Major Psychotic Fucking Hatreds: Roadkill Edition

[blas]

Fucking morons, whether they are unsure of where they are going or totally sure, who whip it in front of me with barely any room (bonus, no signalling), then immediately start slamming the brakes.

Idiot last night was doing that.....I think he was the former and not the latter of the above, because just about every damn 50 feet he was hitting the brakes and looking around. And yet, he had to be in front of me so badly.

[DeltaSierra]

I feel sorry for anybody who has photophobia, as Daytime Running Lights must be a pain (literally.) That said, I grew up in the PNW, which for anybody who lives there is known as the Pacific North Wet, and DLR's are a Godsend in constant rain/drizzle especially if you live in an area like I did where it seems everybody drove a grey/silver vehicle which practically disappears in the mist/drizzle during the day. Before cars came out with DLR's, I had quite a few close calls because you couldn't see these grey/silver vehicles until they were practically a couple feet away from you.

[AmbrosiaWriter]

People who have halogen headlights.

That is all.

[Jay 2K Winger]

I have a new one to add after today. This happened TWICE at the same intersection.

There's a stoplight, and a separated right turn lane-- y'know, where there's a little median block between the intersection and the right lane.

There's two lanes in each direction, with a third lane going for a short distance after the turn. The right-turn lane has a Yield sign, of course, but TWICE today I ended up stuck behind someone who STOPPED behind that little median block thing, instead of pulling forward into that third lane.

Even when the traffic was pretty fucking light.

AAAAAARGH.

[wolfie]

People who have halogen headlights.

That is all.

How are halogen headlights bad? After all, most cars built in the past 30 years have them. What I hate are the HID (gas-discharge) lights.

[AmbrosiaWriter]

How are halogen headlights bad? After all, most cars built in the past 30 years have them. What I hate are the HID (gas-discharge) lights.

My car is a 2000 Toyota Solara and it doesn't have halogens. Halogens are blindingly bright even when they don't have the high-beams on. Driving at night with people going in the opposite direction (or god forbid, right behind you) with halogens is terrible. It kills and any all night vision in a flash (>_> pun, heerrrrrr) even when you don't look at them. It freaks me out because once they pass I can't see a damn thing outside of my own headlights, and it takes up to 30 (if not more) minutes for full night vision to return.

Ugh. Oh yeah, it's great that YOU can see better with the damn things, too bad everyone else around you can't see a freaking thing!

[EricKei]

I have only noticed halogens being "common" in the past maybe 5-7 years...so six of one half a dozen of the other ^_^ They still seem rare enough, from what I've seen, to be optional add-ons.

The halogen lights themselves are not the issue -- it's when people use them at times they are not needed ("not needed", at least here in the south, is 99% of the time). Many people seem to just leave them on all the time, tho these are the same idiots who use their brights during the day. Or worse, "blue" halogen lights...Which, afaik, have been banned in many places.

[wolfie]

My car is a 2000 Toyota Solara and it doesn't have halogens. Halogens are blindingly bright even when they don't have the high-beams on.

What's the part number on the replacement bulb for your headlights? It's probably a halogen without you realizing it.

[EricKei]

I'm curious now, wolfie, though i doubt that my built-ins are halogens ^_^ I drive a 2000 grand marquis, feel free to look up the info. All I know is, even my brights don't seem all that bright. I do know for a fact that my car does NOT have separate halogens mounted under the normal headlights.

[wolfie]

My car is a 2000 Toyota Solara and it doesn't have halogens.

I'm curious now, wolfie, though i doubt that my built-ins are halogens ^_^ I drive a 2000 grand marquis

Checked the bulb cross-reference at Canadian Tire, and according to it the Mercury uses 9007 bulbs, and the Toyota uses 9003 bulbs. Both are halogens.

Perhaps it's an issue of similar terms getting confused by people not into light bulb tech?

- Halogen: A type of incandescent that's more efficient (lumens per watt) than conventional incandescents because it operates at a higher filament temperature. DO NOT touch the bulb envelope with bare hands, or if you do, clean it with isopropyl alcohol - at operating temperatures, skin oils will "cook", resulting carbon deposits will absorb energy and heat up, hot spots will cause bulb breakage.

- Metal halide: A type of gas discharge bulb

- Xenon: Can be either a type of gas discharge bulb (electronic flash units are xenon discharge), or a fill gas for incandescents. In the context of headlights, it's unlikely to be an incandescent, since Xenon-filled incandescent bulbs are less efficient than halogens.

- Blue bulbs: Halogen bulbs where the bulb envelope is dyed blue, in an attempt (purely cosmetic) to look more like gas discharge headlights. Not street legal in either Canada or the U.S.

"Gotcha" for users of 9004 and 9007 bulbs: These bulbs are mechanically and electrically, but not optically, interchangeable (one has filaments running fore-and-aft, the other has them running side-to-side). What this means is that if you try to install the wrong bulb, it will fit, the filaments will be the same wattage as the correct bulb, and be connected to the same pins on the plug, but the filament will not be positioned where the designer of the reflector/lens assembly expected it to be. As a result, you'll get too much light going where it doesn't belong, and not enough going where it does belong.

Gas discharge (a.k.a. HID) headlights run at a higher colour temperature (equivalent temperature for a "blackbody" to produce that colour of light - the filament of an incandescent lamp is a pretty close approximation of a "blackbody") than halogens, so they're more to the blue end of the spectrum. If not set up properly (retrofits where the WHOLE lens/reflector/lamp assembly isn't designed from scratch CAN'T be set up properly, since the arc doesn't have the same output/location characteristics as a filament - as a result, HID retrofit kits that use your existing lens/reflector are not street legal), they can produce a LOT of glare.

History lesson: Halogen bulbs for car headlights were introduced in North America in the 1970s. Prior to this, there were 4 types of headlights: round 4-lamp sealed beams, round 2-lamp sealed beams, rectangular 4-lamp sealed beams, and rectangular 2-lamp sealed beams ("sealed beam" meaning the reflector and lens formed the bulb envelope). They were initially offered as retrofit kits, with a lens-and-reflector assembly that would replace the sealed beam unit, and a bulb that would fit into the lens-and-reflector assembly. Later on, when lamps other than these 4 standard ones were permitted (i.e. aero headlights with a "permanent" lens and reflector), they took the 900x series of halogen bulbs. Sealed beam lights are still available (my truck uses the 4-lamp rectangular), but these have a halogen bulb inside, rather than having the lens and reflector be the lamp envelope for a conventional (non-halogen) incandescent. You don't need to worry about touching these because the actual bulb envelope is out of reach unless you break the lens or reflector to get at it.

Science lesson: The higher the filament temperature, the more lumens per watt an incandescent bulb will deliver. Unfortunately, increasing the filament temperature also reduces lamp life, since it increases the rate at which tungsten sublimes from the filament (the reason incandescent bulbs tend to go black on the inside as they age). A halogen bulb has a small amount of (naturally) halogen (usually iodine) inside, and has a quartz envelope rather than conventional glass (to handle the higher temperature). At normal operating temperatures, the halogen will react with tungsten deposited on the inside of the envelope, "scavenging" it and putting it into circulation inside the bulb. When convection currents bring the tungsten halide in contact with the filament, it breaks down into metallic tungsten (redeposited onto the filament) and halogen gas (which is then available to "scavenge" more tungsten from the envelope). This "halogen cycle" redeposition is what allows the lamp to run at a higher filament temperature and still have an acceptable bulb life.

[EricKei]

Deffo a terminology issue, thanks! ^_^

When i say "Halogens", I'm thinking of the really bright "fog-cutter" lamps that are typically mounted underneath the main carriage. Often small & square or rectangular (as opposed to being comparatively huge and shaped by the whim of the designer), always brighter than "bright" headlamps. Even my brights ain't all that bright ~_~

[wolfie]

From your description, those are one of 2 types of light. Most of the time, they're aftermarket, and they're rarely installed properly.

Fog lights: These have a wider and shorter-range pattern than low beams. When PROPERLY set up, they are aimed low (so the beam lights up the road, rather than reflecting off the fog), and are usually set up so they'll only come on when the headlights are on low beam. If they're aimed too high, they're worse than useless - almost like using high beams in fog. They can be either clear or amber, and (as their name implies) should only be used in fog.

Driving lights: These have a narrower and longer-range pattern than high beams. They're intended to let people drive faster than they can with high beams and still not "overdrive their vision", but with very few exceptions (I80 across the salt flats in Utah is one of them) road contours will cut off the useful beam (shine into the pavement, into the sky, or off to the side) before their extended range can do any good. In other words, they're pretty much useless. They should ONLY be used when the high beams are on, and only on straight flat roads, but assholes LOVE to use them whenever they're driving. These are always white, and (as one automotive writer suggested) the best use for them is as targets for "sighting-in" a BB gun.

Most of the time, both kinds use halogen bulbs (H3 is a common one). On my next truck, I'm going to get fog lights (amber projector-style, with a sharp upper cutoff), and I'm going to aim them PROPERLY. I'm NOT going to get driving lights.

[Chromatix]

The other type of fog lamp is an extra-bright red lamp at the rear. Again, this must only be used when visibility (due to fog or heavy rain) is poor enough to affect how quickly you can safely drive. Usually, front and rear fog lights are controlled by the same switch.