GL1800Riders Forums banner

Observation from wife after LED conversion

1K views 19 replies 13 participants last post by  William Anzik 
#1 ·
After installing Pathfinder LED headlamps, turn signals/DRLs, and DRL/fog lights, I was curious how all of these bright lights appear to oncoming drivers and those driving in front of me.

I asked my wife to drive in front of me for a few miles yesterday, and then go down the street, turnaround and come back while I drove towards her.

She noted that the lights are "very bright", particularly the headlamps and mirror-mounted DRLs. I asked if it crossed the line between "very bright" and "blinding".

She danced around that one a bit, which means she did not want to tell me they were blinding, but they probably are. She said it was particularly bright when she was coming at me.

Anybody else hear anything from other drivers about the Pathfinder LED light package being too bright? I want to be visible, but do not want to create a whole new problem.
 
#3 ·
When oncoming lights are blindingly bright, it completely messes up drivers depth perception and their ability to judge both your distance and approach speed. In many way, this actually puts you at higher risk of being hit.

If you really want to be noticed without blinding folks, use a yellow colored lens or light. It doesn't even have to be that bright.
 
#5 ·
The perception of blinding bright comes from the fact that LED retrofit solutions screw up the cutoff point of the original beam because it is impossible to locate the light source in the exact same position as the original filament. The light hits the reflector at the wrong angles. The available light is not being put in the best place.
 
#7 ·
LarryM's explanation is right on.

LED bulb conversions in halogen light assemblies often don't work, because the reflector is designed to reflect light the halogen bulb emits rearward and sideways into the reflector. LEDs tend to emit light directly forward, so the headlight pattern is messed up.

If you want to see a good example of a bad LED bulb conversion, look at this:

The fellow converts a Subaru Forester to LED bulbs, and while he shows in night driving the lights ARE brighter, he got too many oncoming vehicles flashing their lights at him thinking he was running on high beam. He decided not to be a jerk by blinding oncoming drivers and replaced the original halogen bulbs.

Now, many of my moto friends HAVE replaced the halogens bulbs with LEDs on their bikes, solely because they want increased daytime conspicuity. They don't care about the headlight pattern at night, nor do they worry about blinding oncoming drivers at night because they no longer ride at night.

Inconsiderate riders may say damn the oncoming traffic, I don't care if they're blinded, but that's not the view of the riders I hang with.

Tim
 
#8 ·
I also ride only during daylight hours. I took a 50 mile jaunt today and I was considering stopping to the few people that turned into driveways or parking lots who were in front of me to get their thoughts on the brightness, but with social distancing, I did not want to make anyone uncomfortable - including myself.

No one flashed their high beams at me.

I will use the headlight adjust buttons to lower the headlight angle down lower.
 
#9 ·
Off topic..kind of
I did the same exact conversion over this past weekend and I am diggin it so far

Question is....this may have been part of the instructions (but I may have misplaced those).....do the blinkers 'shut off' on their own when turning? Mine have turned off and thats never happened before. I just wasnt sure if it was a 'feature' of the pathfinders or I have an issue
 
#12 ·
They usually don't fail unless someone was messing with it. The previous owner probably had the triple tree off and didn't re-assemble it properly.

There is a harness that goes down through the center tube. There is a connector there right at the top tucked in the tube. Make sure it is plugged in. More than likely however, the sensor at the bottom of the tube was assembled wrong. It is easy to do it wrong if he didn't pay attention when it was removed. You can see it by looking up in the tunnel. The bracket could even be missing. It is easy to mis-align it, but that usually caused it to not cancel only in one direction.
 
#14 ·
I'm installing some some Pathfinder switchback turn signals with the white LED DRLs and happily will increase my light footprint. Bright - that's the point.

Early LED conversions were poorly executed but there are several LED manufacturers like Pathfinder, Electrical Connection, Baja Designs and DiodeDynamics have optimized light output for these conversions.

If you want to add amber lighting (Skene Photon Blasters that flicker - middle lights under my headlights)(Replaced my low beams too):

367382
 
#16 ·
My two riding buddies switched to LED. I refuse to lead anymore - I'm always the tail gunner. They are obnoxiously bright and should be outlawed. 😐 :rolleyes:

I respect the OP for considering others. (y)
 
#17 ·
There are soooo many that just don't care about other drivers being able to see, whether it is someone coming at you or someone behind you. My car has a dimming center mirror and rear tented window which helps very little with the side mirrors blinding me and even less useful when I am on the bike or the blinding party is going the other way. I am more likely to run into you head on if all I can see is a virtual "sun" causing everything else in all other directions to be pitch black. When I am blinded by some AH with blinding lights, I no longer see what is in my lane, where my lane is going, where "your" lane is that is supposed to be just slightly to the left of me, or even if there is someone following me unless it is the blinding vehicle behind me. I have ridden standing up for a while because of someone behind me, or I will pull in or push out the mirrors (not wanting to mess with the mirror glass position). I would rather see only what is in front of me before seeing NOTHING. For oncoming blinding, I will hold whatever I can in front of me trying to block the virtual "sun" and still let me see the yellow lines and everything to their right. My Dad is blinded just like I am, and many years ago; we had a head-on because he lost sight of the road, lost site of the embankment at the right edge of the road. He hit the embankment which tossed us directly into the car driving with its high beams on. And this all happened when the brightest LED that existed was in your calculator display.

I also will not use lights that do not have a clearly defined cut-off line, and I have not seen an LED replacement bulb that has one. High beams are OK (no cut-off line), but not anything always lighted at night. I put low cost LED light assemblies on my M50 because the single headlight was practically nothing more than an oil-lamp headlight added to an early 1900's Ford. I did aim those LED's to match the cut-off line of the low beam headlight. Now I can see the road at night and I am not blinding anyone with them.

Last item, I too have made someone move in front of me in the group when it got dark because they put in blinding LED's. One person went back to filament bulbs. The others keep saying "I don't ride at night".
 
#19 ·
She noted that the lights are "very bright", particularly the headlamps and mirror-mounted DRLs. I asked if it crossed the line between "very bright" and "blinding".
Most likely your headlamps need aimed down. A better test might be this. While in a group ride at night, ask the rider in front of you if your headlamps are annoying. If he is looking more often in his mirrors instead of keeping his focus forward, they are not only annoying but for him dangerous.

There's a guy in our chapter who never lowered the aim on his, and I won't ride in front of him at night.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top