was common to all MB cars. Have used them many, many times.

My 6.3 was a 1970. The flash to pass wiring was indeed there but not operational; my mechanic hooked it up for me. I thought all my other cars had that option already operational; if not, then I have certainly been wasting my time pulling on the stalk.
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  #6  
Old 02-28-2009, 09:38 PM
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Talking 108 chassis..P/F did not come out on US version until '72 b/c of regulations.

Your 6.3 had it b/c your guy hooked it up...as my post stated ..it was in the car..but DOT did not allow it until '72. So the single wire for that Factory Circuit was in the harness at production, but taped back, unconnected , right there at the factory , to satisfy the then current DOT Export regulations w/o having to have different harnesses,,they just did not hook it up until DOT changed the rules.......
Any car after that had it hooked up.. Like your other US chassis.

The determining factor was US REGULATIONS. The FEATURE was ALWAYS in the car.
But NOT ALLOWED at that time in US only ........................
Same deal with the 113 cars ..if you have a Euro version, it is hooked up, if you have US version, it isn't ..[ but many are b/c US version guys know this trick, just like your guy did]
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  #7  
Old 02-28-2009, 10:37 PM
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Luke

Found that manual info on positions.

Ver batum:

Knob turned one knotch to the left [ counter-clockwise] =Side lights [F/R] right side Only -note*1
Knob turned Two knotchs to the left =Left side lights Only- note*1
note*1 - Will only operate when Ignition switch is Off.
Also, in the same lighting section:
Lift lever for Passing Flasher ( not operable on US version cars)



So, that gets you Individual sided Parking lamps ONLY when car is shut down.

On the P/F feature..........I remember years ago, a friend just bought a used Euro, so he took a few friends for a Benz Venture trip down to Beantown [ Boston]...He gets back the next day and brings the car in and says.." Wow , what a great car, I love it...but...my left hand is killing me.. comin' home, everytime I needed the High Beams, I had to hold that damn lever back or they would go out !!..can ya take a look at it for me ???'

I opened the door and pointed to the High/low beam switch on the floor.............
They were Cocked.
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Old 02-28-2009, 11:05 PM
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Flash to pass was illegal at one point too? Man, glad they revoked that stupid code!
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  #9  
Old 02-28-2009, 11:11 PM
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Yeah...but the main one that really bugged us was their longtime sanction of sealed beams..man, those thing couldn't touch the Beam focals and 15 degree optical cut-off lines of the Euros...They were great if you liked looking at the tree tops... whereas Euros put the light where it should be ..on the road, away from oncoming, and to the shoulder...simple.

Back then, not only did the DOT not acknowledge the technical superiority and safety of Euro lighting, they went and Outlawed it ..... Brilliant.

Benz has always spent a ton on lighting advances and even went to features like driver beam aiming/control from the cabin for load conditions..anyone putting those type of advanced features into production on their lighting systems is certainly paying attention to detail and safety.
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  #10  
Old 02-28-2009, 11:47 PM
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a 2009 Dodge charger with HID STILL doesn't have the precise pattern cut off that the older Euros have.
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Old 02-28-2009, 11:48 PM
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people would think that I was crazy to go driving around in fog and snow storms...it's because I could SEE!!
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  #12  
Old 02-28-2009, 11:54 PM
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And that horizontal cut-off is so clean..you back up off a wall at 10 meters and you can see it as plain as if someone drew it on the wall...Real Optics...

When I used to set them up for aiming, I would use a level and ruler, mark the wall with duct tape at a 3" drop and I could zero the vertex of the cut-off angle in right to the inch...Very Cool.... That cut-off was Identical on each side , too. [ A trick for more road light w/o offending oncoming is to fudge the right lamps vertex an inch to the left of lamp C/L...and just the opposite if you have RHD }
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Last edited by Arthur Dalton; 03-01-2009 at 05:46 PM.
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  #13  
Old 03-02-2009, 04:31 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Arthur Dalton View Post
And that horizontal cut-off is so clean..you back up off a wall at 10 meters and you can see it as plain as if someone drew it on the wall...Real Optics...

I bought my first set of euro lights in 1973. Installed them in my 190SL. What a difference!

I've backfitted them into most of my older cars, and seem to be able to get away with it more and more at inspection time now that the US spec lights look so similar.

My W114 coupe looked pretty different many years ago with the Euro light package. Now, it's not even picked up on by most people. Of course, the average Joe thinks the car dates from the late eighties.

My favorites, wrt to drop ins, are a pair of Marchal Amplilux headlights I have in Linda's MGB (http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180332340017&viewitem=). Two separate bulbs, and two separate reflectors, and a flat lens. Very vintage look, the H4 bulb (twin filiment) wasn't used until the seventies. Really cool looking, both on and off. Nowadays, they cost the earth, as the Ferrari goobs are buying them for their vintage cars. Glad I bought them in 1974 for my Mach1.

My best euro lights are the ones in my 560SEL. OEM lights, with 100/130 watt main beams and 100 watt fogs, relayed and rewired to eliminate the voltage drop. These lights could peel paint.

Jim
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  #14  
Old 03-02-2009, 04:43 PM
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You can put H4s in the older Euro b/c they now have H4 with the P45T base of the early Euro bi-lux lamps..so , they are a direct drop-in. Anyone w/older Benz Euros can do that upgrade w/o any wireing or connector changes and the are short $$$...big difference.

Many guys with US use the 7" as you have mentioned with the H4s..Cibie makes the best one b/c it matches the optics in the lens as the Euros.
Benz came out with US version of the Euros in the facelift 124 [ (94/95] , so nobody bugs you anymore for inspection..they have the same cut-off are so close in pattern, you can not tell the difference..it only took the DOT that long to admit that Euro Lighting was the better system..

The only guys who argue any different are the ones who never had Euros....
..or never drive at night .....
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Last edited by Arthur Dalton; 03-03-2009 at 08:59 PM.
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  #15  
Old 03-03-2009, 12:32 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Arthur Dalton View Post

The only guys who argue any different are the ones who never had Euros....
..or never drive at night .....
Yea, like the Bugatti Royale roadster that didn't have any headlights because the original owner didn't drive at night. I think it's the Esders roadster.

Heck, I've even got H4s in some of my 'murican cars and trucks.

Jim

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