Over bright headlights

[Rutty]

2 hours ago, Rubce said:

Nightbreaker bulbs get my vote and are fitted to both our Stag and GT6.

Bruce

They get my vote too, they are just as good as LEDs in fact the ones in my Vitesse are better than the LEDs on my brand new Citroen and look right for the age of the car.

[Buttercup]

Took these photos early in the morning on a straight and flat road (rare in North Wales) and happy with my original lights on my Spitfire, I can see where I am going! 😀

Edited November 11, 2023 by Buttercup

[Pierre]

Nightbreakers on my TR6 were excellent for main beam but very disappointing on dipped.  Now with LEDs , including side lights and indicators - I will not be going back to incandescents for any of them!

Also using LED daylight Running Lights - excellent safety addition for modern driving conditions.

Edited November 12, 2023 by Pierre
Added info.

[Howard]

I totally agree with fitting daytime running lights to come on automatically whenever the ignition is on.

H

[PeteStupps]

11 minutes ago, Howard said:

I totally agree with fitting daytime running lights to come on automatically whenever the ignition is on.

Really? I'm surprised. I think it's ridiculous to see cars driving around in blazing sunshine with their lights on. I understand it's the compromise for preventing people driving in the dark with no lights. It just seems to me that the more idiot-proof they make the world, the more idiotic we all become.

[Rubce]

Daylight running lights on cars in the UK simply make it more dangerous for motorcyclists!

You used to be able to spot a motorbike by their headlight. These days they just merge into the maze of bright led car lamps.

Bruce

Edited November 12, 2023 by Rubce

[Howard]

Daytime running lights come from Scandinavia where it was found to overall reduce the number of accidents.

Low level ( below bumper) lights like mine are unlikely to be mistaken for motorcycle lights, but the cars with then installed at headlight level are clearly a concern.

[Pierre]

I fitted DRLs (below the front bumper) because there are many light conditions where spotting an oncoming car can be difficult, such as a road with trees or bushes along the verge that with a bright sun cause light and dark areas on the road surface - can you be sure that oncoming traffic can see you?  I had a recent trip to Norfolk when these circumstances arose and it was worrying, particularly as almost everyone else had bright lights on the front of their cars.

I have to say that I feel so much safer now and have agreater peace of mind, knowing that I am visible to all oncoming traffic.

Fair comment ref-motorcyclists, but many of them would be well advised to not use main beam as they can be quite dazzling - the same could be said of some car drivers as well, of course.

Edited November 14, 2023 by Pierre
Correct typos - again

[Clive]

Indeed, with my spitfire I feel quite vulnerable, and the relatively low height means drivers don't see you. I have been hit twice while stationary. One range rover backed into me in a queue into a Goodwood carpark after he had been refused entry (My fault apparently, as my car was too small!) and another time in a queue where the inside lane started moving, and the alfa behind "forgot we were there"

So we need ALL the help we can get!

[Rutty]

I have to agree that the not having DRLs has started making me feel a bit vulnerable. In my opinion other drivers become so accustomed to to DLRs they stopping looking for cars and just look for lights. If they see no lights they see no car.
My new Citroen are has rear DRLs as well as front like the old Volvos and Saabs.

[Adrian Cooper]

I'm with Pierre, Howard, Clive and Rutty. My Spitfire had seemed to have become invisible on the road now that everybody else has DRL. I have wired the side lights to come on with the ignition (via a relay) but I put a diode in the circuit to stop the rears coming on too, on the basis that the brake lights need all the contrast they can get.

Bizarrely, my modern (a 22 year old Saab) doesn't have DRL.

[Tim Bancroft]

When I used my GT6 as a daily driver in the 80s, I always drove with the lights on. The car is Royal blue.

Can't see the point of fitting DRLs to my GT6, would almost look inappriopriate, so I switch the lights on.

[Colin Cutts]

Don’t you use more fuel with the lights on continuously ?

[Rosbif]

56 minutes ago, Colin Cutts said:

Don’t you use more fuel with the lights on continuously ?

That was a point raised here in France a few years back when someone proposed making it a requirement for cars not equipped with daylight running lights to have dipped headlights on at all times. The counter argument was just that point about increased fuel consumption

[JohnD]

Yes, but it's trivial.   I copy this from one Bill Soo, who replied to a similar Q elsewhere;

Headlights, if not LED, typically use 65W with high beam and 45W with low beam.   So suppose you have 2 lights on low beam for 1 hour.   That is 90 Wh (watt-hour) or 0.90 kWh.

Gasoline contains about 36 kWh per gallon but the efficiency of gasoline engines is very poor. On average it is about 40%. The alternator itself is only about 55% efficient and the belt that connects the engine to the alternator is 98% efficient. Taken together, this translates to an overall efficiency of about 21%. So that 36kWh only comes to 7.56 kWh.

Therefore, keeping your headlights on for an hour will cost an additional 0.12 gallons of gas.

I agree with his argument, but think that an alternator is more like 70% efficient, s the fuel cost is even less.

John

[Steve P]

My Vitesse got hit by a chap in a VW Touareg when I was behind him at a roundabout waiting to go, he decided he was in the wrong lane and started to reverse, straight into my newly painted bonnet. Couldn`t see me but paid up straight away.

On the subject of DRL,I went from Surrey to Beaulieu today in heavy rain all the way, you would be amazed at how many vehicles had no lights on at all. Clowns. I find driving standards now appalling, Make it a 4 lane motorway?, great we`ll all sit in lane 3.

S

[Dannyb]

Many drivers rely on auto lights which hardly ever come on in the rain. I think they have forgotten how to manually switch them on.

Danny

[Rosbif]

2 hours ago, Dannyb said:

Many drivers rely on auto lights which hardly ever come on in the rain. I think they have forgotten how to manually switch them on.

Danny

Not just auto lights, surprising how many older cars don't have lights on in poor weather. 

[GT64fun]

18 hours ago, Dannyb said:

Many drivers rely on auto lights which hardly ever come on in the rain

And they don't work in fog either! (Porsche ones don't anyway)

[DVD3500]

3 hours ago, GT64fun said:

And they don't work in fog either! (Porsche ones don't anyway)

I can count the number of time BMW drivers indicators have worked on one hand... 😄

 

[GT64fun]

On 14/11/2023 at 09:54, JohnD said:

Headlights, if not LED, typically use 65W with high beam and 45W with low beam.   So suppose you have 2 lights on low beam for 1 hour.   That is 90 Wh (watt-hour) or 0.90 kWh.

Gasoline contains about 36 kWh per gallon but the efficiency of gasoline engines is very poor. On average it is about 40%. The alternator itself is only about 55% efficient and the belt that connects the engine to the alternator is 98% efficient. Taken together, this translates to an overall efficiency of about 21%. So that 36kWh only comes to 7.56 kWh.

Therefore, keeping your headlights on for an hour will cost an additional 0.12 gallons of gas.

That seems a bit high.

By my reckoning, 90Wh = 90/1000=0.09kWh.

With John's 70% efficient alternator, the calorific value of a gallon of petrol (assuming the 36kWh figure is right) is 36x(0.4x0.7x0.98)=9.88kWh.

The extra fuel used per hour is therefore 0.09/9.88=0.0091 gals, which at £1.50/liter is about £0.06.

I can cope with that.

Ian

[JohnD]

Many drivers rely on auto lights which hardly ever come on in the rain

GT64Fun said :And they don't work in fog either! (Porsche ones don't anyway)

DVD35900 said: I can count the number of time BMW drivers indicators have worked on one hand... 😄

It's always good to have your prejudices confirmed!

A paper published in the Journal of Social Marketing shows that, in the UK,  BMWs, Subarus and Porches are significantly more likely to be involved in an accident than other makes. See:  Exploring the relationship between car brands and risky driving | Emerald Insight but beware- to download the paper will cost you £27!

But the Guardian is your friend as they have done that, so you don't have to: See BMW, Subaru and Porsche drivers ‘more likely to cause a crash’, study finds | Automotive industry | The Guardian     The paper's authors suggest that marketing to  "celebrate performance driving, look at me, king-of-the-road stuff” is at fault.    

John

Edited November 15, 2023 by JohnD

[Pierre]

John, just a minor point re your calls of power consumption of headlights,

I think you would find many cars  consume around 100W for two headlights and that your conversion to kWh is out by a factor or 10,  ie your 90Wh becomes 0.09kWh.

Sorry Ian, I missed your earlier post re kWh

 

Edited November 16, 2023 by Pierre
Edition of final sentence.

[JohnD]

Whatever.

I  think that all this demonstrates that  the cost in fuel of daylight runners is trivial!

[Velocita Rosso]

Don`t you just love posts that wander off the original topic ....and in the wrong place