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Side repeaters again!
Johnmor - 19/10/20 at 08:19 PM

Hi all

Apologies to those fed up of this subject but i hate to IVA see failures on such mundane matters

so , did a little more homework on the side repeater issue to try to get things clear in my mind and this is my interpretation and probably why it’s such a pain in the a**, did a few quick measurements

The requirement is for visibility between 5°and 60°on the horizontal plane from the rear of the vehicle, measured from the face of the repeater lens

If your repeaters are around the middle of the car, 5° means for a normal kit that you need to be looking about 120mm out from repeater face at the rear of the car, so if mounted on the scuttle that would be mid rear arch , real problem if the repeaters are lower than the wheel arch. (fail)

60° is generally not an issue as there are no likely obstructions

Now the sticky bit,

Vertically they need to be visible from a 15° line above (again no obstruction so not an issue)

But also down to 5° below horizontal, this means they need to be placed about 120mm above the height of the wheel arch when positioned in the middle of the vehicle.

We should also remember they are also subject to the 400mm min distance from the side of the vehicle

I realize this is all subject to the examiners interpretation on the day, but this is how I read the regs,

So the only real option is on the mirrors, you can meet all the requirements, (height about 850mm, 250mm from vehicle side) placing on the headlight could fall foul of the 5° below horizontal viewed from the rear depending on wheel arch width but as they are closer the front of the vehicle and given my arches are 700mm high and 300mm wide, they would need to be around 950mm above the ground to prevent being obscured by the wheel arch (not a good look)

So why are there so few side mirrors with built in repeaters for kits cars, gap in the market!!!


Deckman001 - 19/10/20 at 09:14 PM

Hi,

Probably because most locosters put their side repeaters on either the front cycle wings or the rear arches.

My side repeaters are on the front cycle wings and they flew through the IVA test, it was just some of the other bits on the car that I let myself down with.

Jason


Johnmor - 19/10/20 at 09:36 PM

Hi Jason

I take it the IVA tester did it with the wheels straight,

How did you get on with wiring the repeaters on the wings , must have been a bit of a winding rout through the wishbones and stays , were the wires tie wraped to the tubes etc

Cheers


Mr Whippy - 19/10/20 at 10:20 PM

If you go onto the Caterham website and download their excellent build manuals (PDF free) they detail all this and wiring up the wing lights. Westfield also has build manuals you can download for free. They are very helpful and a good read.


ragindave - 19/10/20 at 11:10 PM

I have stuck mine on the Cycle wing for IVA.
indy678
indy678


Johnmor - 20/10/20 at 07:44 AM

Thanks for the replys

Westfield site is spot on,

Problem for me is the viento front wings have no vertical side area, i would have to do something to mount them on top near the side, wont look good.

Cheers


Mr Whippy - 20/10/20 at 10:57 AM

If you look on the web there are LED amber stick on strips you could just put on the outside of your wing mirrors, small hole for the wire, heat shrink on the mirror stem, feed the wire into the car. Dead easy


big_wasa - 20/10/20 at 11:58 AM

Stick on, They won't have the relevant markings or look permanent. So not so simple with a Viento.


big_wasa - 20/10/20 at 12:00 PM

I also thought some testers failed them on the front arches. Hence why lots have fitted them to the rear on conventional sized 7's


Deckman001 - 20/10/20 at 12:27 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Johnmor
Hi Jason

I take it the IVA tester did it with the wheels straight,

How did you get on with wiring the repeaters on the wings , must have been a bit of a winding rout through the wishbones and stays , were the wires tie wraped to the tubes etc

Cheers


Hi John,
I fitted mine with heavy duty black silicon sealer mastic. The same goo that I used to glue on the side panels to my car so that no rivets were needed. So i tucked the cables inside some sleeving and glued it into place to the underside of the arch. During my test, one tester asked the other about if it was ok, the supervisor then looked and said 'wow that's a good, interesting way to do it'. Mine were side repeaters from China, so very cheap and still passed wonderfully, I did have to change my flasher relay though as they were LEDs so flashed with the main indicators too fast, hence the new relay or a resistor device was needed. And then tie wrapped to the wing stays, wishbones and back into the car to be joined to the loom.

Jason


Johnmor - 20/10/20 at 12:38 PM

Yeah ive seen the self adhesive lights, as pointed out they are not marked as side reapeaters

A tester may pass them but i know some have failed because they used side marker lights , E marked but not marked as side repeaters , my first SVA i doubt the examiner gave them a second glance but i dont want to be in a postion where i cant defend my case.

Technicaly they need to be marked under the 1989 road vehicle regs, but no metion within the IVA manual so a bit tricky, I know peaople that replaced a front wing on a car and inserted a cheap side repeater and it failed an MOT so its a bit of a minefield.

1989 regs-An approval mark and, above such mark, the following numbers–

in the case of a front indicator, “1”, “1a”, “1b” or “11”;

in the case of a rear indicator, “2”, “2a”, “2b” or “12”;

in the case of a side repeater indicator, “5”.

I have found that all genuine manufacturers side repeaters have the marks so the Fiat Uno ones i have will meet that part and they are only 27mm round

There are a few motorcycle mirrors with side repeater in the mirror with all the markings but unfortunatly no rear visability, i think im gonna try and make a mirror mounted side repeater thats kinder on the eye than the last one, after fitting i noticed the mirror was distorted and not really long enough to give the required adjustemnt (£12.00, buy cheap , pay dear)

Honda CBR 600 f3 mirrors are a good starting point, size is good, quality, soft edges and length is good, fully adjustable and a rubber stem cover that could hide a cable

"Necessity is the Mother of Invention"


Johnmor - 20/10/20 at 02:18 PM

Ok,

jobs done, if this fails ill take them to court!!

I had a pair of CBR600 mirrors, used them before for Viento and they work great, meet all requirements

Now added the Fiat Uno side repeaters, E marked and to standard "5", the other guidance is now also met, angles of view etc , soft edges, lens clarity and size etc , so surly this will pass

In the photo you can see my original location, ill have to remove and cover with something for IVA, i can also ditch the mirrors after and fit another set of CBR mirrors after as fitting points are

https://ibb.co/d07ZJvw
https://ibb.co/k0gbxNv
https://ibb.co/bzmYh7S
https://ibb.co/ZgGBt1w


big_wasa - 20/10/20 at 04:50 PM

Let us know how you get on