"Johnny B Good" wrote in message
news
On Sat, 05 Dec 2015 19:00:02 +0000, dennis@home wrote:
In the early days of automotive electrics, it was standard practice to
eliminate any fusing protection on headlight circuits to avoid the
consequences of a total blackout due to a tired fuse blowing whilst
driving along an unlit road.

Any resulting electrical wiring fire was deemed less of a risk than a
possibly fatal collision due to a sudden blackout.

I experienced the Sudden Blackout once, and it was very frightening. I'd
just arrived back from a holiday on the Isle of Wight and was driving
through the New Forest on my way back from Lymington. I thought that my
headlight pattern wasn't quite right and that the lights weren't as bright
as they should have been. When I came up behind another car, I saw that I
was right: there was only a reflection from one headlight - the other bulb
had blown. I decided to carry on to Brockenhurst (the nearest settlement
ahead) where I knew there'd be streetlights to supplement the little torch I
had, to help me change the bulb, since it's a bugger trying to fumble in the
restricted space between the headlamp housing and the engine.

I'd only gone a mile further and the other bulb blew. I now just had the
sidelights, which are no use at all the illuminate the road (eg white
lights, kerbs) ahead. I drove most of the way on full beam, having to revert
to blackout (apart from sidelights) whenever there was an oncoming car, and
keeping well back from the car in front to avoid dazzling him. With
hindsight I should have used the front fog lights but I forgot about those.
Eventually I managed to find somewhere that I could safely pull off the road
to change at least one of the bulbs (I just had one spare).

Late at night, there were no shops open to buy a second bulb, and even
Rownham Services on the motorway only had 24V and not 12V H7 bulbs - fine
for HGVs but no use for cars.

At least one bulb, fitted on the offside to indicate the boundary of my car
to oncoming cars, was enough to get me home.

Now I try to carry *two* spare headlight bulbs!