Feckers with extra bright LED

blingrhino

Whats the story with cnuts driving round with these extra bright lights day and night !
Surely they cant be road legal or nct passable.

You know the type of cars old Audis,Vw`s,the usual owl ****e.

Talking to a man who came off a motorcycle at speed who was blinded by said automobile as he came around a bend.

taylor3

Yeah have to agree with you. I am not sure half the time is it their full beam headlights that are on or just that the new type bulbs are far too strong, headwrecking either way.

CiniO

Illegal, but no enforcement whatsoever, so plenty driving with them in Ireland.

Same as drink driving, driving unlicensed, uninsured, no NCT, no indicators, no general knowledge of basic rules of the road, etc...

edburg

Depends what lights you mean. A lot of newer cars come with them as standard. My 09 Siggy has them as DRL/side/parking lights and come on with ignition as standard.

shietpilot

Are you sure it's not xenon HID kits you're referring to? DRLs are also quite intensive in the dark on news cars. Only the stupid drivers to blame for that one though...

Nekarsulm

Its getting that driving at night is just a pain. Every second or third car you meet has lights that blind you.
Its not like that they can't angle them downwards at the roll of a button either.

colm_mcm

Nekarsulm wrote: »

Its getting that driving at night is just a pain. Every second or third car you meet has lights that blind you.
Its not like that they can't angle them downwards at the roll of a button either.

They can't if they're factory HIDs
They're self levelling.

ShadowHearth

I have to admit, i drive a lot in dark now and outside usual donkey with high beams 24/7 I noticed a lot of those very bright lights. I feel myself like that futurama meme "Not sure if prick wth high beams or just prick engineer, who put stupidly bright lights on car".

Nekarsulm

colm_mcm wrote: »

They can't if they're factory HIDs
They're self levelling.

You live and learn!

I guess things have moved on since they made my yoke, a 2001 1.9 PD!

J.pilkington

CiniO wrote: »

Same as drink driving, driving unlicensed, uninsured, no NCT, no indicators, no general knowledge of basic rules of the road, etc...

Which if I remember correctly from a recent very long thread you see nothing wrong with any of the above!

Senna

I've noticed this a lot recently also, twice in quick succession one dark and wet night, I had to almost come to a complete stop as the cars were just blinding me on a narrow rural road.

I've also had a few occasions lately where the car behinds dip lights were shining into my rear view mirror, you could even see the clear end of the light against the roof inside the car. That seems to be badly adjusted lights.

Nekarsulm

Many years ago, a friend had a Marcel spot lamp bolted to the boot-lid of his Mini 1000, wired up as a reversing light.
Woe betide the any fellow following who didn't dip his lights......

Voodoomelon

colm_mcm wrote: »

They can't if they're factory HIDs
They're self levelling.

Course you can, they're aligned like every other headlight. The self leveling levels out whatever alignment you have set.

edburg

Voodoomelon wrote: »

Course you can, they're aligned like every other headlight. The self leveling levels out whatever alignment you have set.

Think he reffering to the manual adjuster inside the car as mentioned in quoted post, There no adjustment in my 2 cars for sure and maybe cousins hyundai thing from memory.

Isambard

CiniO wrote: »

Illegal, but no enforcement whatsoever, so plenty driving with them in Ireland.

Same as drink driving, driving unlicensed, uninsured, no NCT, no indicators, no general knowledge of basic rules of the road, etc...

absolutely, the biggest problem on Irish roads is lack of enforcement. All of your list are as bad as or worse than speeding.

colm_mcm

Voodoomelon wrote: »

Course you can, they're aligned like every other headlight. The self leveling levels out whatever alignment you have set.

yeah but you don't have a switch to adjust them down like everyone else has. have a read of the post I quoted

shietpilot

colm_mcm wrote: »

yeah but you don't have a switch to adjust them down like everyone else has. have a read of the post I quoted

Why would you need it when the lights adjust themselves automatically.

Autosport

shietpilot wrote: »

Why would you need it when the lights adjust themselves automatically.

They do but you can also adjust your lights to not blind someone driving the opposite way

colm_mcm

shietpilot wrote: »

Why would you need it when the lights adjust themselves automatically.

they level to a set angle relative to dead level- but would still need to be manually calibrated periodically by manual adjustment the same as a normal headlight would. it just compensates for changes in the angle the car sits at, for example if you have an load in the boot. it doesnt know where the light is actually going.

think of it as a height adjustment switch with a tilt sensor.

SCOOP 64

what are we talking about here, the day time running lights or the after market headlight kits?

shietpilot

colm_mcm wrote: »

they level to a set angle relative to dead level- but would still need to be manually calibrated periodically by manual adjustment the same as a normal headlight would. it just compensates for changes in the angle the car sits at, for example if you have an load in the boot. it doesnt know where the light is actually going.

think of it as a height adjustment switch with a tilt sensor.

Yes I know but you said they don't have a switch to adjust them down like everyone does and that was my point - you don't need them. The car senses the load on the rear and adjusts them down for you

Autosport wrote: »

They do but you can also adjust your lights to not blind someone driving the opposite way

In fairness if you feel like you need to dip down your lights on a car automatic levelling then you need to get your headlights aligned instead

colm_mcm

shietpilot wrote: »

Yes I know but you said they don't have a switch to adjust them down like everyone does and that was my point - you don't need them. The car senses the load on the rear and adjusts them down for you



In fairness if you feel like you need to dip down your lights on a car automatic levelling then you need to get your headlights aligned instead

Read the whole thread to see the context to why I said that.

Autosport

shietpilot wrote: »

Yes I know but you said they don't have a switch to adjust them down like everyone does and that was my point - you don't need them. The car senses the load on the rear and adjusts them down for you



In fairness if you feel like you need to dip down your lights on a car automatic levelling then you need to get your headlights aligned instead

Unlike some drivers I don't want to blind other drivers as you know it could cause an accident.
I'm just being extra courteous :P

shietpilot

colm_mcm wrote: »

Read the whole thread to see the context to why I said that.

I did. If you would like to dip down auto-levelling lights but cannot because a manual dipping switch doesn't exist then you're doing motoring wrong.

A headlight alignment will fix that and the lights will dip down automatically as the car is tilting due to bumps or road surface.

The dip switch is not a solution to bad headlight alignment as then you can see less

Special Circumstances

God alone contrrrolsh the level of factory HID lampsh.

shietpilot

Special Circumstances wrote: »

God alone contrrrolsh the level of factory HID lampsh.

Except this guy who hacked his auto-levelling and now has control of his single HID bulb:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RR7tsoN8K7E

Turnipman

Special Circumstances wrote: »

God alone contrrrolsh the level of factory HID lampsh.

True, but She has the Archangel Gabriel to drive her golden chariot so She knows SFA about the perils of driving after dark!

colm_mcm

shietpilot wrote: »

I did. If you would like to dip down auto-levelling lights but cannot because a manual dipping switch doesn't exist then you're doing motoring wrong.

A headlight alignment will fix that and the lights will dip down automatically as the car is tilting due to bumps or road surface.

The dip switch is not a solution to bad headlight alignment as then you can see less

Read it again in the morning

ednwireland

Badly fitted xenon hids. Know one of the young lads that lives near me had a lowered golf gtd basically blinded you if it was in front or behind. He got rid of cos we all ribbed him so much about it.

Oh and we all get blinded left right and centre on country roads because we are bouncing around so much

shietpilot

colm_mcm wrote: »

Read it again in the morning

Meh. You've already told 2 people to read the thread again. I'm not going to read it a third time.

/out

Tilikum

My car has xonen (or however you spell it) bulbs. I didn't choose them, they're what's in the car & I constantly get flashed about them.

colm_mcm

shietpilot wrote: »

Meh. You've already told 2 people to read the thread again. I'm not going to read it a third time.

/out

Only because I'm being misquoted.

VeVeX

Tilikum wrote: »

My car has xonen (or however you spell it) bulbs. I didn't choose them, they're what's in the car & I constantly get flashed about them.

I'd say its safe to assume there's something wrong. The fact you didn't choose them is irrelevant. Xenon's in the correct lamp and correctly aligned do not cause problems.

mickdw

Tilikum wrote: »

My car has xonen (or however you spell it) bulbs. I didn't choose them, they're what's in the car & I constantly get flashed about them.

They are not aligned then or your self levelling is not working.
Factory fitted xenon lights come with self levelling light controls and headlight washers by law.

recyclebin

I don't think this is a bulb issue. It seems to be the design of the lights themselves. I've been blinded by many brand new cars. If the road is any way bumpy they get worse. I think Audi tend to be worst. Seen a few Hyundai too.

Voodoomelon

I know the OP is talking about after market HIDs, but just in regards the above.

You can align factory xenons and have your self levelling working correctly and you'll still get people flashing you. All depends on where you live and what twats are in your area.

Fact is, self levelling does not have the ability to compensate for steep inclines and declines or sharp bends. I get someone flashing me probably once a fortnight as I proceed over the top of local steep hills or around such sharp bends. The self levelling is unable to lower the projector low enough to stop the beam travelling into oncoming eyes, much like their cars are stuck pointing into my eyes at the same time.

And the dynamic control which moves the projectors left or right with the steering wheel whilst going around bends can only go so far, meaning the oncoming car will temporarily be passing through the nearside beam which is naturally aimed higher than the offside beam, dazzling them, much like they do to me. We all see it daily even with slight bends in the road; an coming car a fair bit away somewhat dazzling you, but then when the road straightens out, it no longer does.

This stuff happens all day long, the difference is that halogens are far less dazzling than xenons, LEDs or lasers when it happens.

And you get people flashing you at the first opportunity, thinking they're getting one up on you for having your full beams on, instead of waiting 2 seconds for the beam to straighten out.

OldmanMondeo

Might not be the actual bulb, I recently changed the bulbs in my car, Philips Whitevision bulb, gives a whiter light and more light on the road. These are designed to be road legal. Anyway, kept getting flashed by oncoming drivers,and I noticed that cars in front had the cabin lite up. Turns out I had put 1 bulb in wrong. only a mm or so out. Blinded everyone. This has since been fixed.

As for the LED bulbs, there are various light colours available, most are probably getting 8000k bulbs rather than 4000k and lower.

_Brian

Aparrently there was a huge movement to ban halogen bulbs in cars as people found them blinding compared to the standard tungsten bulbs of old.

Badly set lights of any type are distracting.

OldmanMondeo

_Brian wrote: »

Aparrently there was a huge movement to ban halogen bulbs in cars as people found them blinding compared to the standard tungsten bulbs of old.

Badly set lights of any type are distracting.

I can see all cars having Xenons and LEDs fitted in the future. Makes sense of the bulbs manufacture, bigger mark up on them.

yannakis

OldmanMondeo wrote: »

I can see all cars having Xenons and LEDs fitted in the future. Makes sense of the bulbs manufacture, bigger mark up on them.

LEDs are the future - for every type of light application out there!

Xenon bulbs are more expensive to make, sensitive to handle, and need support equipment (ballasts etc).

kirving

Voodoomelon wrote: »

Fact is, self levelling does not have the ability to compensate for steep inclines and declines or sharp bends. I get someone flashing me probably once a fortnight as I proceed over the top of local steep hills or around such sharp bends. The self levelling is unable to lower the projector low enough to stop the beam travelling into oncoming eyes, much like their cars are stuck pointing into my eyes at the same time.

Does the self leveling work continuously do you think? It would make sense that it does, so that your lights would point up when going through a dip in the road for example, and down if going over a bridge, but I don't think mine do that. They do a cool leveling adjustment when the car starts up though. :cool:

If newer cars do it, then great, but I think more of the issue is that nowadays, the dipped beams are so bright and have been designed to give their full brightness to the legal cut-off point, that any bump in the road blinds the other driver.

I was driving over a bumpy bog road and had to nearly come to a stop when coming against two separate 5 series as their lights were so bright. Weren't even on full beams either.

bazz26

I can see halogen headlights just being phased out and moving straight to a simple LED solution rather than xenon. Xenon is being phased out now and replaced with a more elaborate LED/laser type headlight.

bazz26

Interesting approach by the Chinese to dimwit drivers who dazzle other drivers with their lights:

http://news.sky.com/story/full-beam-drivers-in-china-forced-to-stare-into-car-headlights-10642777

The bleeding hearts and liberals here wouldn't stand for it here though. :pac:

pilly

blingrhino wrote: »

Whats the story with cnuts driving round with these extra bright lights day and night !
Surely they cant be road legal or nct passable.

You know the type of cars old Audis,Vw`s,the usual owl ****e.

Talking to a man who came off a motorcycle at speed who was blinded by said automobile as he came around a bend.

Oh thank god it's not just me who's noticed this, I keep thinking they've the full beams on. It's blinding!