Car Parts and Accessories

Horn

The horn is fitted as a warning device to other road-users. It is positioned somewhere at the front of the car, just behind the radiator grille. The horn is operated by a horn-push or ring on the steering wheel or column. This is situated so that it is very easily reached by the driver’s hand.

Horn wiring

The horn wiring diagram shows how the horn- push is wired in the earth-return to reduce the amount of cable to the minimum.

Side-lights

The law in all countries requires vehicles to be fitted with lights which will illuminate the vehicle so that it can be seen after sunset or during bad weather conditions such as fog or storms. The most usual convention is white lights to the front and red lights to the rear.

However, some countries have amber lights to the front. Such lights, whether they be amber, white or red, are called side-lights. Their purpose is to show the size and the position of the vehicle. The colour identifies the front and rear of the vehicle. As an extra aid to identification, vehicles are also fitted with red reflectors at the rear. These reflect the lights from other vehicles.

The position of the side-lights is controlled by law. The diagrams show the positions required in the UK. The principle behind this is that the lights are at a nominal height and near to the outside of the vehicle. This gives an indication of the size of the vehicle to other road-users.

Headlights

So that the driver can see on unlit roads and so that the other traffic can clearly see oncoming traffic, headlights are fitted. These are fitted as either one pair or two pairs. The position of the headlights is controlled by law. They are normally fitted with twin-filament bulbs to give dipped and main-beam positions. The dipped position is when the light shines lower to prevent dazzling oncoming traffic and at the same time lights up the road just in front of the vehicle. Even when on main beam, the lights must be set so that they do not dazzle someone 8 m (25 ft) in front of the lights with an eye-level of 106 cm (3 ft 6 in.).

Flasher lights

Flasher lights, or indicators, are fitted to warn other road-users of any intended change of direction. These are generally amber on both the front and rear. When turning right or pulling out to the right the right-hand flasher is operated; the left-hand flasher is used for similar movements to the left. The lights are made to flash by means of a flasher unit.

Bulbs

The bulb lights up from the glow of the hot filament. In conventional bulbs this is a fine piece of tungsten steel wire heated up until it glows white-hot. The cross-section of a simple single filament bulb is shown in the diagram. As can be seen, it consists of a brass cap, a glass envelope enclosing the filament and two lead connections. The whole assembly is bound together with bitumen or a similar insulating material.

The bulb-fitting may take the form of a screw (an Edison screw as it is called, after the inventor of the bulb) or two bayonets or spigots on the side of the cap. This latter is referred to as a bayonet cap.

Bulbs for headlights and specialist applications such as stop tail lights have two filaments. So that the filaments are correctly aligned when the bulb is in position the bayonets are fitted offset. These are referred to as offset bayonet caps.

Light units

The bulb and the reflector are sometimes incorporated into one item, called a light unit. The reflector and the glass are equivalent to a glass bulb and cap of a conventional bulb. The filament is connected in the normal way. The light unit has the advantages of having one layer of glass which means that it gives more light. The reflector is sealed so that it cannot rust and the filament is firmly placed to keep in focus. Although they are cheaper to make than separate bulb and reflector units, replacement is expensive as the complete unit must be renewed when faulty. .

Spot and fog lights

Spot and fog auxiliary lights are fitted for specialist uses, and the beams given by these lights are shown. The spot light gives a long pencil beam, which is used to spot things a long way away, such as when driving down long straight roads. The fog lamp gives a wide flat beam which is designed to light up a wide area near to the front of the car. This is useful in foggy weather or heavy snow or rain, when visibility is restricted.

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