P J Posted November 16, 2015 Report Share Posted November 16, 2015 Just read that those antennae on top of the lights actually measure the brightness of the brain of an approaching person and set the output to match it. No wonder some folk off here are complaining Lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dizzy Posted November 16, 2015 Report Share Posted November 16, 2015 :lol: :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazj Posted November 16, 2015 Report Share Posted November 16, 2015 40+ to the gallon is better than mine and Mr Dizzy only gets about 25 from his. What sort of gadgets does yours have? I want one that does ironing, any idea if that's an optional extra on them TV (With freeview) front and rear. DVD Players front and rear, Fridge that can hold 4 bottles of wine, telephones front and rear, garage door opening system, air suspension, radar guided cruise control, heated electric seats front and rear, panoramic sunroof, adaptive rear brake lights, etc etc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dizzy Posted November 16, 2015 Report Share Posted November 16, 2015 Pretty low spec then Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazj Posted November 16, 2015 Report Share Posted November 16, 2015 Pretty low spec then It doesn't have the night-vision system... gutted about that Mind you it has a water leak into the boot which I have managed to put down to dogy rear light seals... trouble is all the electric modules are in there and there are all sorts of messages flashing up on the screens at the moment!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Posted November 16, 2015 Report Share Posted November 16, 2015 I’ve got two cup holders in mine because it’s a top of the line model Just to shed some light on the lamp posts communications technology. The antennas you see are indeed antennas (not light sensors although they’ll be one up there somewhere). They’re connected to a unit not unlike a mobile phone that relays data messages to and from a control center via the mobile phone network. They they only transmit occasionally for a fraction of a second so no need to worry about radiation. This kind of technology is called machine to machine or M2M for short. My business uses thousands of devices in the taxis but the same technology is widely used to monitor domestic utilities, vending machines and even top end cars. (But I doubt Baz’s old car has one ) Bill 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asperity Posted November 21, 2015 Report Share Posted November 21, 2015 In my defence, the old lamps had a light sensor to switch them on and off. That is why the council website had an online reporting system for failed street lights, which they wouldn't have needed with this radio technology. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dizzy Posted November 22, 2015 Report Share Posted November 22, 2015 So if a new light fails does it just send a 'help me' signal and the council respond to it's call rather than us having to tell them now ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dizzy Posted November 22, 2015 Report Share Posted November 22, 2015 I forgot to mention...thanks to the info on this topic from some of you I bought some upgrade headlight bulbs and had them changed yesterday. The ones I now have said they have up to 100% more light on the road, 40m longer beam of light and 20% whiter light and wow Immediate difference...... they are FAB and just a straight swap for what was already in so now other changes like wiring needed The new bulbs showed just how oxidised (cloudy) my headlight casings had become though in some places too which wasn't really that noticeable before but you could really see it with the brighter light shining through so I had them polished at the garage. I'm happy to report that with both of those things done I am now lighting up the whole of Stockton Heath so they might as well switch all the street lights off now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Posted November 22, 2015 Report Share Posted November 22, 2015 It's getting odd topic a bit but the brightness of some car's headlights is something that rattles my cage and I can't help but think it's a bit of an "I'm all right Jack" sort of situation. The UK laws governing the power of headlights was brought in when incandescent bulbs were the only thing available and the limit was set to something like 60 watt as being the correct level of brightness for normal road use. These days however, it's no longer an even playing field with manufactures claiming legal increased visibility from their car lights albeit at other peoples expense. Using less power is good for the environment but they're not doing this, they're using exactly the same amount of power to produce brighter lights in order to to sell more products. There was a time when plod would be down on you like a ton of bricks if you had lamps that blinded other drivers but these days it seems they don't bother and knowing this, dealers can supply higher wattage incandescent bulbs that may or may not be legal. But who cares anyway? Seems consideration for others doesn't count for much theses days! Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazj Posted November 22, 2015 Report Share Posted November 22, 2015 It's getting odd topic a bit but the brightness of some car's headlights is something that rattles my cage and I can't help but think it's a bit of an "I'm all right Jack" sort of situation. The UK laws governing the power of headlights was brought in when incandescent bulbs were the only thing available and the limit was set to something like 60 watt as being the correct level of brightness for normal road use. These days however, it's no longer an even playing field with manufactures claiming legal increased visibility from their car lights albeit at other peoples expense. Using less power is good for the environment but they're not doing this, they're using exactly the same amount of power to produce brighter lights in order to to sell more products. There was a time when plod would be down on you like a ton of bricks if you had lamps that blinded other drivers but these days it seems they don't bother and knowing this, dealers can supply higher wattage incandescent bulbs that may or may not be legal. But who cares anyway? Seems consideration for others doesn't count for much theses days! Bill 55w is the legal maximum but it isn't illegal to sell 100w lamps, although in the UK these will be marked up as Not for Road use. The vast majority of the problems with blinding headlights is the fact they are out of alignment.... this is even the case on a car which is only a few months old. The lights are only checked every MOT and as the first MOT isn't due on a car until it is 3 years old, the problem can go unchecked for years The other problem is the boy racer chavs who put the HID lamps on their Citroen Saxos.... HID lamps are only legal on a UK vehicle if the car has built in headlamp washers or wipers.... and self levelling suspension or a means of levelling the car when load is applied to the rear and causes the front end to rise enough to blind oncoming traffic... Again most of this goes unchecked Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dizzy Posted November 22, 2015 Report Share Posted November 22, 2015 It's getting odd topic a bit but the brightness of some car's headlights is something that rattles my cage and I can't help but think it's a bit of an "I'm all right Jack" sort of situation. The UK laws governing the power of headlights was brought in when incandescent bulbs were the only thing available and the limit was set to something like 60 watt as being the correct level of brightness for normal road use. These days however, it's no longer an even playing field with manufactures claiming legal increased visibility from their car lights albeit at other peoples expense. Using less power is good for the environment but they're not doing this, they're using exactly the same amount of power to produce brighter lights in order to to sell more products. There was a time when plod would be down on you like a ton of bricks if you had lamps that blinded other drivers but these days it seems they don't bother and knowing this, dealers can supply higher wattage incandescent bulbs that may or may not be legal. But who cares anyway? Seems consideration for others doesn't count for much theses days! Bill Bill my new headlight bulbs are 55w and are legal so I guess PC plod wont be after me. Have to say I rather like the name of them though 'Nightbreaker Unlimited' and I wonder if that raises my street cred Mine are still not as bright as my neighbours new flashy cars but are a massive improvement on what I had so I don't count myself as having no consideration for other road users just because I've changed my bulbs and I doubt that I'm blinding people....well I hope I'm not but nobody has flashed me yet or adjusted their rear view mirror when I've been driving behind them. You may think of it as being an 'I'm all right jack situation' and yes maybe it is but I'd much prefer to be able to see where I'm going and also have a better view of pedestrians and cyclists etc on some of the very dimly lit roads round here (since street lights were changed) rather than drive with my full beam on or dipped and run the risk of not actually seeing some dim wit pedestrian or cyclist dressed in black on a dark road. In my car I've got a 3 position switch with a picture of a headlight above it too. Obviously it's always been there but I've always wondered what it actually does as despite me trying it with my lights on over the years it never seemed to do anything. I tried it again tonight and now I've got these new bulbs it DOES do something and I can finally see a difference when aiming my lights at something stationery as it raises/lower the dip of my lights. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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