Is it time to ban LED Headlights

Halogens were fine when everyone was using halogens. Only once we started getting brighter types of bulb and high kelvin it became an issue. Also didn't cost 2-3 grand to replace.
 
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No, they were not fine. Every car I've had with halogen headlights had poor headlights, the worst being a Mini.

Xenon headlights are considerably better and a major contribution to safety when driving at night, the move to LED headlights hasn't really improved the performance, it seems mostly about cost and efficiency.

The next upgrade comes when you have intelligent high beam systems which are also very good.
 
Nasher said:
Halogens were fine when everyone was using halogens. Only once we started getting brighter types of bulb and high kelvin it became an issue. Also didn't cost 2-3 grand to replace.
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Spoken like someone who has forgotten just how bad halogens were in comparison to Xenon/LED.

I recently had reason to drive a car (at night) with halogens for the first time in ages and initially I was thinking the lights weren't on or there was a bulb out. But no, reasonably new Philips bulbs fitted, working just fine. Absolutely shocking road illumination compared to modern stuff.
 
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Nasher said:
Halogens were fine when everyone was using halogens. Only once we started getting brighter types of bulb and high kelvin it became an issue. Also didn't cost 2-3 grand to replace.
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i will agree with the price replacing them being a concern (obviously the theory is they (LED lights) last the life of the car , I just hope they do and that is ignoring collisions damaging them.

but halogens are, were and always have been rubbish, it was just that some cars were more rubbish than others.

I would say xenons are a sweet spot on terms of performance and cost, tho they have the disadvantage of being really inefficient.

I have had poorly aligned halogens (on my fiat coupe after an accident) and I was getting flashed all the time even when dipped.

however I only ever got flashed with xenons with my 350z.when on a hill or I forgot to dip (not that I did that often)

in 18 months of owning my current car with auto adjusting full beam LEDs.i have never been flashed

so I would say it's more about badly aligned lights or people running full beam when should be dipped causing issues rather than the technology being a problem
 
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danlightbulb said:
Yeah same, doesn't seem to affect me too much. I also don't tend to need sunglasses to drive in bright sunshine. Some people must have more sensitive eyes than others.
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How is your night vision, though?
Could you safely drive down a country lane at night with just your sidelights on?

I'm often told to either get my eyes checked or to just give up driving altogether because I find car lights too bright... but if someone needs lights with millions of lumens blasting out all over the road in order to see, perhaps they're the ones who need their eyes checking?

bigmike20vt said:
so I would say it's more about badly aligned lights or people running full beam when should be dipped causing issues rather than the technology being a problem
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Alignment is one thing, but with LED lights I'd say the focus is the bigger factor.
I'm into torches somewhat and there's often a massive difference between models with the same lumen output, which is almost entirely down to the reflector. Some are more like spots where others are flood, so in the case of car headlights chucking out 4K lm the latter would be what causes the problem - The wider the beam dispersal, the more you're likely to blind people, and alignment mechanisms don't alter the beam pattern.
 
ttaskmaster said:
How is your night vision, though?
Could you safely drive down a country lane at night with just your sidelights on?

I'm often told to either get my eyes checked or to just give up driving altogether because I find car lights too bright... but if someone needs lights with millions of lumens blasting out all over the road in order to see, perhaps they're the ones who need their eyes checking?


Alignment is one thing, but with LED lights I'd say the focus is the bigger factor.
I'm into torches somewhat and there's often a massive difference between models with the same lumen output, which is almost entirely down to the reflector. Some are more like spots where others are flood, so in the case of car headlights chucking out 4K lm the latter would be what causes the problem - The wider the beam dispersal, the more you're likely to blind people, and alignment mechanisms don't alter the beam pattern.
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Chances are if someone needs glasses, their night vision is going to be poor. Glasses help with focus but not that. People with dark eyes also are less light sensitive.

Also all the LEDs in the dashboard and interiors of modern cars won't help with being able to see out of the windscreen at night, especially if they are white or blue. It's the same as trying to see stars with street lights nearby. They should be red or a dim yellow, but that isn't fashionable.
 
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Nasher said:
Chances are if someone needs glasses, their night vision is going to be poor. Glasses help with focus but not that.
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I wear them for driving, but my night vision seems to be pretty good compared to the average person.

Nasher said:
People with dark eyes also are less light sensitive.
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Do they also have poor night vision, thus needing insanely bright headlights?

Nasher said:
Also all the LEDs in the dashboard and interiors of modern cars won't help with being able to see out of the windscreen at night, especially if they are white or blue.
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That's why you have the dimmer control...
 
bigmike20vt said:
but halogens are, were and always have been rubbish, it was just that some cars were more rubbish than others.
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Yeth they were a revelation compared to the Acetylene gas lamps that came before.

I'm sure in another century we'll look back at the idea of LED lights on cars as some archaic method of driving at night.
 
ttaskmaster said:
Surely that means we should all be driving with HUD/HMDs and NVG on our vehicles, by now?
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I wish! I'd happily drive around at night wearing a set of mid-wave IR googles (rather than light intensifying types) with mid-wave IR headlamps (no visible light) after experiencing how good modern military IR HMD's can be at work. Sadly I don't think this'll ever be an option due to the "but then no-one can see you" aspect of them and if you still had to have lights it's a bit pointless really.
 
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Nasher said:
Chances are if someone needs glasses, their night vision is going to be poor. Glasses help with focus but not that.
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Why would needing glasses make your night vision worse, myopia doesn't give you worse night vision beyond the worse focus that glasses themselves correct? I mean there is a risk of glare from the glasses themselves but most modern glasses have coatings that mean there is little or no glare.

Nasher said:
People with dark eyes also are less light sensitive.
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I'm not sure what you mean here, but people with dark eyes will - if anything - have better night vision and be less bothered by glare from headlights since the Iris cuts out more stray light. Although, as far as I can tell, whilst there is evidence showing measurable differences in stray light there isn't any evidence of functional differences in night vision ability or any research specific to driving as far as eye colour is concerned.
 
ianh said:
Sadly I don't think this'll ever be an option due to the "but then no-one can see you" aspect of them and if you still had to have lights it's a bit pointless really.
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I imagine there are ways to illuminate a vehicle enough for pedestrians, without whiting out NVG.
Running lights that aren't a billion lumens, for example, as seen on many HGVs.
 
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