[kuttapan]

Originally Posted by Mission_Safari

This sounds quite logical to me.

Kuttapan , Please can you clarify

Originally Posted by kuttapan

Have you realised that the problem with low beam is not the wattage, but the light beam gets cut off and only illuminates a certain distance. i.e it does not have the spread of the high beam. Very hard to drive 600km with that kind of visibility, I would take ages to reach my destination and even then I dont think it would be safe.

@mission_safari - I have clarified this before. Read above. I agree that the intensity is better with a higher wattage bulbs, but the low beam is designed to get cut off after a certain point and only illuminates 20-25 metres in front of your car. Which does not pick up obstacles, road curves etc in good time, if you are travelling at good speeds, assuming you do not know the lay of the road like the back of your hand.

@Jaggu - Nice to see that you still go by the book. btw, I always switch to low beam for cyclists/two wheelers/autos or other motorists who maybe at a disadvantage, but give away nothing to others who inconvenience me.

[spadival]

Kuttapan, The problem with your approach will be when you meet another Kuttapan on the road (i.e a like minded fellow who follows the same approach as you) on the road.

Both of you will be waiting for the other to switch to low beam. In the end, it will be a deadlock situation and both of you will suffer.

[Mission_Safari]

[quote=kuttapan;771209]@mission_safari - I have clarified this before. Read above. I agree that the intensity is better with a higher wattage bulbs, but the low beam is designed to get cut off after a certain point and only illuminates 20-25 metres in front of your car. Which does not pick up obstacles, road curves etc in good time, if you are travelling at good speeds, assuming you do not know the lay of the road like the back of your hand.

Thanks Kuttapan . Sorry i missed that in the previous post.

I have another silly doubt which i cannot resist myself from asking.

Can't we use the low beam bulb in place of the high beam bulb?

[spadival]

Originally Posted by Mission_Safari

I have another silly doubt which i cannot resist myself from asking.

Can't we use the low beam bulb in place of the high beam bulb?

Its the same bulb with 2 filaments - one for high beam and one for low beam.

BTW, found out that my low beam wasnt working because the relay for the low beam has gone kaput. So in addition to spare bulbs + fuses, it may be a good idea to carry spare relays as well.

[Mission_Safari]

[quote=spadival;772334]Its the same bulb with 2 filaments - one for high beam and one for low beam.

Thanks spadivel. I feel so dumb but what the heck unless i ask the doubt will always be a doubt.

[Bigzero]

A stupid question, but how much of a difference can the beam adjustment switch make in situations like this? Can the low beam be pulled up as much as possible so that the situation is a little better?

( I am assuming that Swift has beam adjustment feature.. )

[joseph5600]

Everybody says that Maruti A.S.S is very good. But I feel that Maruti has more service centres in number, but the quality of service offered in most of the centres is very poor. Suppose if you have 10 authorised service centres in a town, out of that only 1 or 2 might turn out to be good. Same applies to availability of spares also.

[theMAG]

Originally Posted by Bigzero

A stupid question, but how much of a difference can the beam adjustment switch make in situations like this? Can the low beam be pulled up as much as possible so that the situation is a little better?

( I am assuming that Swift has beam adjustment feature.. )

Not much really. Due to the increased speeds on highways, even the furthest setting of the low beam wont have enough reach to spot obstacles approaching you at 80 kmph.

[DHABHAR.BEHRAM]

Hello all - I guess I can contribute. I drive my Scorpio between Mumbai and Nasik every week maybe sometimes 2 times a week and it is always in the night (leaving at 7PM from office to directly go home 200 kms away). I am a staunch user of 140/110 watts bulbs made by GE. I used to use Philips 130/100 earlier. I trust only one shop in Mumbai for my bulbs and I have the wiring loom setup with Bosch relays, shunts from the alternator and Finolex wiring running right through on all my Fiats (you will find my recommendations on page 60 of the automotive lighting thread in the modifications and accessories section). Recently I have found that it is the manufacturing quality of these bulbs which is very bad. I believe that most bulbs come from China irrespective of the packaging information and that the bulbs are just not as good as they used to be. So I am not surprised at Kuttapan's ordeal. As I know this, I am still on my original 60/55 watts production bulbs on my Scorpio because I have not yet found good 140/110 bulbs for it. Incidentally, I drive with my manually adjustable headlight setting on "no 2" position and the 15 degree cutoff is perfect on the road in front of me. This is just for your information. I do not have fog lamps on my Scorpio because I do not like the way they are accommodated in the bumper.

As far as Maruti or for that matter any other service is concerned, you as a customer approach a service advisor. Most of them do nothing except act as a post office. You look at their background profile, look at their faces and there is no spark there. It is the Raju or Ravi or Abdul or Ustad electrician who actually attends to your car and solves your problem (I swear by Zaheer and Zakir electricians in Nasik). If there guys are not there, there is nothing that the post office can do is it ! The electricians know what they are doing but take pride in not disclosing anything to anybody (maybe except me as I have built a bond with them). As a contingency plan, I am also my own electrician whenever I want me to be. Same goes for mechanic, doorwallah et al. Another suggestion. As a cardinal rule, I never ever leave a city limit without my toolkit which is completely equipped to handle most situations. The toolkit supplied by almost all manufacturers is not even worth laughing at. A rigged-up 12 volts bulb fitted to an old torch body (with spare Japanese make good quality bulbs placed inside the torch where it's battery should have been) is an absolute must in the middle of nowhere at night. I have helped scores of people who used to use matchsticks before (with one Fiat guy trying to soften the petrol pipe which had come off by burning it - HaHaHa) and now use mobile lights in trying to fiddle their way through.

This is my system. It works best this way. I have been using it for 31 years. No compromise.

Best regards,

Behram Dhabhar

[BlackPearl]

I have always preferred to travel at night due to lesser number of people, cycles, goats etc on the highways. It is very difficult to maintain speed without the high beam. I normally use the high beam and use the low one when another vehicle approaches. IMO the worst time to travel on the Indian highways is during 5:30 p.m to 9 p.m as all the villagers return home during this time and they hardly pay any heed to traffic.

[kuttapan]

@spadival - Yes, deadlock situations can happen. These are far and in between. You encounter more trucks and buses on the highway at night, so they are tha main concern. I have found that the truck guys are better than the buses, most of them actually use the dipper switch. Buses do not even know it exists.

@Behram - Sir, it was the Raju or Ravi or Abdul or Ustad electrician who gave the faulty diagnosis. If I had the equipment, I would have done the troubleshooting myself. Will heed to your advice and get myself a comprehensive toolkit.

[Jaggu]

Another point is the training the manufacturer provides the mechs when new models are introduced. When i had the AC fuse issue and approached the dealer in Kerala they were clueless even to the extent of locating the fuse box!

So eventually one will have to get a works manual and special tool if one needs to attend to such emergencies :(

[NVI2112]

Hi,

Guess this is the proper thread to document my experience with Maruti OnRoad Service today.

While driving down from Kalyan to Malad, when I reached Shilpata the Battery symbol in the dashboard of my swift lit on. I realised something was wrong but since at that place nothing much could be done continued to drive after switching off my AC and Sterio. When I reached close to the HUB Mall at Western Express the 'ABS' symbol and the 'EPS' symbol turned on. This worried me and I parked my vehicle and called the Maruti ON Road Service number at 3.13 PM. As soon as I had parked I had asked my wife to take my kids and leave in a rickshaw. I was told by Maruti On Road service number that within 5 to 20 minutes I should receive a call from their near by engineer. Since it had crossed the time, I called them up again. Again I was told that I should get a call in 5 to 10 minutes.

Apparently the rickshaw driver and my wife got talking and when she told him about the problem he guided her to a road side mechanic and she came back with him after about 25 minutes. The ROAD SIDE MECHANIC inspected and informed me that the 'alternator belt' has broken and we got going to a near by Accessory shop and had one installed.

What prompted me to write this is the fact that, I am yet to receive a call from the Maruti Technician!!

So much about the AD which pompously informed us how only the Mother can take care of the Baby !! The Mother did not even respond in this case, let alone take care of the car!!

[kuttapan]

Ah, so nothing much has changed in 3 years ! Good to know that you got some local help.

On a side note, I am currently in Melbourne, and in Australia, you do not find roadside electric shops like in India. What they have is a Roadside assistance program, in Victoria it is provided by RACV. You take a membership, they assist you round the clock, should you need help. Even if you are not a member, you can call for assistance at the time of breakdown and take a membership on the spot. These guys can provide spare batteries, belts etc and tow you back to base/workshop in the worst case. I once dropped my keys in an unreachable spot with my kid inside the car, when I mentioned this fact, I had not one, but two RACV vehicles assisting inside 15 minutes, at 11pm. They unlocked my car in a jiffy, also helped me extricate the key. That's what you call service ! In fact, if I couldn't get the keys, they would have sent a locksmith for making a duplicate key(payable, of course). The main thing is, they get you home, no matter what.

[drmohitg]

@kuttapan: Thats sounds such a great idea. Wonder if we can have something on those lines in India.