For the glare police

[Russell]

Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd
Originally Posted By: Smokescreen
glare cap....that's a good one. Less than 1% of the light comes through the end of that thin bulb....its the entire not-made-for-HID bulb optics that the enclosure produces as glare.


+1

Additionally, the glare caps in OEM reflector housings are designed as an integral part of the housing. The optics depend on a precisely-shaped cap to work. Sticking a hat on the tip of the bulb will most likely be ineffectual. But my mind is open if the company could produce any before/after pictures.


Before and after pictures would sure help. I went to their web site. Their prices are much higher than most on-line suppliers.

 

[rslifkin]

Depending on the bulb's radiation pattern relative to what the housing is designed for, and how much the cap alters it, it may either make a small difference, or a huge one. It wouldn't have the same effect in every vehicle.

 

[Drew2000]

Aren't the tips of many halogen bulbs coated black or silver, essentially a "cap", to prevent forward light on housings that dont have a integral one (like most motorcycle H4 headlamps)??

 

[severach]

Originally Posted By: milwaukee
why do some idiots drive at night with parking lights and fog lights only?

I retrofitted fog lamps onto a car and found that in the driving snow low fogs without headlamps provided much better visibility than low fogs with headlamps. The improvement was almost as much as switching to low beams from high beams. The reason it works is because the snow provides all the light spreading you need from down below without the glare from the light originating too high. Unfortunately the policeman that stopped me didn't agree so I've run the headlamps ever since. I will just have to get used to hitting stuff.

For those who don't drive in snow, high beams in snow is the same as throwing a bed sheet over your windshield. Visibility drop to zero.

I have yet to meet a HID that didn't suck, OEM or retro. They are barely tolerable in dry weather but when precipitation comes they are horrendous. When the pavement is wet more light does nothing for the driver. All it does is shine more at the others. Somehow the pale yellow light works pretty well in all weather conditions.

Someone was definitely sleeping on the job to allow HID to be legal.

 

[Colt45ws]

Originally Posted By: severach
Originally Posted By: milwaukee
why do some idiots drive at night with parking lights and fog lights only?

I retrofitted fog lamps onto a car and found that in the driving snow low fogs without headlamps provided much better visibility than low fogs with headlamps. The improvement was almost as much as switching to low beams from high beams. The reason it works is because the snow provides all the light spreading you need from down below without the glare from the light originating too high. Unfortunately the policeman that stopped me didn't agree so I've run the headlamps ever since. I will just have to get used to hitting stuff.

For those who don't drive in snow, high beams in snow is the same as throwing a bed sheet over your windshield. Visibility drop to zero.

I have yet to meet a HID that didn't suck, OEM or retro. They are barely tolerable in dry weather but when precipitation comes they are horrendous. When the pavement is wet more light does nothing for the driver. All it does is shine more at the others. Somehow the pale yellow light works pretty well in all weather conditions.

Someone was definitely sleeping on the job to allow HID to be legal.

So, what you do is like that other guy and resistor the lows during the winter as to be dim enough to not be as much of a hindrance. Hey, They are on, right?

 

[cbear]

Quote:

So, what you do is like that other guy and resistor the lows during the winter as to be dim enough to not be as much of a hindrance. Hey, They are on, right?


Basically like daytime running lights.

 

[Hokiefyd]

Originally Posted By: severach
I retrofitted fog lamps onto a car and found that in the driving snow low fogs without headlamps provided much better visibility than low fogs with headlamps. The improvement was almost as much as switching to low beams from high beams.


I agree. I put OEM fogs into my old '07 Corolla and drove through a, well, a driving snow storm once. Visibility with the headlamps on was poor due to all the back-statter. But with just the foglamps on, I could see MUCH better. The falling snow (large, wet flakes) wasn't lit up with the headlamps off.

 

[rslifkin]

Yup. I find my factory fog lights (true fog pattern, very low and wide) useful for 2 things: very heavy rain, to supplement low beams without adding glare, and snow.

 

[Smokescreen]

Which are conditions which they are intended for...an of course fog....

 

[rslifkin]

Exactly. So many cars have these so-called "fog lights" that are really glare monster driving lights, and yet people leave them on all the time. It's nice to have something with real fog lights.

 

[Hokiefyd]

Originally Posted By: rslifkin
It's nice to have something with real fog lights.


It'd be even nicer if people cut them off in conditions for which they're not warranted (which is 99% of the time). Some countries have laws against improper fog lamp use. Sometimes I wish ours did as well...or at least I wish our driving public was more cognizant of what they're doing.

 

[rslifkin]

I agree with that too. People ask me all the time "why aren't your fog lights on" when I'm driving at night.

 

[Russell]

When is the best time to use fog lamps besides heavy fog? I do not use mine in light fog as I do not see any improvement. I also have noticed they help in a snow fall. Mine are BMW OE halogen. How about other times of low visibility such as near dark?

However, just to drive with them on all the time is without reason. I see it all the time on pickups and mostly LARGE suvs. No visible fog yet the fog lights blazing.

 

[Hokiefyd]

I see a lot of people driving with the side markers on, with the fogs on, and thinking they look cool. They draw my attention, but I'm likely not thinking what they wish I were thinking.

 

[Ken2]

Originally Posted By: Ursae_Majoris
I was followed by lifted up truck last evening, that had aftermarket HIDs in headlights and foglights. They were all on, at 5 o'clock at night with no hint of fog in the air. (BTW, the sun does not set until 10 in the evening at this time of the year in AK, in case you are wondering) I turned my rear view mirror on the night mode, and it still was bright.

Wouldn't it be great to have a kid in the back with a big mirror to reflect the truck's lights back into that driver's eyes? (I know, not smart nor safe, but maybe satisfying.)
Originally Posted By: Russell
When is the best time to use fog lamps besides heavy fog?

Nothing works well in heavy fog. Some things (high beams, blue bulbs, retro-HID) work terribly. "Fog" lights work great on wet or snowy roads.

 

[chevrofreak]

I installed a DDM Raptor V2 9006 HID kit in my 96 Crown Vic, and the output is extremely impressive. The problem is that I was getting flashed pretty often; especially on the interstate. Standing in front of the car it was pretty obvious that at certain angles there was tremendous glare. The way my headlight lens is deigned, there is a square dead center in the lens that spreads out the light, and then to either side of that there are parts that don't have as much of the fresnel type lensing effect (http://monsterautoparts.com/FORD/CROWN VIC/_CROWN VIC IMAGES/3221-0013R.jpg the left side is the low beam, right side is high beam). Those smoother areas allowed oncoming drivers a straight in view at the HID bulb, and it was very blinding. My solution was to paint the tip of the bulb with some high temperature spray paint (found at Lowes, resists heat up to 2000F). I painted from the top of the oval capsule all the way up the tip. That made a dramatic difference, but it still wasn't quite enough. I noticed that the bottom of the reflector was still throwing enough light at oncoming drivers to blind them. I took the bulbs out and painted a band under the length of the oval arc capsule, half way up the side of the bulb. That has eliminated nearly all of the glare, and I have yet to be flashed a single time since this modification. Light output is somewhat reduced, but not by much. I've even re-aimed my beams, raising them by about 6" at 25 feet because they were aimed for police use, with heavy equipment in the trunk. Still no flashes.

 

[chevrofreak]

Yes I am aware that there are some bubbles in the paint. I experimented using the drivers side headlamp, doing one light coat at a time, and adding more as I changed the shape. I was letting the paint flash, then connecting the bulb and letting it smoke before putting it in the housing, because that smoke would have messed the reflector up. Once I had the shape down, I did the passenger side bulb all in one whack, and it got several coats at once. When I cooked the paint off, it bubbled. The bulb has a dozen hours on it since I painted it, and there are no signs of the paint actually coming off. The paint used was Rustoleum High Heat.

 

[Russell]

Originally Posted By: chevrofreak

Yes I am aware that there are some bubbles in the paint. I experimented using the drivers side headlamp, doing one light coat at a time, and adding more as I changed the shape. I was letting the paint flash, then connecting the bulb and letting it smoke before putting it in the housing, because that smoke would have messed the reflector up. Once I had the shape down, I did the passenger side bulb all in one whack, and it got several coats at once. When I cooked the paint off, it bubbled. The bulb has a dozen hours on it since I painted it, and there are no signs of the paint actually coming off. The paint used was Rustoleum High Heat.


You have time on your hands.

Actually it is cool that you are experimenting to benefit the rest of us. BTW, I believe someone noted, may have been this tread, that an hid vender sells hid bulbs with "shields".

 

[chevrofreak]

I saw those shields, but in my case they would not have been enough. With just the tip covered, you would still be able to look through those "windows" in my headlight lenses, straight at the arc.

 

[Spazdog]

Anybody else notice that the W211 E-Class Mercedes Benzes have a particularly "glarey" HID.

I saw one the other day near sundown and it almost looked like it had a photographic "Starlight" filter. I've seen a couple since then and they have had the same effect.