# when do you put your deflectors on ?



## The-Cookies (Nov 28, 2010)

When do you put your beam deflector stickers on your headlights, over here, or when you arrive in France?

John.


----------



## greenasthegrass (Oct 27, 2007)

As we usually do a late night Eurotunnel crossing we put them on over here because we usually see a sneaky policeman parked near exit to Cite Europe.

We come home with them in as we do morning return.

Greenie


----------



## ChrisandJohn (Feb 3, 2008)

Usually here, while waiting at the ferry port, though we haven't taken them off since last time.


Chris


----------



## UncleNorm (May 1, 2005)

Hi John! I put ours on, when I remember, whilst we're sitting in the queue at Dover.  :roll: :wink: 

We have a Fiat X2/50 with the expensive headlights!! So I bought some protectors from Climair. They came with ready made sticky patches which fit nicely between the black lines that are found on the protectors. :wink: 

Some would argue that, if the headlights can be lowered sufficiently so as to avoid dazzle when dipped, that is enough. :roll:


----------



## tonka (Apr 24, 2006)

I put mine on at Dover in 2007.. They been on every since and pass mot each year..


----------



## menis (Jul 9, 2010)

Whilst in the queue at the ferry port.
Menis


----------



## andrewball1000 (Oct 16, 2009)

I don't have to as mine are adjustable with a socket spanner to swing over. 5 min job when I get there. Mine is a 2007 Renault Master chassis and I wonder how many other people have this facility on this or other chassis and dont realise it.


----------



## greenasthegrass (Oct 27, 2007)

Holy chuff bet ours is the same it's 2006 Renault Master not the newer shape though but still same headlights me thinks. Might have to get the handbook out!

Greenie


----------



## mikebeaches (Oct 18, 2008)

Put our headlight protectors (complete with suitably placed black tape) on the van shortly before leaving home and heading for the tunnel. 

Remove them again when we return home from France.


----------



## andrewball1000 (Oct 16, 2009)

greenasthegrass said:


> Holy chuff bet ours is the same it's 2006 Renault Master not the newer shape though but still same headlights me thinks. Might have to get the handbook out!
> 
> Greenie


You wont find it in the handbook but see this thread for how to do it http://www.motorhomefacts.com/ftopict-113275-headlamp.html

Is this available on any other chassis?


----------



## barryd (May 9, 2008)

2008! Couple of quid off eBay.


----------



## SamAhab (Aug 23, 2011)

Why even bother? I don't see all those European truck drivers applying beam-benders at our ports, neither do I see the Brit truck drivers doing it over there.


----------



## MrWez (Sep 25, 2011)

As I usually do night crossings I'll usually put them on in the afternoon before pootling down to the ferry port but now I'm intrigued to see whether mine can be adjusted like those on the Renault Master based vehicles - I'm on a Transit base.

Once they're on they usually stay on.

MrWez


----------



## jedi (Nov 22, 2007)

SamAhab said:


> Why even bother? I don't see all those European truck drivers applying beam-benders at our ports, neither do I see the Brit truck drivers doing it over there.


I was beginning to think I was the only one who'd given up bothering putting them on. I do carry a set inside the van in case challenged but spend at least 3 months abroad each year and never been stopped or asked about them. I rarely travel during darkness hours so don't dazzle anybody ( I know you have to have them on in daylight too ).

Ridiculously priced for what they are. Any link for £2.00 ones Barry?

Before the _'I can't understand why somebody with a 30to 40k motorhome won't pay £9.00' _ brigade come on, mine didn't cost that much :lol:

Jed


----------



## rayc (Jun 3, 2008)

andrewball1000 said:


> I don't have to as mine are adjustable with a socket spanner to swing over. 5 min job when I get there. Mine is a 2007 Renault Master chassis and I wonder how many other people have this facility on this or other chassis and dont realise it.


How many 'sneaky' French Police Officers have stopped you for having a UK registered vehicle with no deflectors fitted?

Do they in fact stop you for not having the deflectors come rain / shine / day or night or do they carry out an objective dazzle test?


----------



## Zebedee (Oct 3, 2007)

Hi Ray

I researched into this quite deeply when this perennial question came up last year - and there is only one definitive item in the regulations.

_"You must not dazzle oncoming drivers."_

Without wishing to be too rude to other members :wink: , all the heated arguments we have had about whether "_you must use deflectors 'cos bits of black sticky are illegal_" etc., etc., are totally irrelevant.

_*If you don't dazzle you won't get "done"!*_

It's that simple.

Having said that . . . .



rayc said:


> How many 'sneaky' French Police Officers have stopped you for having a UK registered vehicle with no deflectors fitted?


 . . . I do always put the bits of black sticky on my Climair deflectors for two reasons. (I use insulating tape - works fine! :wink: )

1). I doubt if all the sneaky French Plodde know the law as well as they might, and it's easier to put the sticky on and avoid the possibility of hassle and delay when you want to be relaxed and enjoying the holiday.

2). I use the Climair protectors both to protect the £350  headlight (polycarbonate) "glass" from stones, but more immediately from crazing due to localised heat build-up under the black sticky.

Hope this helps.

Dave

Edit. Dammit - more typos. :roll:


----------



## andrewball1000 (Oct 16, 2009)

rayc said:


> Andrew .. How many 'sneaky' French Police Officers have stopped you for having a UK registered vehicle with no deflectors fitted?
> 
> Do they in fact stop you for not having the deflectors come rain / shine / day or night or do they carry out an objective dazzle test?


Hi Ray. I was told when I got the MH that the French police were hot on this at the port as you got off and that I should put some black tape on my headlights to ward them off even though Iwould swing mine over.

However, I have never been stopped with the MH or prior to it for a number of years with a car in France and Spain and wonder if this is and urban myth in the same league as ga**ing 

Maybe a poll on who has or has not been stopped would clear this up.


----------



## Rosbotham (May 4, 2008)

Must admit that it irks me this, because it's just pig ignorant not to make adjustments to stop yourself dazzling oncoming traffic : gives UK drivers a bad name. Travelling only during the day is no excuse...I assume anyone with that logic never encounters rain when on holiday, and never needs to go through a tunnel. For me it's nothing to do with whether you'll get caught, and everything to do with being a considerate road user.

If the vehicle is UK spec, tilting the beams down will not do the job : UK vehicles have a beam pattern which is designed to illuminate the nearside verge, which when on t'other side means that it points directly into the eyes of oncoming traffic. No amount of tilting the beam down will overcome that.

On the situation of foreign drivers coming to the UK, well I've heard it said that continental vehicles have a flatter beam pattern, hence no illumination of verge. I think that is an urban myth, probably stemming from the fact that USA vehicles _do_ have that pattern (no pedestrians to watch out for? dunno). However, point is, just because some visitors to this island are pig ignorant, that provides no excuse to mimic their behaviour.

Like others, I have the Climair covers, which are left permanently on. I put the black tape to block the beam on either when I'm in the queue to get on the ferry, or during the journey in case of using tunnel. I've had the same set for 4 years now, so at a tenner a year averaged out it's hardly a huge expense.

Paul


----------



## loddy (Feb 12, 2007)

I have never used them, I have driven 1000's of miles in Europe and never been questioned.

Loddy :wink:


----------



## Rosbotham (May 4, 2008)

loddy said:


> I have never used them, I have driven 1000's of miles in Europe and never been questioned.
> 
> Loddy :wink:


Possibly not. But we'll never know how many drivers have cursed something along the lines of "ze pig ignorant Breetish drivers" (in their chosen language) when dazzled by your lights...


----------



## loddy (Feb 12, 2007)

How do they know I am British, and how are the police going to check if you are using the correct headlamps, do they carry beam checkers ???

anyway my American RV has flat beams and I don't dazzle anyone

Loddy


----------



## tulsehillboys (Jul 22, 2010)

I put the headlamp protectors on (with the deflectors on) while travelling though the tunnel. 
2 minute job
remove on way back!
simples


----------



## Spacerunner (Mar 18, 2006)

SamAhab said:


> Why even bother? I don't see all those European truck drivers applying beam-benders at our ports, neither do I see the Brit truck drivers doing it over there.


The reason is, if you are pulled up for anything else that is one of the checks that Monsieur le Gendarme will do. If you ain't got them on then he will add it to your invoice.

Been T-shirted on that! :roll:


----------



## Penquin (Oct 15, 2007)

We have now taken our MH to France permanently (awaiting DREAR final clearance, the cost of replacement headlamp blocks is approaching €400 so think yourselves lucky......

our car (still GB registered for various reasons as it is back and forward like a fiddler's elbow has the black tape fitted - it has been for the last year but is getting a bit tatty so will have to fit new soon, usually fit at ferryport while waiting - it gives me something to do while they load v e r y , v e r r y s l o w l y or so it seems!

Have never been checked in France but decided the replacement headlamps are essential (required by DREAR) and it avoided annoying French drivers.

I do agree though that no euro drivers seem to reciprocate when they visit UK - I have never seen a French, German, talian, or Dutch etc., vehicle with similar tape to mask their lights - perhaps because of what was said earlier......... but perhaps simply because they don't even think about it :roll: 

Dave


----------



## cabby (May 14, 2005)

Maybe we are the only country that has headlamps that dip to the left, rather than dip vertically. :?: :?: 

cabby


----------



## Zebedee (Oct 3, 2007)

Spacerunner said:


> The reason is, if you are pulled up for anything else that is one of the checks that Monsieur le Gendarme will do. If you ain't got them on then he will add it to your invoice.
> 
> Been T-shirted on that! :roll:


Basic common sense Spacey! 

Always worth thinking, "_What if_?" and (where possible) taking steps to avoid the consequences. :wink:

Dave


----------



## leseduts (Jun 3, 2008)

We have headlight protectors on our MH, with black tape in the right place. We only take them off for the MoT.

Does anyone have any thoughts on our Volvo car. We use it in France in the summer for shopping and general pottering about. It has plastic headlights and they have already started crazing because of the black tape on them. I cannot find anyone that sells protectors for the more modern volvo lights. I bought some proper beam deflectors but understand that the glue on them also damages the headlights.


----------



## Zebedee (Oct 3, 2007)

leseduts said:


> We have headlight protectors on our MH, with black tape *in the right place*.


Which throws another ingredient into the mix! :wink:

When next at a Channel port, notice how many drivers stick the tape on the wrong side of the headlamp glass . . . where it does no good at all. :roll: :roll:

As you stand in front of the vehicle, the bit of the beam that dazzles oncoming drivers when in France, emerges from the *right *side of the headlamp glass.

How many drivers stick it on the *left *side - i.e. the side nearest to the oncoming drivers!! 8O Complete waste of time and effort.

Dave


----------



## rayc (Jun 3, 2008)

Spacerunner said:


> The reason is, if you are pulled up for anything else that is one of the checks that Monsieur le Gendarme will do. If you ain't got them on then he will add it to your invoice.
> 
> Been T-shirted on that! :roll:


The implication being that the fitting of them is mandatory even if there is no dazzle?

The real question is do they work?


----------



## Zebedee (Oct 3, 2007)

rayc said:


> The real question is do they work?


Deflectors don't work Ray. It's a bit of a con. :roll:

They are basically small Fresnel lenses, and the ones I was stupid enough to buy (some years ago) had the grooves cut in entirely the wrong plane.

To be strictly accurate, they do deflect part of the beam (_in an unpredictable direction, depending on the angle to the horizontal at which they are fixed :roll: _) . . . but what's the difference between deflecting it and blocking it?

The insulating tape masks work fine - if they are positioned correctly - and can be seen to work, which is quite reassuring. :wink:

If you have no markings on your headlamp glass, cut a bit of card of the approximate size and shape the commercial "deflectors" and mount it on a thin stick.

After dark, aim your dipped beams at a wall, and hang a towel over one of them. Then move your cardboard "mask" around the headlamp glass until the raised part of the beam at top left is blocked off. This tells you where to affix the bit of insulating tape on the glass. Then repeat for the other headlamp.

There's no reason at all why the tape has to be black. White tape does the job just as well and absorbs far less heat - so if you don't have headlamp protectors it will be less likley to cause the crazing.

Hope this helps

Dave


----------



## Rosbotham (May 4, 2008)

You also need to watch out for the glue as well as the heat-related crazing. The numpty who owned my van before me spent a lot of time in Spain and left the deflectors on. It was a nightmare getting them off again after 2 years baking in the sun, and inevitably damaged the surface of the lens. I was quite relieved when it got through its MOT recently, because had concerns that they'd fail it due to scratches on the lens.

Incidentally, there is the problem at other extreme with using headlight protectors. Pretty much no heat transmits through the protectors from the headlights. So when recently I was leaving a site early one morning, minus 5, not having had to do any defrosting as I'd had silverscreens on, I couldn't understand why my headlights were so weak. It was only when I pulled over I realised there was 1/4 inch of ice on the protectors, and with no heat being transmitted through from the headlights, they weren't going to thaw either.


----------



## SamAhab (Aug 23, 2011)

Rosbotham,

I guess at age 43 you haven't mellowed yet...it WILL happen.

You've referred to others, in your posts in this thread, as "pig ignorant" and "numpties".
Sorry that your comments on your fellow man sound so negative.


----------



## Zebedee (Oct 3, 2007)

SamAhab said:


> Rosbotham,
> 
> I guess at age 43 you haven't mellowed yet...it WILL happen.
> 
> ...


Negative indeed Sam, but demonstrably accurate.

I met three of them on the way home last night, and another who followed me closely for about three miles. All with their headlights on full beam - in spite of repeated flashing by myself. Obviously quite deliberate. :roll:

I think Rosbotham is being charitable . . . that's not what I called them. 

Dave


----------



## colpot (Jun 9, 2008)

I put them on or remove them in the queue for the Ferry/Tunnel.

I'm with Rosbotham all the way.
1. Its the Law
2. Its dangerous to dazzle oncoming drivers - if they are temporarily blinded by you there's a good chance they are going to hit you!
3. Just because they dont reciprocate when they visit our Country doesn't make it right. 

Anyway I'm just wondering how to apply them to the Hymers round lights. Seen that some people adjust them manually but it looks longer than a 5 minute job and they are not easy to access. The last lot of Eurolights I bought have a diagram for the Spotlight type but looks like I will need to trim them to fit.
Still I've got till May to decide.


----------



## Rosbotham (May 4, 2008)

Oh I'm totally mellow, believe me.

I called people who dazzle oncoming drivers because they can't be bothered following the law pig ignorant, because that's exactly what I regard them as. Anyone with a flat beam such as Loddy clearly doesn't fall into that, but most of us aren't driving US RVs.

And as for my van's previous owner, if like me you'd spent 3hrs whittling away at beam deflectors that had clearly left on for years when the manufacturers recommend a week or two, the term you'd be using would probably be somewhat stronger than "numpty".... :lol: 

Paul


----------



## joedenise (Jul 20, 2007)

Put gaffer tape on the protectors and leave on all the time. Gone though 2 MOTs like it.

Joe

PS Loddy, it's probably a giveaway that your British by your number plate and your GB sticker (mandatory).


----------



## Zebedee (Oct 3, 2007)

colpot said:


> Anyway I'm just wondering how to apply them to the Hymers round lights.


This might be the easiest way in the end. "Suck it and see" as me old Mam used to say! :lol:

http://www.motorhomefacts.com/ftopicp-1205234.html#1205234

Dave


----------



## bigtree (Feb 3, 2007)

If the Hymer lights are Hella they will probably be adjusted at the back like my Frankia,there are 3 screws,1 at 12 o clock 1 at 4 and 1 at 8.Loosen the ones at 4 & 8,remove the one at 12 then twist the holder about 10mm.replace the top screw and re-tighten them all.


----------

