Electrically raised headlamps

[sparkey]

I've had a simple system using a single early honda prelude motor that has worked well for about 4 years in my +2. I'll take some pictures at the weekend if anyones interested. I used all existing swtichhear, with the rocker switch turning on the sidelights and raising the lights and the vacuum switch just turning the lights on or off when they're up. I put an extra relay for the motor mounted near the fuse boxes

[RobL7/Elan]

Has anyone tried adding an auxiliary small 12 volt vacuum pump to aid the vacuum lift on long up hill pulls etc? I have located a small medical equipment grade vacuum pump wich comes in various vacuum amounts, and looks to be easily added to the system via a T splice in the vacuum line. I am wondering what amount of vacuum to get the pump for. My vacuum lift works well except for the up hill open throttle situations where they slowly drop after a few minutes. I checked the one way valve off of the manifold and it is OK. The lights will lift after sitting a day, so there may be a small leak in the headlamp vacuum acuators themselves, but not worth replacing them. I'll let you know how the aux vacuum pump works.

[worzel]

Hello All

A few years back I bought a pair of new Excel (1989 model year type) headlight motors as spares but logic dictates that it's unlikely I'd ever wear out the originals.

I'm now thinking of converting my elan to the Excel system but need some help on the wiring arrangements. The Excel works manual shows two relays are used which I also have but as with most newer cars the wiring is plug in and as I don't have the harnesses between the relays/motors/column switch I can't work out just what connects to what since the possible permutations seem "a lot".

Anybody able to offer a wiring diagram showing the feeds and suggestions on the type of switch to use. I'm assuming an on/off (pull type?) switch is ok- the Excel one has other functions such as lights operation so has three positions which are obviously not applicable unless you want the same functions on the elan.

Is it strictly necessary to use the Excel type relays or can others be substituted?

Any assistance much appreciated.

Regards

John

[bcmc33]

Jphn,

Do your motors look like the one shown by Elanman99?
What are the wire colours?

Brian Clarke
(1972 Sprint)

[worzel]

Hi Brian

That's what I call a quick reply!

The motors appear to be identical to the one in the photo.

The colours of the cables are-

White/red tracer
White/black tracer
Yellow
Blue
Green

The first two (ie those with tracers) split as follows- one the black tracer attaches externally to the motor body so I assume it's the earth.

The red tracer goes into the actual motor soi I assume it's the feed.

Both of these tracer lines feed into the round section plug

The other 3 (of smaller cable diameter) also enter into the round plug at the side.This has 3 small pins plus 2 spade end terminals.

Does this help?

Regards

John

[bcmc33]

John,

Green = permanent live (from ignition switch or battery)
Black = earth/ground
Yellow = internally switched live up
Blue = internally switched live down
Red = live to motor from yellow & blue

Try this using a battery charger to prove that they are correct.

When connecting yellow to red it should actuate the motor for half a turn, and then blue to red will return it back to the original position.

Brian Clarke
(1972 Sprint)

[elansprint71]

I have been sorting out the wiring on my motorisation of the Sprint headlamps; my motors are from an MR2 (Miata) or an MX5; some dreadful Japanese thing anyway... (got 'em off e-bay) they look like the Supra motors but the wiring colours are different. Fortunately Ian Phillips is close by and he identified which wire does what for me (there is one spare, just like a Paul Matty loom ). Ian also made some extensions for the really smart linkages, I bought Elan M100 parts when a Lotus dealer was having a clear-out, these are extremely neat (must come from the Bugatti era) with a turn-buckle adjustment and spherical rod-end bearings, however the standard items are way too short. Thanks Ian.

Had some fun and games with the wiring- my headlamps are not fed via the ignition switch and I don't have the micro-switch, so they could be on when lowered- changed that. I discovered that the "purple half" of my "fuse-box", and I use that term laughingly, which should be live all the time, was actually fed via the ignition switch. I have simplified Ian's original wiring, as he suggested, using only one change-over relay, so, the point I'm at now is the side (parking) lights come on without ignition, the headlamps are fed via the ignition; when I switch the headlamps on the motors lift the lamps, switch the headlamps off and they drop. The only thing which still needs attention is if I switch off the ignition, the headlamps go off but do not drop. As soon as I switch on the ignition to start the car, of course they do drop. I think that I have a cunning plan.
My vacuum "switch" does not have electrical contacts and although my car was made in '72, for some reason it had two vacuum pods (both of which looked like they had spent some time under the ocean.

It's been a long day and I have an appointment with several Black Sheep (I was born in Cumbria, after all).

[elansprint71]

I've now got the lights raising and lowering OK. There is a very slight amount of play in the linkage at both raised and lowered positions, not sure if this will be enough to make the lights appear to flicker during driving, so I'm going to look out for some suitable coil springs which will apply just a bit of tension to the pods. imho the existing "hairpin" springs would put too much strain on the motors.

[ardee_selby]

<snip> There is a very slight amount of play in the linkage at both raised and lowered positions...

Pete,

Very neat installation. Hard to see where play would exist. In the spherical bearings? Slight backlash in motor gearing?

[elansprint71]

Rick,
It is in the ends of the linkages and the pod "bearings themselves. It is a very tiny amount at each location but they all add up (still to not very much).

Incidentally, comparing mine with Ian's linkage one can see a huge difference in where the link has to attach to the pod. My "crank" is 40mm long, whereas Ian's are 63mm, the actual amount the pod needs to swing thro' (when measured at the original vac-link attachment) is around [b]55mm (see below)!/b]. When I was trying to figure all this stuff out I thought that the length of the link was one of the variables to be taken into the calculation; this turned out to be a red herring and had no bearing upon the amount of motion at all.

[ardee_selby]

Rick,

Incidentally, comparing mine with Ian's linkage one can see a huge difference in where the link has to attach to the pod. My "crank" is 40mm long, whereas Ian's are 63mm, the actual amount the pod needs to swing thro' (when measured at the original vac-link attachment) is around 55mm. When I was trying to figure all this stuff out I thought that the length of the link was one of the variables to be taken into the calculation; this turned out to be a red herring and had no bearing upon the amount of motion at all.

Hmmmmm....that's often the problem with a Locus!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14QgNKNx ... re=related

Lots Of Calculations Usually Suspect

[Elanman99]

[quote="elansprint71"]Rick,

Incidentally, comparing mine with Ian's linkage one can see a huge difference in where the link has to attach to the pod. My "crank" is 40mm long, whereas Ian's are 63mm, the actual amount the pod needs to swing thro' (when measured at the original vac-link attachment) is around 55mm.
[/quote]

The longer the 'cranks' are, the less effect any ball joint play has, but if in the raised position, the 'conrod' is at 90 degrees to the pod 'crank' then even very loose joints would not be noticed.

Some points to consider when designing the linkage are,

1, The motor crank parks in two positions 180 degrees apart, so the stroke of the actuator is twice the crank radius. As an example, if the crank is 50mm long then, if the far end of the conrod is constrained to move in a stright line, it will provide 100mm of travel. In this application the pod end of the conrod moves in an arc.

2, The pod pivot to pod balljoint need to be the correct distance apart for the above 100mm of travel to move the pod through its 'up to down' angle (approx 90 degrees).

3, The angular relationship between the two cranks in the [u]two parked positions[/u] should be set up so that the con rod lies as near parallel to the motor crank (as in my 1st, and Pete's 2nd picture) whilst the conrod and the pod crank should form a right angle, especially in the raised position.

Ian P

[elansprint71]

Lots Of Calculations Usually Suspect

HOLD THE FRONT PAGE!!!!

Absolutely; you can see that I've edited my post, where I wrote 55mm it should have been 95mm.

HAVING CHECKED MY SKETCH, YET AGAIN, I CAN CONFIRM THAT 55MM WAS CORRECT; I HAVE BEEN OUT AND MEASURED THE DISTANCE ON MY "SPARE" CAR AND THAT IS 55MM TOO.

PROFUSE APOLOGIES FOR THE CONFUSION

[RogerFrench]

Pete, I'm just on the point of making the same modifications to my S3, and though I have MX5 motors, they don't have cranks so I'm going to make some.
When I first read your unedited version I was delighted, now I'm confused!!
I measured the stroke of the existing vacuum pods, from fully closed to fully open, as 2.1 inches, or as near 55mm as makes no difference. I therefore decided to make the cranks 28m long, between centres, to allow for a little slop, but that's a lot shorter than yours!
I realise it's S4 not S3, but since you also had 2 vacuum pods, I'm a bit surprised at the 40mm difference in stroke.

Elanman99's difference I understand, he's using different attachment points on the light pods, but yours seem to be the standard ones, which I too had planned to use. Are yours standard?

By the way, what colour yellow is your car, please?

[elansprint71]

Pete, I'm just on the point of making the same modifications to my S3, and though I have MX5 motors, they don't have cranks so I'm going to make some.
When I first read your unedited version I was delighted, now I'm confused!!
I measured the stroke of the existing vacuum pods, from fully closed to fully open, as 2.1 inches, or as near 55mm as makes no difference. I therefore decided to make the cranks 28m long, between centres, to allow for a little slop, but that's a lot shorter than yours!
I realise it's S4 not S3, but since you also had 2 vacuum pods, I'm a bit surprised at the 40mm difference in stroke.

Elanman99's difference I understand, he's using different attachment points on the light pods, but yours seem to be the standard ones, which I too had planned to use. Are yours standard?

By the way, what colour yellow is your car, please?

Roger,
As you will have seen above, I cannot read my own writing, the correct dimension on my sketch WAS 55mm! I've measured my S4SE and that is 55mm too.
In order to make the pod swing by the correct amount I had to had to move the attachment point by about 7mm (you cannot see the original hole in the photo as it is covered by the washer). The first attempt required me to draw (slot) the hole slightly, the second one was pretty much right but I still had to ease the glass-fibre slightly. It is really trial and error to get the fine adjustment right.
My car is supposed to be Lotus Yellow but it has been re-painted several times so the best I can say is that it is the "brighter" of the two yellows, the other one being slightly more "custardy" in tone.
Apologies for confusion.