Dazzling LED car headlights

Scrapit

Definitely get your eyes checked.

marlot

I found that the HID lights on my car are very sensitive to dirty lenses.

When they're clean they seem to be fine. When they're mucky I get flashed sometimes. The headlight washers seem to make very little difference.

In murky weather I now give them a once over with a damp cloth before starting the journey.

sevenhills

facade wrote: »

A discussion we've had before, but in The Olden Days, people had this hang-up about "dazzle", so we had things like yellow headlights and dimmers for the brake & indicator lamps.

In the 70/80s the UK Government brought in dim/dip headlight. It solved the problem of too bright headlights, now even sidelights are too bright.
It was the EU that killed of dim/dip, maybe Boris is the man to solve this issue.

phatwa

I have LEDs on my car, I didn't ask for them to be put on! I feel sorry for other drivers, they are too bright, often other cars flash me which I understand. I sometimes flash back to let them know that mine aren't on.


What annoys me is those drivers that flash me just as they're passing, which gives me no time to flash back.



One solution, ish, is to buy a new car with auto dimming windscreen. But of course they're expensive, so the antiglare night glasses are the best bet,.

facade

phatwa wrote: »

I have LEDs on my car, I didn't ask for them to be put on!

Me too. Different thread but they were part of the huge price hike I had to pay over the perfectly adequate poverty spec. just to get the one thing I wanted- automatic transmission.


Halogen bulbs work perfectly well, and cost less than a fiver. LEDs don't last very long (if the driver circuit doesn't fail they get dimmer and dimmer and dimmer just through use....) and cost hundreds, as you have to change the whole lamp. (And it can only be set up using massively expensive equipment and a highly trained technician @£100 an hour no doubt)



However as marlot says, they have to be clean, and come with headlamp washers. They also have to be kept level with complicated circuitry and sensors on the axles. (Even more to go wrong....)




Yes they seem "brighter" than the halogen bulbs in the other car, but I think that is purely the harsh whiteness of the light rather than more light on the road.

Marvel1

You are not the only one, they are a !!!!ing nightmare, on the motorway when its dark, if I have one of those !!!!! behind me, i slow down (foot off accelerator, not braking) and wait for the !!!! to overtake.

Note: I drive daily at 6:15, 21:15 and 22:15 on the motorway in the dark (this is winter months) and most behind are not a problem.

Rolandtheroadie

Scrapit wrote: »

Definitely get your eyes checked.

Just scrolling down to see if this had been suggested.
Should be the first port of call.

sevenhills

phatwa wrote: »

I have LEDs on my car, I didn't ask for them to be put on! I feel sorry for other drivers, they are too bright, often other cars flash me which I understand.

In my last, Renault Megane, the sidelights were rather dim, so I put LED bulbs in. Uses less volts from your battery too, that saves fuel.

They seemed perfectly ok, so LEDs can work. Which is why the Government brought in Dim/dip headlights.
The EU/UK need to look at the regulations and state the required 'candelas'(brightness).

sevenhills

Rolandtheroadie wrote: »

Just scrolling down to see if this had been suggested. Should be the first port of call.

I get mine checked every two years, I only wear reading glasses, they are optional.

mchale

Guesses wrote: »

Please don't do this. It's very annoying.

When people do it to me I don't flash them back, I just put my full beams on and leave them on.

one word sums you up: d1!!head