Is this normal ....

[SGG]

We did some country driving a little while ago in our 2007 T5 van. I noticed that when i went to high beam that the normal beam switched off. In any car I have driven in the past the high beam comes on over and above the exiting driving beam. The latter is a far better brighter night driving solution.

The only way I can have both beams on in our van is to pull the stalk toward me and hold it there (not really a practical solution)

Is this normal .... or is it a lighting malfunction.

[lemmiwinks]

It's normal if you have the standard transporter head lamps. They use a single H4 hi/lo dual filament bulb. Where as other vehicles may have two separate bulbs, one for high beam and one for low.

[vdubmotorworx]

yep..seen this before... seems a bit silly eh...

[SGG]

It's normal if you have the standard transporter head lamps. They use a single H4 hi/lo dual filament bulb. Where as other vehicles may have two separate bulbs, one for high beam and one for low.

Can this be addressed in any way ?

[Seano]

Yep...

[SGG]

Yep...

mmm....I was hoping for something a little more subtle .... Is there a a better internal globe ?

[Sunny43.5]

I would agree these are not quite subtle , but hey as we have two "Roo Lites" on the front of our T5 I can say that you can forget about the normal lights as these puppies will burn the skin off a roo at a hundred metres .

[SGG]

I would agree these are not quite subtle , but hey as we have two "Roo Lites" on the front of our T5 I can say that you can forget about the normal lights as these puppies will burn the skin off a roo at a hundred metres .

If you hold the stalk towards you then both filaments light up and things are much better ..... if we did regular night driving in the country I would consider these

[Sunny43.5]

Country driving was the reason I fitted the roo lights as my son was doing Moto Cross racing all over SE Queensland for around 3 years and we would often be on the road at night to and from an event . They were fantastic for picking out unwanted wildlife jumping in from the bush , plus a real bonus was we would have the sat nav running which showed the change of road directions so bright lights made keeping the cruise speed constant rather than entering a corner without knowing how sharp it was and having to slow down too often .

[Syncrotek]

Is this normal .... or is it a lighting malfunction.

It's normal for it to switch low off when high is on with single headlight model. You could do, or have done what I did to improve the lighting, that is upgrade the headlight front wiring with relays and heavier wiring and fit 100/80 watt globes, that's given mine much improved lighting. Some will say that might overheat reflectors, but in my experience up to 100/80 watts has not caused any problems.

[hoddy]

Just a word of warning - if you hold the headlight stalk back and both high / low are on together - you are effectively putting power into 115 watt bulb (60+55W). This will draw 9-10 Amps per side and COULD overheat if left on for long period.
Having said that, and if you're looking for a more powerful bulb, I've been running the IPF 110/80W bulbs for over 10 yrs.
Page 89 - ARB INTERNATIONAL CATALOGUE
Any ARB stockist should be able to get them, $40 per globe.
I used them in my T4 and now in my 2010 T5.
As they are higher spec'd I'm very careful not to hold the headlight stalk back for longer than a few seconds.
Have not had any problems with these bulbs, no blown bulbs or fuses, no discolouring of headlamps.
They are brighter and they have a nice warm colour - I hate those "artic" white globes.