Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2018 September 12

= September 12 =

English name for a type of car headlight
In my car I have two switches for the main lights (not counting turn signals etc.). One is a thingy that looks like a dimmer but has notches. If I turn it from the off position by one notch, it turns on a pair of weak lights (1), and two notches also turn on a pair of strong lights (2). You use both pairs for night driving. The other switch - a lever behind the steering wheel operates a very strong pair of headlights (3), which you use for night driving on an empty road, or you can flash them on-off. I believe #2 are called low beams and #3 are high beams. What's the name of the light #1? 93.136.68.38 (talk) 04:38, 12 September 2018 (UTC)
 * I have always know them as "Park lights", this article suggests they may also be called "sidelights". Murchison-Eye (talk) 04:48, 12 September 2018 (UTC)
 * I think of them as "running lights" but our article is called Daytime running lamp. Cullen328  Let's discuss it  04:52, 12 September 2018 (UTC)
 * In British usage, they are sidelights, dipped headlights and main / main-beam headlights. -- SGBailey (talk) 06:23, 12 September 2018 (UTC)
 * Also in British usage "running lights" are the lights which are on all the time and cannot be turned off (mandatory in cars produced since 2011). These are separate to the sidelights and headlights. -- Q Chris (talk) 10:24, 12 September 2018 (UTC)
 * In American English and modern cars equipped for American roads, whenever the car is in gear, white daytime running lights will be on, facing to the front. 1 are parking lights; on a modern car when these are on there are white or amber to the front and sides near the front, red to the rear and side near the rear. When the control is moved to 2, the low-beam headlights are added to the parking lights. These lights are intended for when other cars are in front of you. When the lever is moved, the headlights change to high-beam mode, which is meant for when no other cars are in front of you. Jc3s5h (talk) 15:27, 12 September 2018 (UTC)
 * Or Our Automotive lighting article seems fairly detailed. As Jc3s5h has said, parking lights and daytime running lights are not generally the same thing. Nil Einne (talk) 15:44, 12 September 2018 (UTC) 16:11, 13 September 2018 (UTC)

Incidentally (I agree with the side lights replies) in BrEng I've never heard #2 referred to as "low beams" and #3 referred to as "high beams". Only as "headlights" and "full beam headlights" respectively. --Dweller (talk) Become old fashioned! 15:30, 12 September 2018 (UTC)
 * Low beam and high beam are a bit more descriptive of those lamps. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 20:54, 12 September 2018 (UTC)
 * Thanks everyone, it seems "parking lights" gets me the results I want on eBay. I'm not in an English speaking country, and frankly I don't know what these are called in my own language either, so I couldn't look it up in a dictionary :) 78.1.188.8 (talk) 20:12, 12 September 2018 (UTC) OP
 * Just to add a small fly to the ointment, in the 1980s the regulations on side lights changed requiring that they be brighter, for a time these were called "dim-dip lights to make a distinction with the older and dimmer side lights. Haven't heard it for a while though. Alansplodge (talk) 10:25, 13 September 2018 (UTC)
 * Yes this is also mentioned in our article linked above, as well as the reason they are no longer required (one of the times where 'evil EU regulations' actually applies, assuming you actually think this is 'evil') Nil Einne (talk) 16:11, 13 September 2018 (UTC)