from the shine-a-bright-light-on-the-subject dept.
Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
It might be stating the obvious, but your car's headlights are a safety device, and not all headlights are created equal. For a while, carmakers have been fitting powerful LED headlights to their high-end offerings, but more often than not, their cheaper cars—and particularly cheaper trim levels—get saddled with much-weaker illumination. But sometimes a commuter wants to see more of where they're going when the sun goes down. Eventually, they go looking for a solution, starting with their local automotive parts store. But stuffing aftermarket LED headlight bulbs into OEM housings designed for conventional halogen units results in dangerous glare for oncoming drivers. While LEDs can deliver more intense light at a higher end of the spectrum, most aftermarket units also create a hazardous condition.
The major brick-and-mortar auto parts stores know this, which is why they tend to shy away from aftermarket H11 LED bulbs, other than ones clearly marked for use in fog lamps or "for off-road use only." It's a different world online, with off-brand H11 LED bulb listings on Amazon, eBay, and Walmart websites failing to carry the same prominent warnings.
You can get pulled over for non-spec headlamps, and for a good reason. In addition to issuing a citation, the law enforcement officer may have the legal right to force you to remove the bulbs. More ominously, once the officer has pulled you over, you risk a vehicle search. With all that in mind, it would be wise to keep a set of securely packaged OEM bulbs in the glovebox or trunk if you are running aftermarket LEDs.
Although Consumer Reports tests new vehicle headlamps, it hasn't tackled the topic of LED replacement bulbs, despite Consumer Reports' extensive resources. A comprehensive Consumer Reports aftermarket LED replacement bulb test would go a long way to bring clarity to the market. Consumer Reports' testing of conventional replacement bulbs found that while aftermarket units can improve headlight brightness, there's much more to it than that. "Distance and how far a headlight illuminates is governed more by the reflector (behind the bulb) or the lens (ahead of the bulbs). While you can change the bulb, you are not changing the distance, i.e., not necessarily improving safety."
-- submitted from IRC
(Score: 5, Insightful) by black6host on Tuesday March 17 2020, @03:45PM (18 children)
How about folks just use the right bulbs instead. If you have to worry that you might get pulled over, and are packing OEM bulbs in case you are, then you know what you're doing ain't cool.
My cars OEM headlights are awful, many are I would say. But blinding other drivers is not the answer.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by DannyB on Tuesday March 17 2020, @04:09PM (17 children)
Don't let them get away with having the right bulbs packed in the glovebox. They will simply go back to the illegal lights at the first opportunity. Because the world revolves around them.
For drivers who surpass a certain level of being a prick: impound the vehicle. Can't get vehicle back until it has compliant lights. Can't have access to vehicle to fix lights until it is released from impound.
When trying to solve a problem don't ask who suffers from the problem, ask who profits from the problem.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by TheRaven on Tuesday March 17 2020, @04:19PM (13 children)
sudo mod me up
(Score: 3, Interesting) by PiMuNu on Tuesday March 17 2020, @04:51PM (4 children)
> numpties who aim their lights straight forwards or even up
Unfortunately even reasonably decent bike lights don't offer very good positioning, owing to the wide variety of handlebar diameters and shapes. I often find myself stopping to wiggle my bike lights when they slip around the handlebars. It isn't always obvious that I am blinding other road users...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 17 2020, @05:02PM (1 child)
Go back to High School shop class and learn how to secure you light.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 17 2020, @06:08PM
Back to high school shop class may not be an option for young-uns? Guessing you are a boomer like me, back when high schools had shop class (which I enjoyed greatly). It was eliminated quite a few years ago, at least in my old high school.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by captain normal on Tuesday March 17 2020, @06:52PM (1 child)
Around here there seems to be a lot of idiots who wear super bright (like over 1000 lumens tightly focused) on a head band or mounted on their helmets. These lights wind up being higher than even jacked-up pickup trucks and aimed right in oncoming drivers eyes.
Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts"- --Daniel Patrick Moynihan--
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Wednesday March 18 2020, @02:05AM
The conventional wisdom with cycling is that you're supposed to have a helmet-mounted headlight like that if you're mountain biking, so you can point the light where you're looking. But if you're on a road bike, you're supposed to use a handlebar-mounted headlight instead, and NOT a helmet-mounted one.
That said, when I've gone cycling at night on the multi-use trail in my city, I don't recall seeing anyone with helmet lights, only handlebar ones.
(Score: 2) by PinkyGigglebrain on Tuesday March 17 2020, @05:08PM (3 children)
Driving towards them isn't that great either.
unrelated story; Was driving in Berkely California recently, a Cyclist started to wander into my fender so I honked to alert him to that. At the next light he catches up and pulls directly in front of me and then goes WAY slower than he was before. Holding up myself and the 10+ cars behind me.
"Beware those who would deny you Knowledge, For in their hearts they dream themselves your Master."
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 17 2020, @06:38PM (1 child)
Proper response: a reserve horn.
200 Hz, 120dB.
When they projectile shit themselves right through their spandex pants squirting over their saddles, you can drive around at a sedate pace.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 17 2020, @11:48PM
Do you have four-wheel drive?
(Score: 4, Insightful) by lentilla on Wednesday March 18 2020, @02:16AM
Please don't honk cyclists.
A car horn may sound loud inside a vehicle - but it sounds terrifying outside the car. One has to consider what happens if the terrified cyclist now falls off - right underneath the wheels of your car.
The cyclist knows you are there. Unlike the vast majority of other road users, they know exactly where each corner of their vehicle is on the road and relation to others. If a cyclist appear to be inattentive or doing something that appears strange... just back off a little, give them some space and pass them when it is safe to do so.
Just calmly remember there are multiple perspectives. I can very easily see that scenario from the perspective of the cyclist: they are riding along in the proper position and a car puts its fender dangerously close to their rear wheel. Cyclist perceives a road hazard up ahead (a pothole, for example) and judiciously asserts their safety cushion by forcing the car driver to allow them more room. Car driver doesn't understand and leans on the horn to "punish" the cyclist. Cyclist points out that two can play at that game.
Cyclists and motorcyclists understand that making an error is a life or death proposition - the cost is so much higher so they are hyper-aware of their surrounding and they will have seen things that other road users simply won't have even registered. Potholes, slippery paint, oil on road, rocks, blind corners, driveways. That taxi pulling up on the horizon that will have cars overtaking it on the wrong side of the road in ten seconds' time. They are aware of it all.
It doesn't hurt to back off a little. Don't use the horn. It's painfully loud and scary outside the car cabin. The last thing you want to do is have to go to court and explain how a cyclist ended up underneath your car.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday March 17 2020, @07:55PM (3 children)
Many motorcyclists have run this kind of flashing headlamp for decades - more important to be seen than for others to be able to see anything else, I suppose.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by dry on Wednesday March 18 2020, @01:05AM
As a bonus, it gives some people an epileptic seizure. Not too mention the people who get migraines from the flashing lights. How they're legal is beyond me.
Today I was getting followed by a bike, even in the Sun it was blinding me with its twin headlights (non-flashing), then he passed me, sounded like his motor did about 20 grand. I was doing 80 in a 60 zone and he was just about instantly gone. Rural area but lenough driveways, side roads and the odd kid or horseback rider. Idiot. Speeds are in kmph.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 18 2020, @02:31AM
Not only does the flashing light kill your night vision, it kills your sensitivity to motion. Suddenly everything looks like it's moving - therefore much harder to detect actual motion, like a dog or person stepping out between parked cars or a door opening in the bike lane. Those flashing lights are dangerous for the rider as much as annyone else.
(Score: 2) by legont on Wednesday March 18 2020, @03:57AM
When a two wheeler is killed, the usual claim by the perpetrator is that she did not see him.
Yes, I was in this position, but survived. A mother made a left turn on me and I flew over her and her two children for 20 feet.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 17 2020, @04:44PM (2 children)
Green LED laser pointers are, in fact, blinding. With enough of their retinas burned off, they eventually won't be able to drive.
Seriously, there will always be assholes. These folks are the milder version of the asshats "rolling coal". Cops aren't going to feel it is worth their time. Besides, most cops are fellow travelers (assholes). The only thing we have is social shaming, but these folks are assholes, so this is unlikely to be effective except in the very rare case of the guy who didn't realize he was being an asshole.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by DannyB on Tuesday March 17 2020, @05:46PM (1 child)
There once were these million candle power hand held spotlights that were brighter than car headlights. Just briefly shine one of those at them, then put it back under the seat. Don't get caught.
If municipalities saw the revenue potential of writing tickets for aftermarket lights, that might put a stop to this. Especially if subsequent ticket prices escalated significantly. And vehicles got impounded. Owners required to show proof of fix to court. Etc. That might stop this real fast.
When trying to solve a problem don't ask who suffers from the problem, ask who profits from the problem.
(Score: 3, Informative) by dry on Wednesday March 18 2020, @01:10AM
For the ones tailgating, adjusting your mirrors just right works quite well.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 17 2020, @03:45PM (1 child)
Otherwise it's a ticket. Even worse than LEDs are the idiots that put HID bulbs in non-HID housings. There's a backwards facing reflector missing which means full HID out the front. Then there's the blue tinted bulbs that look cool but put less light on the road than stock bulbs. If the European yellow bulbs are legal in your area, they're the best for illuminating the road.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by dry on Wednesday March 18 2020, @01:12AM
Years back, when all headlights were sealed beams, I had a pair of European Bosh lights that worked really well in the rain and weren't blinding. Surprisingly, these were illegal in most of N. America, though not where I was in the rain forest.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday March 17 2020, @03:46PM (8 children)
Cops see those bright lights. Cops are responsible for enforcing those DOT laws. Cops who fail to write summons for illegal lighting are either stupid, or lazy, or both.
It wouldn't even take a lot of tickets to pretty much stop the illegal lighting. One, two, maybe three tickets in a typical county. Word gets around. "No, you don't want those lights! Deputy Dawg nailed my cousin a few weeks ago for $180 because those lights are too bright. You can't focus them properly anyway. Cousin Bubba said they lit up the sides of the road fine, but left the road dark."
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 17 2020, @04:11PM
Pretty much, but in many cases, the problem isn't the brightness of the lights, but them being improperly aimed. If they're properly aimed, the brightness should be a minimal problem in most cases. Well, except when fitted on tall vehicles and being behind somebody in a short one.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 17 2020, @04:16PM
I drive a car (not SUV/truck). Glare (from modified/poorly-aimed lights) is a problem with approaching cars, but it's gone in a few seconds once they pass on the opposite lane. More annoying to me are bright lights behind me, up high--they may be there for minutes, since we are all going the same way. The new "dimming" mirrors don't help--they don't seem to work nearly as well as the old flip-for-dim mirrors.
Unfortunately, all the cops around here drive SUVs so they are up in the air--and the cops don't see nearly as many badly aimed headlights as I do from car-height.
(Score: 0, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 17 2020, @04:45PM (2 children)
It wouldn't even take a lot of tickets to pretty much stop the illegal lighting.
It would save a lot of paperwork if we just shoot them...
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 17 2020, @05:36PM (1 child)
Drivers or lights?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 17 2020, @05:47PM
Either/both, whichever opportunity presents itself.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by shortscreen on Tuesday March 17 2020, @06:09PM (2 children)
I don't think cops should be out writing tickets based on their subjective notion of something being too bright or improperly aimed. There should be a clear standard, as there is with exhaust noise in some states, eg. a certain number of decibels at a certain distance.
At the very least, garages could check lighting parameters when vehicles come in for the state inspection sticker. (I hate going in for the state inspection, but as long as it exists it might as well serve some purpose...)
(Score: 2) by captain normal on Tuesday March 17 2020, @07:10PM (1 child)
Some states require a safety inspection every one or two years before issuing a current registration sticker. When I was a youngster (high school years) in Texas (a long time ago) You had to display a current safety sticker on the windshield. Now here in California the only requirement is a valid insurance policy and a biannual smog inspection. Then you can drive any POS junker on the road.
Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts"- --Daniel Patrick Moynihan--
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 17 2020, @11:37PM
Interesting that California is so lax. Here, the primary purpose of state vehicle inspection is to make sure the check engine light is off (via OBD2).
Secondarily, they do check headlight aim, horn volume and brake status.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 17 2020, @03:55PM (9 children)
The limitations on headlights has always been stupid. Fancy cars get brighter and more unpleasant headlights, and cheaper cars get ones that can barely see the road (these are averages, there are outliers in both categories.)
The real issue is ensuring all headlights are calibrated to a distance in front of the vehicle that avoids the beam shining into other drives eyes on a flat road (unfortunately they will on any kind of curvy road no matter what we would like, which is part of the reason for slower speed limits around corners on many curvy roads, along with traction and road hazards.)
DOT certification as mentioned in another post is important from a legal standpoint, but the real solution would be a headlight inspection bi-annually and the ability to change your vehicle lighting so long as they were recertified before the vehicle was operated at night or with running lights enabled.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday March 17 2020, @04:11PM (6 children)
Maybe we could save this bi-annual headlight inspection for those who have been ticketed for having the blinding lights.
When trying to solve a problem don't ask who suffers from the problem, ask who profits from the problem.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Tuesday March 17 2020, @04:57PM (5 children)
Oh blinding light [youtu.be]
Oh light that blinds
I cannot see
Look out for me!
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday March 17 2020, @05:28PM (4 children)
Did they foresee this problem with aftermarket headlights?
When trying to solve a problem don't ask who suffers from the problem, ask who profits from the problem.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Tuesday March 17 2020, @05:32PM (1 child)
They foresaw it during the old carriage days when people wouldn't trim the wick on their lanterns.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by dry on Wednesday March 18 2020, @01:37AM
Err, an untrimmed wick puts out less light then a trimmed wick. Youngsters now a days don't even know about trimming wicks
(Score: 2) by jasassin on Tuesday March 17 2020, @06:50PM
No. They were blinded by the newer cars that already have them built in.
jasassin@gmail.com GPG Key ID: 0xE6462C68A9A3DB5A
(Score: 2) by SomeGuy on Tuesday March 17 2020, @06:59PM
Yes, but they also foresaw that consumertards would buy them by the truckloads just because they "looks cool".
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Wednesday March 18 2020, @03:03AM
Even if they're manufactured to be aimed properly, they will no longer be aimed properly if, as is very common in my area, dudes who use their trucks to compensate have lifted it an extra foot or two off the ground.
And yes, it's always dudes who do this, in my experience.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 18 2020, @04:00AM
Yep, and it makes throwing a quarter toward bright lights especially class satisfactory.
(Score: 2) by Revek on Tuesday March 17 2020, @04:07PM
In our state there are already laws on the books that would give a law enforcement officer the ability to write tickets for this. They are allowed to write a ticket for misaligned headlights and insufficient maintenance. Its pretty clear these newer bulbs were not designed to go in these older cars. As such they are not properly aligned in any car they are installed in.
This page was generated by a Swarm of Roaming Elephants
(Score: 2, Disagree) by RamiK on Tuesday March 17 2020, @04:16PM
Now that they can't mess around with the timing, why not ask those same scummy companies to do something useful for a change and stick a light sensor to the now-fixed traffic lights at front window height and catch the assholes using those LEDs instead?
compiling...
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Kitsune008 on Tuesday March 17 2020, @05:00PM (2 children)
I propose rocket launchers or RPG's as a solution to these asshats and their blinding lights. ;-)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 17 2020, @07:22PM
Once upon a time I had an MGB with 2 Lucas "flamethrowers" on the front and 1 on the back bumper to discourage people with did not dip their lights. Worked very well.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday March 17 2020, @08:00PM
I was thinking more on the order of James Bond's DB9 mud cannons...
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by acid andy on Tuesday March 17 2020, @05:16PM
It's self-perpetuating. The stock headlights on most modern cars are dazzlingly bright even when dipped. People fit brighter bulbs to their own cars in response. It would help if the regulations required them to dip lower than they actually do.
If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens, a bat bittens and a mat mittens?
(Score: 2) by exaeta on Tuesday March 17 2020, @06:24PM (2 children)
The Government is a Bird
(Score: 3, Touché) by pe1rxq on Tuesday March 17 2020, @09:28PM (1 child)
The brightness of the LED is usually not the problem. Its the lack of a single point source.
The old bulbs have a nice single (or sometimes 2, e.g. H4) point source of light and the whole fixture is based on it. These points are well defined.
The combination of bulb and fixture makes sure that most of the light goes on the road and to the side, but not to the side of oncomming traffic.
The replacement LEDS often (there are a few exceptions) do not have this point, but are build out of multiple LEDS in pretty much all directions and combination with the fixture makes a complete mess.
(Score: 2) by exaeta on Tuesday March 17 2020, @09:54PM
The Government is a Bird
(Score: 4, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 17 2020, @06:43PM
Bullshit. They're all crap -- that's all the clarity you need. Testing them and proving one is "better" (less terrible) than another doesn't add clarity, and is liable to reduce clarity by offering the misleading impression that some of them are actually good.
Optic systems designed for a cylindrical light source will not work well with flat square light sources; the closer you can get your LED to the physical geometry of the filament, the less bad they are, but at present we can't get anywhere near close enough. Because of the problem of heat dissipation, the best you can do is a "blade" heatsink with a row of high-intensity LEDs (Cree XD16, Luxeon FlipChip, etc.) down each side. Not only does this primarily emit light in two directions (and thus only makes use of ~60% of the reflector), the amount of heat requires a fairly thick heatsink, which means even in the blade configuration, the left and right hemifilaments are separated by more than the width of the proper tungsten filament the headlight is designed for, so they are not focused correctly. Thus peak intensity (for distance seeing) is reduced, and the cutoff (for glare control) is blurred; you get a beam that dazzles other drivers while letting you see less.
And if you try to fill the whole reflector by arraying 3 or 4 rows around a cylindrical/prismatic heatsink, it gets worse -- to conduct the same heat, this heatsink must be thicker than the blade, putting the LEDs even farther from the focus, and destroying the beam further.
So until we either get radically higher efficiency out of LEDs, so that we can generate the same light with less than half the waste heat, or else develop some magic tech (e.g. a superconductor for heat, LEDs that withstand red-hot operating temperatures), there's no way to make an LED bulb to drop in place of a halogen bulb and get even equal beam performance, much less superior.
If your vehicle came with shitty headlamps, there's not a lot you can do, but there are a few things that may help:
Long-life bulbs (commonly denoted "LL", e.g. a bulb marked "H11LL" is a long-life version of an H11) use a physically larger filament running at a lower temperature -- this means lower efficiency, lower intensity and worse focus, but it does indeed offer long life. IMO, this is usually a fool's bargain; changing headlight bulbs occasionally is the price of improved seeing.
Standard bulbs (not long-life, not premium) are an upgrade over long-life bulbs, but in many types of headlamp bulbs, there's room for improvement from premium bulbs. However, a lot of "premium" bulbs are cosmetic crap offering no better, or even worse seeing vs. standard; though there are exceptions, be particularly suspicious of anything with colored glass.
In general, "good" premium bulbs make the opposite tradeoff from LL bulbs -- they run a smaller filament hotter, increasing light output, intensity, and beam focus, but decreasing bulb life. Whether it's worth it or not is up to you.
Some premium bulbs exploit the fact that the headlight bulb standards specify a total output (integrated over all directions) with about a 10% tolerance, but only some of that light hits the reflector and forms a useful beam. So they make a filament which would be too bright (again, including light in all directions, even wasted light), then they use colored bands on the bulb envelope to block some of the waste light, keeping the total output in spec while delivering more light to the reflector. But they still have clear glass directly around the filament, letting the useful light that will hit the reflector pass undiminished. These are the exception I referred to earlier.
Even if your headlight uses one of these bulbs, swapping is not necessarily a good idea at all, and may require slight modification to either the bulb or the headlight's bulb mount.
You may note the brightness increases much more than the wattage -- the H9 standard effectively requires a premium, high-output, short-life bulb as standard. Increased wattage may cause overheating, and increased brightness may cause excessive glare; not all headlight reflectors are suitable for 68% more light.
In general, high beams are more likely candidates than low beams, because glare isn't a concern -- the only concern might be whether your headlamp and wiring can handle the extra wattage. For low beams, it depends entirely on your specific headlamp's glare control, and these are all over the place. When in doubt, forget the swap, and stick with standard or premium bulbs of the type your headlamp was designed for.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday March 17 2020, @06:47PM (2 children)
I've been thinking of putting a roll of reflective film on a window shade roller inside my back window that will secure to the window with a suction cup. (They have something similar for car windows that you can roll down for extra shade.) That way, when those assholes roll up behind me and want to blast me out with their lights, they'll get it reflected right back at them.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2, Troll) by jasassin on Tuesday March 17 2020, @07:06PM (1 child)
I have a funny story about this. My friends and I went out to a friends lake house and on the way back it was night time and we were behind a friend. We were driving in a BMW that had the asshole lights, and my friend said to me with a chuckle (I wasn't paying attention jerking off looking out the window) "He's adjusting his rear view mirror trying to shine my headlights back at me." And I chuckled.
I just had to tell that story because you reminded me of that and it made me smile.
jasassin@gmail.com GPG Key ID: 0xE6462C68A9A3DB5A
(Score: 2) by NickM on Tuesday March 17 2020, @10:02PM
I am guilty of adjusting my exterior rear-view mirror to reflect back the blinding beam when I am an in front of a car¹ with the asshole lights on, it works remarkably well.
1-For some reason it is always a BMW...
I a master of typographic, grammatical and miscellaneous errors !
(Score: 3, Insightful) by SomeGuy on Tuesday March 17 2020, @06:51PM (7 children)
"How Do We Stop People Blinding Other Drivers With Aftermarket LEDs"
If it were me, I would run them off the road, hunt them down, and then beat them to death with a crowbar.
It seems like about 25% of the idiots on the road around here are using these extra bright, bluish-tinted LED bulbs. These things are downright blinding when an oncoming car or a car in my rear view gets close. Sometimes I even have to flip my mirror in to night mode during the day when someone comes up behind me with their LED headlights on (which is another issue, why the fuck do so many idiots leave their headlights on during the day these days?). They go over a bump, and it looks like they are flashing their high-beams.
I might be mis-misremembering, but it seems like headlight brightness, temperature, and alignment, were strictly enforced a long time ago. I do recall that at one point a long time ago, headlights were part of a car's standard yearly inspection. But that was in a different state. Either way, it is a major safety issue when driving at night, but no one seems to care.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 17 2020, @07:16PM
Many (most?) cars now have an "auto" setting for their lights whereby it will have daytime running lights going for safety reasons.
(Score: 3, Informative) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday March 17 2020, @08:03PM (3 children)
Back when, headlamp regulations were written in terms of bulb wattage.
Modern LEDs are still compliant with the wattage limits, but of course some are putting out far more light. They also are implementing more sharp cutoff low beam patterns which are great, until you're on the wrong side of the cutoff which happens all too often and is then far worse than the traditional softer cutoff patterns.
Worst of all seems to be aftermarket bulbs installed by the clueless which have nonsensical beam patterns, no effective low beam, and all kinds of brightness.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Tuesday March 17 2020, @10:16PM (2 children)
Exactly. IIRC, 35W for low beams, 55W for high beams. Which is absurd (obviously to you, me, and others who understand these things) because a 35W halogen incandescent emits far less visible light than 35W into an LED or HID lamp.
Occasionally I see what are obviously aftermarket headlamps- the blue color, and they generally don't have high/low beams, so they just adjust them up.
But even stock- there are many new cars- mostly German Audi, BMW, Mercedes, and some Japanese, that have absolutely killer LED lights. I live in an area that must be unimaginable to whoever approves headlights- we have curves, hills, and heaven forbid: curves on hills. So no matter how good the light pattern control, there are far too many times when an oncoming car's headlights are directly aimed into my eyes. I'm pretty much totally blinded during and for a couple of seconds after. Who is approving this? Why did the good laws change, from when they actually thought things through and tested things like human eyes and headlight glare?
Hold that thought for a moment. We also have expanding laws regarding pedestrian rights. Seems a pedestrian can just step out into the path of a moving vehicle. Vehicle driver must be able to overcome the limits of physics and stop a vehicle almost instantly.
But wait, said driver might be BLINDED by headlights.
Gee, I wonder why there are more and more pedestrian collisions and deaths. Isn't more light more betterer?
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday March 17 2020, @10:58PM (1 child)
Around here, the limits are 55W low, 65W high (I happen to know because I have run "offroad" 55W low 100W high bulbs for decades...)
I'm running aftermarket LED bulbs in my '99, in part because the halogens were so very very lame. My LED bulbs aren't too much brighter than stock, but enough to help. Out in the boonies, I've always been of the opinion that dimmer lights are actually better for your night vision outside the beams - you really need "just enough to see" in the pattern, then your night vision should be maximized to see what's beyond and outside the beams as well as possible.
Of course, most people are more urban and suburbanly oriented, and in the 'burbs it's all about whether or not you can stun the oncoming drivers with your brilliance - the lights themselves are superfluous with all the streetlamps providing plenty of light to see by.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Wednesday March 18 2020, @12:43AM
I was just a zygote (cough cough) but I remember when halogens were illegal. A work friend had them, was very proud of them, and had to change them out for inspection, which he happily did.
(Score: 2) by dry on Wednesday March 18 2020, @01:52AM
Having the headlights on during the day is a safety feature, or at least should be. Especially here in the rain forest where a grey car can be invisible at times. Legally they've been required here in Canada since about 1990 but the way they usually work is the daytime lights are in series instead of parallel so my high beams come on when the engine is on, parking brake off, lights off, running at 6volts.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Wednesday March 18 2020, @02:16AM
Either you live in a weird place, or you're confusing factory HIDs and LEDs with aftermarket ones. I have a hard time believing that anywhere near 25% of drivers in a place would have aftermarket LED bulbs installed; most people do not install aftermarket parts in their cars at all.
Most new cars now come with LEDs from the factory, and lots of cars have had HIDs for years now, starting in the early 2000s I think. All of them are going to look much brighter than halogen systems. But the factory ones should have proper beam patters, and also be leveled: I think there's a law that requires these vehicles to have auto-leveling headlights to keep them from blinding people, though of course this doesn't work so well when there's hills.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 17 2020, @09:13PM (1 child)
LED lights do not burn eyes, Halogens and (to a certain extent) HIDs burn eyes. Halogens are the worst when aimed incorrectly. They actually send heat into your eyes and that burns.
To test this theory, turn on Halogen headlamps and put your eyes closed in front of the beam. Then repeat same experiment with LEDs. The Halogens will actually hurt quite bad, LEDs will not.
(Score: 2) by fraxinus-tree on Tuesday March 17 2020, @09:51PM
Almost. Except it is the opposite. It is blue light that makes burning.
(Score: 2) by fraxinus-tree on Tuesday March 17 2020, @09:50PM (3 children)
But if we get serious, the main problem is replacing the traditional glass lenses and metal reflectors with shitty polycarbonate that fades for a year or two. Safety, my ass - I don't see where I drive and I glare oncoming traffic. How can it be safe? And no, if you want to replace the headlight assembly, they stop making spares the moment they change the model and you have to buy some even worse aftermarket.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday March 17 2020, @11:04PM (2 children)
Aging polycarbonate is indeed evil - it can be polished, but so few people bother, and so many are basically running full diffusers instead of lenses.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by fraxinus-tree on Wednesday March 18 2020, @04:38PM (1 child)
... and when you polish it, your bright spot returns, and the glare remains because it is the deep cracks that diffuse at small angles. But it is OK for you and you drive with this optical trash some more. Polycarbonate lenses are shit, shit, shit.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday March 18 2020, @04:49PM
One of the main things I like about my 1991 car is the popup big H7 glass faced headlights - aerodynamic when not in use - SEE ME big, without being diffuse when in use (unless they're covered in bugs).
🌻🌻 [google.com]