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When driving at night, there now seems to be more glare than ever before.
With the new headlights being fitted there just seems to be a constant glare. This is more noticeable with cars up to 3 years old.
most cars have a thumbwheel to angle headlamps further down but very few seem to use this.
It seems bizarre when driving through town with street lights that oncoming cars have headlights and additional lights that just dazzle oncoming drivers and making it difficult to see beyond the glare
this is quite apart from older cars all of which seem to have at least one headlight badly aligned (is this not checked at MOT time)
Maybe time to rethink dim dip for town driving.
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Was dim dip meant for driving on? I thought it was just to prevent clots driving around on sidelights. DRLs make dim dip unnecessary.
DRLs of course are another offender - at twilight in daytime mode with the proper lights off, they are worse to look at than dipped headlights.
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DRLs of course are another offender
Most people I know including me drive on headlights during the day because of how bright the DRLs are, mine are projector headlights so not as bad as some lights but do find DRLs are far too bright, but reduce to half brightness while sidelights/headlights are on
it does surprise me other drivers don't do the same, not forgetting that some people when replacing headlight bulbs put them in upside down so the alignment is up and to the right blinding oncoming drivers, try telling some though they don't believe it when you tell em
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Re:"Was dim dip meant for driving on? I thought it was just to prevent clots driving around on sidelights."
I don't mind people driving around on sidelights. Havn't hit any yet, and if there's somebody driving on sidelights only in my field of vision, I can often see other stuff as well.
Considerate, I calls it, even if the cause is carelessness.
Robert-Oppenheimer-I-Am-Become-Death-The-Destroyer-Of-Worlds aftermarket thermonuclear LEDs, (very popular brand here), not so much.
I understand part of the problem is people fitting these into headlights designed for tungsten filament bulbs, (essentially a point-source) so they arent at the focus of the reflector and the light sprays around a lot more, plus there's a lot more of it.
Edited by edlithgow on 13/01/2019 at 03:55
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so they arent at the focus of the reflector and the light sprays around a lot more, plus there's a lot more of it.
I'm not so sure that's true in that I've never measured how many lumens are being distributed by these bulbs, most people are assuming this happens, HID and other extra bright bulbs can be worse than led bulbs
manufacturers should be getting bulb manufacturers making them to fit a car as standard bulbs do, I have seen many filament bulbs that are far too bright and led being blamed for it
although most vehicles don't need them, electric cars will have them as part of reduction in electricity needed to power the car ie every little helps
But I don't understand why these led bulbs to replace tfbs were not designed properly for all cars as they should have been
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so they arent at the focus of the reflector and the light sprays around a lot more, plus there's a lot more of it.
But I don't understand why these led bulbs to replace tfbs were not designed properly for all cars as they should have been
Just what I've read, but I think it may be an inherent limitation of the technology. The light emitting component is physically bigger, so the light source doesnt correspond to the original one in location or extent.
I'd speculate that it MIGHT be possible to partly work around this with a secondary reflector, but I dunno if that's true, and even if it is it'll put the cost up and block some of the light. They'd probably have to be customised for each headlamp design too, which is a cost/marketing disaster.
Punters like bright lights and some of them may not be too fussy about collateral dazzle.
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but I think it may be an inherent limitation of the technology
That I doubt, you can get torches with very small led device that are a lot brighter than a standard headlight bulb.
plus I`m not so sure the light from a standard bulb is as still as an led in that the filament is prone to vibration so the light source is moving around, even if its only a small amount, its still moving so the light cannot be a constant
a bulb like those in torches are much brighter than a headlamp but don't dazzle because of the reflectors design, so they shouldn't have a problem making reflectors for led headlamps
I am of the opinion all this rubbish about an led bulb being too bright for certain reflectors is a really good excuse to prevent people using a bulb that may never need replacing
example, years ago I bought a Rover estate with the 1.6 petrol and manual gearbox, its problem was it kept blowing bulbs, so replaced them all except headlight bulbs with LeD bulbs, never had a problem after that and they even worked after a rear ender wrote the car off
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but I think it may be an inherent limitation of the technology
That I doubt, you can get torches with very small led device that are a lot brighter than a standard headlight bulb.
I think the story relates to LED bub-substitutes mounted in reflectors not designed for them.The "inherent limitation" relates to this situation, and doesn't imply that LED lights per se are inherently faulty.
Which is what I wrote. I dunno if its true though.
I should really look into LED replacements because my headlights seem to be getting rather dim, but it'll probably be simpler just to replace the existing bulbs.
I found a load of 12V LED strips on the dump and was thinking of making some supplementary side/running lights, but I seem to have misplaced most of them.
I used some to replace the indicator repeater on one side (lost the bulb holder which wasn't working anyway). Other side got 4 Christmas tree bulbs in series. Very seasonal inspection pass, which wont dazzle anyone, but I dunno how long they'll last. LED's themselves should be fine but my dodgy improvised connectors probably won't last long.
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I think the story relates to LED bub-substitutes mounted in reflectors not designed for them.The "inherent limitation" relates to this situation, and doesn't imply that LED lights per se are inherently faulty.
I assume you didn't realise that's what I was talking about, where is the limitation, certainly not in power and most led substitutes are not that much brighter than standard bulbs.
though they are higher up on modern cars which I suspect the problem relates to which makes them appear brighter as they are more at eye level and more in the face
you should be able to get replacement led bulbs that plug straight in if you know the bulb no. so it wont cause any problems installing and usually the driver (voltage control circuit) is built in
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It’s only ‘old school’ halogen headlights that have a driver enabled levelling control. Anything with Xenon has to have, by law, a self-levelling system, and I believe that LED is the same.
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I would say that more taller 4x4 and crossover cars are partly to blame too.
Their oncoming headlights are at my head height when I'm sat in my little 206.
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I would say that more taller 4x4 and crossover cars are partly to blame too.
Their oncoming headlights are at my head height when I'm sat in my little 206.
Agreed. Most SUV and 4x4 vehicles are awful, as well as vans.
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The "bulb war" of headlight intensity has been raging for decades now (Remember the 1966 Monte Carlo Rally?) Halogen trumps tungsten, HID overpowers halogen then it's game set and match to LED. For me it's less of an issue in well lit urban areas (the few that remain!) but the glare of super-duper retina-melting headlights on a dark road puts me off night time driving completely.
Some sensible new rules are needed
* Maximum height for all dipped beams, regardless of the vehicle's height. (If next year's Cayenne ends up looking like a Mk.1 Fiat Multipla, i.e. even uglier than now, then tough luck.)
* DRLs go off when headlights are on.
* DRLs to be fitted, Mégane style, both front and rear.
* All dashboard instruments to be visible in daylight but under no circumstances illuminated until headlights are on (manually or automatically).
* Front foglights to be scrapped altogether. Their day has passed: low down they are next to useless and higher up they almost completely overlap with dipped beam.
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Some sensible new rules are needed
* Maximum height for all dipped beams, regardless of the vehicle's height. (If next year's Cayenne ends up looking like a Mk.1 Fiat Multipla, i.e. even uglier than now, then tough luck.)
* DRLs go off when headlights are on.
* DRLs to be fitted, Mégane style, both front and rear.
* All dashboard instruments to be visible in daylight but under no circumstances illuminated until headlights are on (manually or automatically).
* Front foglights to be scrapped altogether. Their day has passed: low down they are next to useless and higher up they almost completely overlap with dipped beam.
Totally agree with all except the last one.
Add the following:-
Dashboard warning light next to rear fog warning light for front fog lamps
For all cars except those with LED lights bulb failure warning system to be installed so the driver is made aware whenever a bulb has failed
Automatic high beam de-activate system whenever approaching another car with headlights illuminated
Automatic levelling of headlights for all cars, and removal of switch to adjust height
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Automatic levelling of headlights for all cars, and removal of switch to adjust height
Only if it's reliable. I regularly see this as an MOT failure, even when cars are only 3-5 years old.
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One other bad thing about more modern lighting systems is that, coming along with 'self-levelling' headlights are muliple failures of said system which, after three years, translate into MOT fails, seemingly because the driver doesn't know (no warning light?) it isn't working properly and the garage doesn't bother checking it during the service unless the owner asks them to.
What was wrong with a manually-adjusted system until manufacturers could design and install a bullet-proof auto-adjustment system, or at least one that gave a warning to the driver when in failed? Another new gizmo brought to market that wasn't needed seemingly before its reliability was proven.
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During the day time I am often blinded by motorbikes with one or more lights on high beam. There seems to be a trend to have one main light, and two small but very very bright sidelights. It's horrible. It's not uncommon that I have to look down rather than ahead, it's not safe. I can only think the light is adjusted when they are not on the bike, or they hate other road users.
I hate driving at night on B roads, and when it rains it's scary. The worst are vehicles with white lights, maybe HID or LED. Some even have banks of lights to maximise discomfort. I don't think I'm the only one. People in front of me are driving more slowly now that it gets dark during rush hour, and I've seen the aftermath of several nasty accidents recently, one car on its side, one car off the road with debris everywhere and a cyclist lying in the road, I normally don't see accidents on my commute, not during the lighter months last year.
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I've often thought a neat solution for motorbikes would be a yellow clip-on lens cover, like the old days of French motoring. The contrast of the yellow colour would make a motorcyclist instantly recognisable in daylight hours, and yellow could also be optional for night time use (probably more useful in built up areas with higher traffic density.) In fact IIRC yellow headlights are still legal in the UK anyway.
Edited by Bilboman on 11/01/2019 at 13:29
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I did a post on glaring headlights not long ago and many site members stated they weren't happy driving at night due to over bright lights. It's a real problem for me in my low down car but wonder if an SUV with a higher driving position would be easier at night.
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My car is a Honda CRV so is quite high up. I feel for those in cars with lower centres of gravity.
New headlights may be self leveling but it doesn't work from what Isee daily
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* Maximum height for all dipped beams, regardless of the vehicle's height. (If next year's Cayenne ends up looking like a Mk.1 Fiat Multipla, i.e. even uglier than now, then tough luck.)
Just to point out Bilboman, this is a MK1 Fiat Multipla,
autoweek.com/sites/default/files/styles/gen-1200-6...g
Is this what you are thinking of? ;)
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Odd isn't it? I mean as in what bothers people. I do huge annual mileages ( in a "low down" car ) many of them in the dark, and on all types of roads.
Other people's headlights, or any lights for that matter ( you hear some going on about brake lights etc ) just don't bother me at all, they are just there, doing their job of being lights.
And yet, some people genuinely seem to have a real problem with them. Makes me wonder if they have other vision issues perhaps? Is it something more prevalent among those who wear glasses for driving maybe?
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Odd isn't it? I mean as in what bothers people. I do huge annual mileages ( in a "low down" car ) many of them in the dark, and on all types of roads.
Other people's headlights, or any lights for that matter ( you hear some going on about brake lights etc ) just don't bother me at all, they are just there, doing their job of being lights.
And yet, some people genuinely seem to have a real problem with them. Makes me wonder if they have other vision issues perhaps? Is it something more prevalent among those who wear glasses for driving maybe?
I have regular eye tests, due to wearing glasses and contacts, even had one last weekend and mentioned issues with glare. My sight is fine, -0.75 and -2.0 diopter, minor astigmatism in one eye, all very mundane. It could be that glasses cause some glare, and as we age the cornea and lens become less transparent. I’m 55 by the way.
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* Maximum height for all dipped beams, regardless of the vehicle's height. (If next year's Cayenne ends up looking like a Mk.1 Fiat Multipla, i.e. even uglier than now, then tough luck.)
Just to point out Bilboman, this is a MK1 Fiat Multipla,
autoweek.com/sites/default/files/styles/gen-1200-6...g
Is this what you are thinking of? ;)
;-) (I have been out-pedanted, I fear.) I know which of these two would get more admiring glances on my way home, and which one is so truly, breathtakingly ugly that only its mother would call it handsome.
Exhibit A: Fiat 600 Multipla https://bit.ly/2THkCgD
Exhibit B: Fiat Multipla bit.ly/2VFV19T
Edited by Bilboman on 11/01/2019 at 19:03
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* Maximum height for all dipped beams, regardless of the vehicle's height. (If next year's Cayenne ends up looking like a Mk.1 Fiat Multipla, i.e. even uglier than now, then tough luck.)
Just to point out Bilboman, this is a MK1 Fiat Multipla,
autoweek.com/sites/default/files/styles/gen-1200-6...g
Is this what you are thinking of? ;)
;-) (I have been out-pedanted, I fear.) I know which of these two would get more admiring glances on my way home, and which one is so truly, breathtakingly ugly that only its mother would call it handsome.
Exhibit A: Fiat 600 Multipla https://bit.ly/2THkCgD
Exhibit B: Fiat Multipla bit.ly/2VFV19T
I bow down to your superior pedantry!, of course what i labelled the MK1 Multipla was indeed the 600 Multipla.
But i must also confess, perhaps unwisely, that i am a big fan of the 1998 Multipla! (not the 2004 restyle though).
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Not much wrong with the 600 Multipla. I love it, except for the crumple zone being the femurs of the driver and front seat passenger.
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During the day time I am often blinded by motorbikes with one or more lights on high beam.
You can get quite a jolt from a pushbike with a powerful flashing LED as well.
Yes, SUVs with higher-set lamps are a nuisance too, but the height is almost irrelevant when you allow for gentle slopes and bumps in the road. The overall unnecessarily high output is the real problem. I think is mostly down to the 'Be Seen' notion rather than just 'See'.
Edited by Andrew-T on 11/01/2019 at 17:17
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No one has mentioned cars with one headlamp that dazzles and one that doesn't, which either poor alignment of one, or stems from a bulb replacement where the person has not fitted the bulb fully and correctly, so gives the appearance of main beam.
As for self levelling lights, our Cooper S lights go up and down before settling, so you know the self levelling switch works. I will say that on a Mini, the front one under the engine is cheap metal and plastic, and has failed. The MoT man spotted it, not sure what it was so couldn't fail it, but then he knows I dont tolerate faults and fix em quick. Dealer fixed next day.
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Yes, push bike lights are often absent or stupid bright, flashing or not. I am occasionally completely blinded by a push bike light, and recently by a runner with a couple of search lights strapped to his body. I have some crazy bright lights for running, but I used to go cross country so did not blind drivers. I recall running through a pitch black wood, and someone with no light popped out from behind a tree and started abusing me for blinding him. Bizarre. Hi ho.
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...most cars have a thumbwheel to angle headlamps further down but very few seem to use this....
My car has Xenon lights and no thumbwheel - they are supposed to autolevel. I'm not convinced this is as effective as it could be.
WHat I have noticed is that I only get flashed by other people when the headlight lenses are dirty. I'm guessing the dirt somehow diffracts the beam? THe washer system isn't enough to clear the dirt - I use a damp cloth from time to time.
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Less of the "Any".
MY headlights wouldn't dazzle an oncoming owl flying and staring directly down the full beam.
Which is nice, if you're an owl.
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