# Beam Deflectors on a Left Hand Drive



## alecturn1 (Nov 13, 2009)

H,
i have recently change motorhomes from right hand drive to left hand drive .I am going to France in a couple of weeks and when looking at my beam deflectors it says the are for rhd vehicles . I presume there is a lhd drive version as well ?Any Advice/Info
Cheers
Alec


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## Zebedee (Oct 3, 2007)

Since beam deflectors don't actually deflect very well (if at all) I wouldn't worry about it too much. Most of their benefit comes from blocking the light.

If it were me I would make mirror images of your rhd ones out of some white insulating tape and stick those on - using your previous experience to decide the position on the "glass". _(This assumes they are a weird shape - if they are circular you have no problem. Just stick them on upside down if you want to be particular.)_

We have headlamp covers, and bits of sticky tape were provided with them for masking the lights, so this is obviously an approved method. We have never had any bother in France.

Hope this helps

Dave

_(N.B. White tape because it reflects, rather than absorbs heat, and is therefore less likely to damage the headlight "glass".)_


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## HarryTheHymer (May 1, 2005)

If your LHD vehicle is to UK spec then the headlights should dip to the left. In which case, you can use the beam defectors as if it were a RHD vehicle.

If you have an A class with say 90mm dia Hella headlights then you need to rotate these so they dip to the right. Some Hella lights only allow you to adjust the beam from asymmetrical (left dip) to symmetrical. But that is good enough in my mind to comply with Europe regs. You just don't get extra illumination on the right hand kerb line.

Hope this helps.


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## alecturn1 (Nov 13, 2009)

My Hymer has got round headlights ,my old van (Peugeot Talbot)had rectangular shape headlights so its new to me on this van (Hymer B694)


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## djp30 (Jan 9, 2012)

It depends on the beam pattern. Do you know if the headlamps were changed to UK lamps when it was imported? Many modern EU headlamps have a "Flat" beam pattern & dont need deflectors.
Best bet is to take it to an MoT centre & ask them to check the beam.

http://www.motuk.co.uk/manual_180.htm

If your van has the small type lamps & give a "kicked" pattern there is usually a way of changing it on the back of the lamp.


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## Sundial (May 11, 2005)

*Beam benders*

We have a LHD vehicle and use beam benders. When we go across the channel we buy a couple of packs of German flagged beambenders to use once we are back in UK.

Sundial


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## Jean-Luc (Jul 21, 2005)

Have a look HERE, you will find links to other threads on the issue there also.


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## HarryTheHymer (May 1, 2005)

Further to the useful link posted by Jean Luc the following may also be of interest.

Hella UK sent me an info sheet about LHD/RHD conversion for the 90mm dia hella light unit. Unfortunately I don't seemed to be able to attach this pdf file because it is 220kb. 

Prior to rotating the light units I used a temporary work-around by masking the lights as shown on the attached photo. You need a wall or garage door to show the beam pattern and get the right position for the mask. It seemed to work ok but it's best to do a proper job and rotate the units.


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## cabby (May 14, 2005)

Your first job is to find a level area with a wall in front, when it is dark turn on your headlamps to full beam and then dip then and see which way the beams go. if they dip to the left then you need deflectors, if they dip straight down then you do not.
Or of course you may be able to re-set them.

cabby


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## HarryTheHymer (May 1, 2005)

I think what Cabby is saying is that your headlights could either be set to dip left, dip right (if not uk spec) or neutral.

This is shown graphically in Hella uk technical advice note. I attach an extract showing the beam pattern for dip left, dip right and neutral.

If you have a dip left headlight it will change to neutral when it is rotated. Similarly with a dip right headlight.

The Hella uk technical advice note is entitled "Headlamp Conversion,
Conversion from asymmetrical to symmetrical illumination of the road".


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## HarryTheHymer (May 1, 2005)

Hi Alec (alias alecturn1)

Hope the above posts have resolved your initial query.

As a possible last post to this thread the following may be of interest:

I have adjusted my 90mm dia Hella lights to the neutral position (ie. symmetrical pattern) and leave them in that position for driving both in the UK and Europe as we don't do much driving at night in the UK.

Obviously, if I did a lot of driving at night in the UK, I would adjust them back to the UK setting.

With the dipped headlights set to the neutral position, the vehicle passed the MOT with no problem.

Expect the contributors to your original post would be interested to know if your problem has now been resolved.


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## alecturn1 (Nov 13, 2009)

Thanks for all the info seems they are in the neutral position,so I'm gonna leave them as they are. Just a note the beam benders I bought are universal ie you turn them upside down to work the other way.
Thanks for help


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