Repair 7

How to Decode European Auto Bulbs

European automobile bulbs receive certification under the European Economic Community (EEC), the U.N. Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) or both. Under either set of regulations, interpreting the coding on the bulb is the same. You can glean four valuable pieces of information from the sequence of numbers and letters: certification authority and country, bulb purpose, traffic direction and beam intensity. Lastly, Its important to be sure the auto bulb is European-made because the American SAE standards use some of the same coding with different meanings.

Instructions

1

Understand the certification authority and country of approval by finding the (E) and/or [e] symbol(s), where "" represents a number. "E" in a circle indicates ECE approval. "e" in a box indicates EEC approval. The "" number indicates the country of approval, according to the following code:

1 Germany

2 France

3 Italy

4 Netherlands

5 Sweden

6 Belgium

7 Hungary

8 Czechoslovakia

9 Spain

10 Yugoslavia

11 United Kingdom

12 Austria

13 Luxembourg

14 Switzerland

15 (currently vacant)

16 Norway

17 Finland

18 Denmark

19 Romania

20 Poland

21 Portugal

22 Russia

23 Greece

24 Ireland

25 Croatia

26 Slovenia

27 Slovakia

28 Belarus

29 Estonia

30 (currently vacant)

31 Bosnia-Herzegovina

32 Latvia

33 (currently vacant)

34 Bulgaria

35 (currently vacant)

36 (currently vacant)

37 Turkey

38 (currently vacant)

39 (currently vacant)

40 Yugoslavia-Macedonia

41 (currently vacant)

42 Special EC

43 Japan

44 (currently vacant)

45 Australia

46 Ukraine

47 South Africa

2

Understand the combination of letters and numbers that make up the bulbs function according to this code:

For signal lamp markings:

A Parking Lamp (also called "position lamp," "city light," "sidelight")

AR Reversing (backup) Lamp

F or B Rear Fog Lamp

IA Retroreflector

R Tail (rear position) Lamp

S1 Brake (stop) Lamp

S3 Center High Mount Stop Lamp (3rd brake light)

1 Front Turn Indicator for use more than 40 mm away from low beam headlamp axis

1a Front Turn Indicator for use more than 20 mm and less than 40 mm away from low beam headlamp axis

1b Front Turn Indicator for use less than 20 mm away from low beam headlamp axis

2a Rear Turn Indicator

5 Side Turn Signal Repeater

SM1 Sidemarker Lamp

SM2 Sidemarker Lamp

RL Daytime Running Lamp (DRL)

For forward illumination lamp functions:

B Fog lamp

C Low (dip) beam headlamp, tungsten filament

R High (main) beam headlamp or driving lamp, tungsten filament

CR Low/high (dip/main) beam headlamp, tungsten filament

HC Low (dip) beam headlamp, halogen

HR High (main) beam headlamp or driving lamp, halogen

HCR Low/high (dip/main) beam headlamp, halogen

DC Low (dip) beam headlamp, gas discharge (HID xenon)

DR High (main) beam headlamp or driving lamp, gas discharge (HID xenon)

DCR Low/high (dip/main) beam headlamp, gas discharge (HID xenon)

A Front position lamp ("parking lamp," "city light," "sidelight")

RL Daytime Running Lamp ("DRL")

PL Plastic lens (may occur with any of above markings)

3

Understand that arrows, or lack thereof, give information for headlamps relating to suitability for different traffic directions. A right-pointing arrow indicates that its only suitable for left-hand traffic, as in Britain and most former British colonies. A double arrow pointing in both directions indicates its suitability for either side of the road. Lastly, no arrow represents a headlamps design for the right-hand traffic found in most of the world.

4

Find the number on high beam auto bulbs, which is a multiple of 2.5 and is a maximum of 75. This code tells you the bulbs light intensity. Multiply the number by 3,000 to find out its actual intensity in units of candela.