Posted on 02/09/2011 9:06:49 AM PST by Atlas Sneezed
This chat thread is to divert an off-topic issue from the Ashley Turton car fire death news thread.
But how about something similar showing the perspective of xenon bulbs from an oncoming car? Or of a driver's rear view mirror, with a comparison of what it's like to have normal cars behind you versus a xenon light searing your eyes.
I invite you to go stare at a Surefire flashlight for a few seconds.
They always blinded my as badly as brights, but now that I know there are studies proving me wrong, I think they’re just peachy.
Xenon lamps have a wider color spectrum than Halogen or Incandescent lamps, Xenon lamps need to be tuned to a better lens design than the traditional Fresnel cut lens headlights have been using.
Ever seen a lighthouse lens? Its called a fresnel lens, its made to amplify the light, does NOT wotk very well with an Xenon lamp, sends the light every which way.
A projector lamp does just that, it removes the hot spots and makes a nice even light, just like a movie projector lamp, thus the name.
As far as the color many people were mistaken thinking the higher Kelvin number means more light, wrong its the opposite, I use 6000K lamps except for my driving lights which are 4300K amber coated bulbs.
Yes people in Alaska bitched and complained, and some owners were told they were too bright by the State Troopers when they first came out, now almost everyone uses them, anything less and they become the minority. So we all basically went with better lights.
I repeat, its an improvement, it saves lives. Period.
(/s)
The answer to the conundrum lies within the realm of the phenomenon called ONCOMING TRAFFIC. If you don't have any, then your primary concern is about what you can light up in front of you. If you regularly have oncoming traffic you should be more concerned with what the other drivers coming toward you are seeing ~ your 747 landing lights might well be considered disturbing!
I hope you changed the reflectors too. My neighbor used to work at a Chrysler dealership. They had a lot of vehicles come in with melted reflectors.
I have thought about getting them, but I hate it when they are on a big rig or come up behind me on a big four wheeler. I also drive an SUV, but I am talking of the trucks with a 4” lift and big mud tires that are so prevalent in the North Wet.
When I can afford it, I prefer to upgrade my headlights to E-Code. The intensity of the light is only a part of the equation. The light pattern is MUCH more important. Much of a standard DOT light pattern is wasted on lighting the air well-above the road. E-Code lamps light up the road, and the signs on the side of the road. Glare is actually LESS than standard straight ahead incandescents.
The Europeans don’t get much right. They got headlamps right.
I don’t look at the ones that are aimed poorly, there is a technique of just using your periphial vision.
I remember the EXACT arguments back in around the early 1980’s when Halogens came out in the US, of course they were in use much longer in Europe.
The country was enraged about these “KIller Headlights” back then. And many people were literally being ticketed because they were using Halogens or headlight conversion kits like the Cibie that used an H4 halogen lamp, I know because I was one of them.
I don’t like this new “super bright” headlights, they are blinding to other drives. I used to have a Jeep that had 35” monster mudders on it, on my bumper I mounted two 100,000 candlight KC Daylighters, when I flipped the switch my “Current” gage went to zero and it about made the Jeep stall, that’s how strong they were. If I would have flipped those on you’d need eye surgery, sometimes I wish I had that Jeep today for such inconsiderate blind bats ...
Hope the people who love them also love seeing my brights switched on when they blind me.
Well then, that fully explains why we're switching to flourescent bulbs and why we can only buy low volume toilets.......Experts need not be questioned I guess.
If they are the bluish looking ones I see in oncoming traffic that HURT my eyes, then I hate them.
should be outlawed due to causing hazzardous driving conditions.
HID Xenon lamps run cooler than a Halogen.
They make Halogen lamp cooktops stoves, NOT Xenon stove tops.
I have plastic reflectors in my motorcycles and with the Xenon they don’t melt, I tried a 130 watt bulb once on par with the 35 watt Xenon in light output.
The Halogen melted the housing.
HID Xenons do get hot but are cooler than a Halogen, its a fact.
should be outlawed due to causing hazzardous driving conditions.
Another product of new-age America, "official" studies were performed and found an item to be safe, then it must be safe. As for me, I say trust but verify. And my personal verification is that the those bright blue lights blind me all the time, just as much as do high-beams, and they are dangerous. I also hear this from other drivers as well, so I'm far from alone. (Just a note, I wonder if those 'scientific' studies included asking what actual drivers thought about oncoming xenon lights in the dark of night? Isn't that the real way to confirm it?
A couple years ago I owned a sweet 1999 Cadillac Seville with non-zenon headlights and those lights lit the road up nearly like daytime, and with a very wide span from left to right. They were amazingly efficient. No one ever flashed their high beams on me while driving in my Caddy because they thought I had the high beams turned on, but I will flash those zenon lights all the time, because they most certainly do blind you.
My next car was a Buick LeSabre Limited whose standard lights weren't quite as good as the Caddy, but were still strong and efficient. Conclusion: Xenon lights are just another expensive toy, a marketing gimmick to make money from fools who like the blue hue, the increased visibility, and are stupid enough to believe they're not blinding the poor drivers approaching in oncoming traffic. Or if they are aware it doesn't matter anyway. This is, after all, modern America, land of "the self".
I think it’s awesome how in recent years I see multi-colored lights coming at me - pink, blue, yellow...
Especially the blue ones...i’s always fun wondering what the blue lights are, am I about to drive into the side of a house?
So colorful and pretty, especially the geniuses with yellow headlights, and blue parking lights in the front of their cars. Anything that distracts me when driving must be a good thing...
They blind the hell out of me. I couldn’t care less what color they are. Or, as some nitwits think, how expensive the car is that sports them. Something that never crossed my mind before.
What needs to be recognized here is that the night lights should be restricted to the range of brightness, frequency, and coverage that is satisfactory for the visual range for which people are legally able to drive.
At the moment you can drive just about anywhere with 20/50 vision. Oncoming Xenon lights probably aren't compatible with that standard, nor even with 20/40, and quite possibly 20/30.
Then there are the sado-sexual terrorists who think they are "getting it on" when they go out driving their Ford 350s at night, tailgating smaller cars and knowing they have lit up everything.
There's a reason those pukes drive with one hand.
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