Silence isn't so golden

[Bill]

On Monday, I did my daily exercise walk to the end of the road, and on the way down I noticed a car in a neighbours drive with the lights on and the engine running. Not thinking much of it I sat and rested my leg for about 5 minutes before walking back, only to see the car was still the same. Still didn’t think too much of it but an hour later during lunch, I was telling the wife about it and she said that someone might have become ill.

I looked out of my upstairs window and could see the car was still in the drive, so I walked back down only to find it still in the same state. It turned out that the car was brand new, and the elderly bloke thought he’d locked it. I picked my new car up on Wednesday, then on Thursday while getting a haircut, I noticed my lights were on and the barber said “And your engine’s running” What the heck! How did that happen???

It turns out that this is a common problem as people move from a conventional engine to hybrid or electric power. Normally you can hear a combustion engine stoping but with the hybrid it’s just deathly silent so it’s easy to forget the cars still active. After sitting for a while, the petrol engine kicks in for a while maybe just to top up the battery and that’s when you notice it. Apparently there’s an app that I need to install on my phone that detects the fact that I’ve walked away from the car while it’s still turned on.

Technology, don’t you just love it. ☹

 

Bill 😊

[Evil Sid]

so not as green as the people think they are if you have to watch to see if it is off or not.

good job you were not inside your garage bill could have been classed as suicide.....

[Observer II]

Thought leaving a car running unattended was illegal ?    So much for EVs.    

[Bill]

I suppose it is illegal but in my case, and the chap down the road it was completely unintentional. I reckon it’d take a right jobsworth of a copper to try and bring a prosecution for this, especially with a new car less than 24 hours old.

It’s obviously not a problem with an EV because there’s no engine but with a hybrid, the engine can decide to start up when it feels like it if the ignition is accidentally left turned on. The other thing that doesn’t help with this is that there’s no ignition key. At least with a key you turn everything off and it take away with you.

 

Bill 😊

[Evil Sid]

The thing about my car is that you can't leave the lights on.

well you can but as soon as you turn the ignition off the lights go off they also have a sensor so if you are driving and have forgotten to turn your lights off they will not come on, until you go under a bridge or the light levels drop to a certain point

I am going to put brighter bulbs in soon and to that end called in at halfords to find out what type mine were, (h4 apparently) not that i found out as the guy who tried to get the bulb out gave up after a while.

yesterday, after i had spoken with the mechanic about my mot, i decided to have a look myself. unlike ninety nine percent of cars mine does not have a spring clip to hold the bulb in but a plastic ring that you have to turn to release the bulb.

[Bill]

I think I’d have noticed it if it wasn’t for the fact it was in bright sunshine but in any case, I think it was only the daylight driving lights that were on rather than the headlights. Maybe it might have shut off if I’d moved further away but I was sitting in the barber’s chair only a few feet away from the car so still within the range of the fob. I’m still in learning mode and haven’t even worked out how to set the time on the clock yet.

I went out for my Friday beer last night with my mate who’d driven one these cars before. He pressed a few buttons and brought up an excellent visual showing the power flow to and from the battery and also when the engine was running. Up until then, I assumed I couldn’t hear the engine running while driving because it’s just a quiet engine. What I didn’t realize or expect though was just how smooth and silently it would kick in and out or the fact that for most of my journey I was running purely on battery power. To say I’m mega impressed would be an understatement.

Just got the old Alfa to go now so it’s time for a clean up before I try to sell it. Not expecting much with 167K miles on the clock but it’s still a belting drive and like the wife, still looks good from a distance or in the dark. 😊

Oh and on replacing the bulbs for newer brighter ones, I was thinking about that with the alfa as it was getting increasingly difficult to see at night especially as most other cars now have far brighter lights. I think you can get bulbs now that are a direct replacement but are twice as bright for the same power. The last time I change a bulb on the Alfa though it took me ages and ended up with bleeding fingers.

 

Bill 😊

[Evil Sid]

replacement bulbs are more confusing than nuclear physics.

they are so many different ones.

100% brighter, 200 % brighter, 3400k, 5000k.

then there is HID, xenon and of the course the led option.

the problem with led headlight bulbs is that if your car did not have them fitted as standard then fitting them would be an instant mot failure. any other bulbs on the car can be swapped for led ones though.

[Bill]

As far as I know, the legal specification for headlights is measured in watts rather than brightness and this allows you to have mega bright LED lights that cause problems for people like you and me. That law will probably just become redundant as these bright lights become the norm.

I wouldn’t worry about the legality of any upgrade bulbs because they’re never going to be anywhere near as bright as all the LED types. To get them brighter probably means they’re running a lot hotter and that normally translates into a shortened lifetime. Better though than having your lifetime shortened because you can’t see.

 

Bill 😊

[Evil Sid]

After a bit of reading up the k refers to the colour temperature in lighting.

5000k is about the same as daylight and that is what your eyes are used to so if you have between 4000k to 5000k it mimics daylight....🌞

This is different to how bright the light is in lumens, which does not help when choosing a headlight bulb as far as i can see.

i will probably fit the 5000k ones as they are cheap enough and the ones in it came with the car so about time they were changed. will keep them as spares though just in case.

[Bill]

I don’t think headlight bulbs go dimmer with time so changing then for the same type probably won’t do anything for you. If were you Sid, I’d be looking to increase the brightness with upgraded bulbs that gives more lumens for the same power. If you’re concerned about colour, then I reckon that the new type bulbs will probably be a lot whiter than the originals.

I’m finally getting to grips with all the bells and whistles of the new car although I’ve still not worked out how to set the bloomin clock. I managed to get my phone all linked up which I thought was all a bit gimmicky, but I saw the benefits later on when I got a message telling me I’d forgotten to lock the car.

Looks like it’s going to be a bit of a crappy day weather wise so maybe I’ll try reading the instruction book!

 

Bill 😊

[Evil Sid]

when all else fails read the instructions.....🕵️‍♂️

as for the bulbs it is how they are sold these days.

it is all K's or % brighter rather than lumens. 

the problem with percentage brighter is compared to what? a candle?

i will just get the highest K ones which should give me a nice white light as opposed to the murky orange ones that are fitted at present. no rush though.

apparently if i wanted to fit led headlights i would have to change the whole headlight assembly as the light pattern for led's is different from standard bulbs.

[Bill]

Yes it’s a bit of a faff changing a car to use LED technology which is a bit odd when you compare how easy it is changing a light bulb in the house. I managed to lose one of my side turn indicator repeaters and the replacement part was LED rather than a normal bulb. Apart from them flashing mega bright compared to the old ones, they stayed glowing for about 5 minutes after each turn. Obviously some capacitor somewhere in the system retaining enough voltage to keep them lit up slightly.

 

Bill 😊