John Loveday

Is it me?? I keep reading about the performance of the SS Cibie light kits but mine is very dissapointing. There is little or no beam just a wall of ill directed light. I feel there is a problem, possibly with the bulb focus.(if the filament is in the right place!)
I know the bulbs are cheep RING's, but thats what they supplied.
Scooby Sport don't seem to want to no, they won't reply to my emails. Can anyone throw a light on it ! (sorry for the pun)

Scott W

Hi John,

I've had the Cibie's fitted to my car (fitted by Scoobysport) for about a month or so and I think they are superb

Did you fit them yourself?

I'm sure Scoobysport are not "wanting to no" because in the past they've commented on the number of emails they receive a day and how they do not get the opportunity to reply to them all.

The best thing to do is phone them because when I've done this in the past they have been more than helpful.

Scott

Phil

Ditto to the above

I am really impressed with my SS Cibies

Ring Pete he will help

Emails,emails he must get hundreds

Dave T-S

How long have the bulbs been in?

There is an inherent design fault in the bulb holder used in these Cibie Oscar + lamps (in fact most Cibie lamps) that use the H2 bulb.

Over a period of time the bulb contacts tarnish, set up resistance, arc against the bulb holder contact springs, the bulb holder overheats, the springs detemper and the bulb performance deteriorates.

You need to take the bulbs/holders out (don't touch the bulb glass), if there is any discoloration (blue/black/straw colour) deposits on the bulb contacts or bulb holder then it is suffering from this. You can stop it for a while by fine sandpapering the deposits off and restoring contact but it will return - the only cure is new bulb holders. Once the bulbholder springs have lost their temper that's it.

Some Cibies seem to do this and some are fine - i've used them for over 20 years.....

This is in no way criticising Pete (who's a dude) or his products (which are excellent - got his zorsts on both our Scoobs) - but it is a design deficiency that does affect some Cibies and not others.

Mike Owen

Emmm. One of my favourite topics.

I to have SS driving lights... but have never got them to run more than 55w bulbs without blowing after a couple of weeks (MY99 and now a MY01). Though must admit that there is not that great a difference in light output between 55w and 100w (never got 130w's to last more than a couple of days). Slightly off thread... but an issue that always anoys.

Enjoy you car anyway...

Jamie.Smith

Hi John

I have had mine for the last 3 1/2 years. Fitted them my self with no great problems. I have a my94 so noticed a huge difference between standard lights and now, not sure how later revised model lights are. At first had a few problems with bulbs blowing all changed free of charge by Scoobysport no questions asked for the first 8 weeks.

The problem I now have is as mentioned by Dave T-S, however these bulb holders are readly available from mail order shops.

I last changed the holders last December along with one bulb. Have been fine since then with trips up to Ballater every weekend about 130 miles one way with lights on for most of trip. As for 130w bulbs not lasting long I must be lucky the ones I use last between 1 - 2 years.

Jamie

Pete Croney

John

Both Tony and I don't seem to have received your e-mail, please give us a ring to see if we can help.

Any driving light will provide a "wall" of light. Your options with lights are...

Spot - two white dinner plates on the horizon, little/no spread
Driving - lots of light, with good spread into bends
Fog - Low band of light with very wide spread

The Cibies are made in a jig and should fit with the correct alignment, with no need for adjustment. I suggest you find a test area and blank of all of your other lights so you can see the alignment of each Cibie and can check it is correct.

Dave's comment about bulb holders has affected a few people, after a long time. In four years we have sent out 12 new bulb holders. In the same period, we have sold over 1300 sets of Cibies.

The Ring H2 bulb supplied with them is the highest quality H2 bulb made. It gives the best light and should last at least a year. There are far cheaper ones available.

We chose this design of light, because it offered the best light output and beam pattern for A/B road driving. After all, this is where you would be using high beam and auxiliary lights. Usable distance of light from these is approx 400m. This equates to approx 15 seconds at 60mph. Other lights will offer more distance, but none will match the flood of light into corners offered by the Cibie.

John Loveday

Many thanks for all your replies, particularly Scoobysport and all the comments are noted.

I have removed one of the lamps and tried in the garage aginst the wall in the dark and I found I was right, there was no perceivable beam. After looking inside the unit it appears that bulb didn't fit quite right. After a little effort I seated the buld correctly and low and behold a nice controlled light output. It appears that the filiament position is very critical , as it should be. I cant see if its the bulb or bulb holder that was at fault but its solved.

Since it dosn't realy get dark up here (Aberdeen) for the next 2-3 months I will have to wait to see the improvement on the road.

Thanks again SS I have sent several emails but hey, I'm happy now and faith is restored.