Blinded by the light

[InTheDark]

Re: Blinded by the light *DELETED*

Post deleted by InTheDark

 

[tkl]

inthedark, the only thing that is a safety hazard are those little matchbox cars on the road. i don't think they'd hold up to a hail storm.

when i was young and poor i had one, but i never will again. they're undersized and underpowered. i have no use for a cracker box.

 

[FC.]

Some people think that fire apparatus lights are too bright. I wonder why /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/naughty.gif

Spotlight is used to sweep on a rearwiew mirror of a vehicle which has not moved out of the way.

 

[Dreck]

Okay, Okay I,m sorry. I didn't mean to stir up a hornet's nest here. My complaint was directed at the lights that are dirty and mis-aligned. The Euro- style E2 patterns should be adopted in this country. I have had a set of great Hella's in several of my cars. When I bought them they were clearly marked " for off road use only". I'm not against anything that is brighter, but it is not a matter of raw power..it's what you do with it. I currently have a set of xenon lights in my vehicle but I make sure that they are clean and leveled properly /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Wulong]

Even though my eyes are extremely sensitive to light, I'm not bothered at all by HID headlights while on the road. It's good to see this new technology finding it's way onto more vehicles.

 

[Alan Hsu]

I believe at least 2 factors at at play here. First of all, the HID fad started in Europe where the signs are self-illuminated, which means the lights can be designed to aim low or with sharp cutoff since they are not required to light up the signs as we do in the States. This explains the lack of complaints in Europe. The blinding problem only surfaced as the lights were adapted to the US market. Second, HID is characterized by higher color temperature, where our vision is more sensitive. HIDs will still seem brighter than their regular halogen counterparts if they are of the same intensity.

 

[iddibhai]

i believe the reason higher vehicles (trucks, etc) seem more blinding is because the way lights are aimed. proper aim is set as the height of the hotspot coming from the lamp/reflector assembly: the hot spot should be level & square with the light at X ft from the car. rest of the light throw pattern is all reflectors/optics. so obviously higher vehicles will have "higher" relative aim. score another point for crappy DOT regs and awesome ECE regs! someone correct me but i think i got it right.