Bikelights cd number And blinding

RemcoM · Dec 25, 2013

Hi , i have some questions, A friend of mine asks me how , and when a light on a bike is,will be annoying/blinding on a bicycle, if shining forward.

He is affraid, that some lights are anoying/blinding for oncomming traffic, when he shined it straight forward, so he wants know, when he can avoid blinding oncomming traffic.

I am not an expert, so here are his questions.

Hope it helps him.

1 What will it be to drive with a light that puts out 114 cd? blinding or not?

2 8000 cd Candela?

3 10000 cd.

4 36000 cd.

5 115000 cd.

What will be the blinding risks of these cd light intensities?

Remco

TEEJ · Dec 25, 2013

How many ways are you going to ask this question?

You've asked it in various forms a lot of times, and now your FRIENDS want to know?

Couldn't you just have them read the other threads asking the same thing over and over again?

Quick recap:

The range is what makes the numbers relevant...and, you keep leaving them out, and they keep getting inserted for you as part of the answer.

IE: There is no one cd that is, or is not blinding, at all ranges...the farther away the light is from the eyes, the less blinding the light will be...so, the above cd examples are not answerable as there are no ranges given.

The lux in the person's eyes drops by a factor of 4, when you double the distance, and, is 4x more, when twice as close.

A car head light might have ~ mid 30 k cd at its hot spot, but the beam shape is different...so a car's lights have a cut off at the top of the beam.

If you use a flashlight, it has a round beam...and if aimed up so the light is in the eyes of oncoming drivers, it will cause glare...at most nearby distances. If the hot spot is on the road, not their eyes, its OK most of the time.

RemcoM · Dec 26, 2013

TEEJ said:
How many ways are you going to ask this question?

You've asked it in various forms a lot of times, and now your FRIENDS want to know?

Couldn't you just have them read the other threads asking the same thing over and over again?

Quick recap:

The range is what makes the numbers relevant...and, you keep leaving them out, and they keep getting inserted for you as part of the answer.

IE: There is no one cd that is, or is not blinding, at all ranges...the farther away the light is from the eyes, the less blinding the light will be...so, the above cd examples are not answerable as there are no ranges given.

The lux in the person's eyes drops by a factor of 4, when you double the distance, and, is 4x more, when twice as close.

A car head light might have ~ mid 30 k cd at its hot spot, but the beam shape is different...so a car's lights have a cut off at the top of the beam.

If you use a flashlight, it has a round beam...and if aimed up so the light is in the eyes of oncoming drivers, it will cause glare...at most nearby distances. If the hot spot is on the road, not their eyes, its OK most of the time.

Hi TEEJ,

Im sorry for forget the distance away from the lights with cd intensities.

Lets say, how blinding/annoying will it be for an oncomming driver, when he is at 60 meters, and 700 meters distance from a,

115 cd light.

8000 cd light, like my fenix BT20 at turbo.

a 10000 cd light.

a 37000 cd light.

And a 130000 cd light, like the turbomode of the Fenix RC40? And the 3 million cd maxabeam? All lights shining straight forward. Just for my friend to know, and for me, just curious, and for my extreme interest in all about flashlights, bikelights, and all other lightsources.

Thats why we all here on candlepowerforums, isnt it?

Hope you will reply, and explain and answer the above questions.

Thank you very much.

And happy christmas to you, and all others here.

Remco

AnAppleSnail · Dec 26, 2013

This also depends on the surroundings. 300 cd is fine for walking speed without being blinding. But at downhill speed on new, wet pavement, you can pour 130000cd downrange and still not see the pavement.

How bright is it? 130000CD is overwhelming at night, but pretty unimpressive in daytime. That 300 cd beam is bright enough for a country road, but inadequate for riding between streetlights. There are some things you just can't measure. "Bright enough without blinding" is one of those things. A given light is always going to be not enough in some situations and too much in others.

Bikelights cd number And blinding

RemcoM

Enlightened

TEEJ

Flashaholic

RemcoM

Enlightened

AnAppleSnail

Flashlight Enthusiast

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