Ok, you've got to drive there, generally, to the race track.
I've been in vans and things for years. Lights are important 'cause I always seem to have to drive all night. Anyway, I did some research and changed things on my current ride to improve my ability to see, and be seen...
More here... (http://www.visionsportsridingschools.com/headlights.html)
Not completely finished, but I learned a good deal in this process.
Yep dave ,I make same changes on my Dodge pickup,new lights work great,
Did you check out the Sylvania Silverstar bulbs? They seem to make a big difference too.
Good info, I have just been adding more lights. PIAAs that are a fog/driving light. Appear White but really help out with the wider angle and seeing those pesky creatures lurking on the sides of the road. I have been looking into Clear replacement glasses as well and I think you research has made up my mind.
At the moment I have 3 sests of lights, the stock driving lights, PIAA fog/driving and set of super bright off road beams (mainly for the times when we hit the 2 lanes). Have to turn them off when in traffic but at 2 in the morning they work great. Just hope the cops don't see me. Something about the amount of light a vehicle can have at one time or something.
Thanks for the info.
Quote from: r1owner on March 14, 2007, 07:06:25 PM
Did you check out the Sylvania Silverstar bulbs? They seem to make a big difference too.
Looked at them. Good availability, but they didn't have the lumens that the one's I got had.
For me, my biggest gain was probably from the new clear lenses. Nicer bulbs were still going to be highly diffused. Still, more and more light is good. I could have gone with HID's, but there are real issues with them. I think I explained it in my piece.
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Quote from: APP_Racing on March 14, 2007, 07:13:57 PM
At the moment I have 3 sests of lights, the stock driving lights, PIAA fog/driving and set of super bright off road beams (mainly for the times when we hit the 2 lanes). Have to turn them off when in traffic but at 2 in the morning they work great. Just hope the cops don't see me. Something about the amount of light a vehicle can have at one time or something.
Thanks for the info.
No problem!
Fog lights are specifically yellow. They work in foggy conditions because of the kind of light that it is.
DOT has specifics on the amount of lumens that a particular beam (9007, 9004) can produce, +/-15%. Honestly, a lot of the new bulbs might be above what the DOT allows. Sometimes, those extra lumens can produce glare. That's one of the problems with HID's.
One thing that I haven't checked on the bus is how many volts of power I have at my plugs. That also can affect the lumens that are produced. There are relay kits available that will ensure that one has a direct path of power to the bulbs. Because of wiring resistance, etc., there may not be 12v at the bulb. That will lead to less light out put and, in some cases, reduced bulb life.
So Dave - does this mean that I'm not going to have to shine the flashlight in front of the bus on our overnight drives anymore???? That was the only thing keeping me awake - other then your rumblestrip alarms!!!!
I installed a relay in my truck that closes a set of contacts attached to the low beam when the high beams are turned on. In other words, you get all your lights at once. When my high beams are on I could light up a football stadium.
It's easy to do and works great.
Not too friendly to oncoming traffic if I forget to turn them off though.
Quote from: JBraun on March 14, 2007, 10:51:26 PM
I installed a relay in my truck that closes a set of contacts attached to the low beam when the high beams are turned on. In other words, you get all your lights at once. When my high beams are on I could light up a football stadium.
It's easy to do and works great.
Not too friendly to oncoming traffic if I forget to turn them off though.
Someone has a full size chevy I see. :biggrin:
On my old sonoma I just had a pair of driving lights and fog lights in the push bar. I aimed them at work with the headlight aiming setup so if someone flashed their brights, well lets just say I had around 3 MILLION CP on the roll bar facing forwards which lit at the flick of a switch. Usually that got the message through. :biggrin: . Also had 1,000,000 facing rearward for those assholes who came up behind you with their brights on.
Try these guys as they have all sorts of neat stuff. The RayBrigs are a great up great for a little $. I put them in both my street bikes and the difference was signifcant.
http://www.coolbulbs.com/raybrig.asp
Quote from: APP_Racing on March 14, 2007, 07:13:57 PM
Good info, I have just been adding more lights. PIAAs that are a fog/driving light. Appear White but really help out with the wider angle and seeing those pesky creatures lurking on the sides of the road. I have been looking into Clear replacement glasses as well and I think you research has made up my mind.
At the moment I have 3 sests of lights, the stock driving lights, PIAA fog/driving and set of super bright off road beams (mainly for the times when we hit the 2 lanes). Have to turn them off when in traffic but at 2 in the morning they work great. Just hope the cops don't see me. Something about the amount of light a vehicle can have at one time or something.
Thanks for the info.
+1 for the PIAA's
I love the PIAA bulbs. I see horrible at night, once panic stopped for a mail box and two bushes. Thoughit it was a critter. Converted the car and all the bikes to them.
On my R1100RS I cheat and run a GS buld set that is 130/100, offroad only. Works excellent and makes you much more noticeable during the daytime.
Been looking to replace the bulbs in the RV. (GMC Kodiak chassis). I think there are some plug-n-play replacements that are better, but I have to dig around for them again. The OEM bulbs suck.
i thought i was just going blind, the clear lenses sound great, i was thinking of putting the KC daylighters off my jeep on the roof of my MH and wiring them to work with my high beams
Lots of options. I wanted to stay legal as much as possible. All of us running around with gas, stickers, etc...that's just asking for DOT guys to pull someone over. Throw a lighting system well above normal, legal systems, and that's an opportunity to be pulled over for a "spot check".
Hey Dave, what was the cost of this. tanks man.
The new replacement headlight housings were under $100. They came with bulbs, just standard halogens. The clear increased lumen bulbs were around $36. In lumens, the difference should be from around 1100 for a standard 9007 bulb to 1500 to 1700 for the bulb that I got. Yeah, it is above DOT, but it really didn't feel like a big visual difference going from the bulbs that were supplied to the "better" ones. For me, again, the clear housings were great.
I got them off ebay. You can get clear headlights and clear corners as a unit for $100. They were made in Tiawan. Quality wise, they appeared to be pretty decent except for the locking mechanism that held in the bulb. Was a little cheap there, but, as one doesn't replace bulbs very often, I'm not expecting to have any problems.
Just off the pics, the clear housings seemed to make the biggest difference. I opened 2 windows to see the difference between just the clear lenses and the clear lenses with new lights and it is barely noticeable. But the old to new housings were definitely a huge difference.
Yes, that was my statement too.
I can't say that I'm capable of measuring the power of the lights to extend my "reach" with my simple pictures. I think the light can only get so "white" and that's it. It won't get any wider because of the way a reflector beam focuses light. If regular bulb has the ability to put X many lumens on the pavement at 100 feet, the idea is that the better bulbs will put X+Y lumens on that spot 100 feet ahead, and then put some more light on a spot that the regular bulbs put very little on.
Some of the tricks in actual use might be this:
With an older, yellowed diffuser type housing, can I expect more glare now in foggy situations where the light quality is best when it is actually a yellow color? Will I have a harder time adjusting my eyes to the dim dash lights with the increased light from my headlights?
Quote from: Jeff on March 16, 2007, 03:12:36 PM
Just off the pics, the clear housings seemed to make the biggest difference. I opened 2 windows to see the difference between just the clear lenses and the clear lenses with new lights and it is barely noticeable. But the old to new housings were definitely a huge difference.
Yes there is a big difference, but is the difference better? The stock lights concentrate most of the light towards the center of the pattern, the clear style spreads the light more uniformly. By spreading the light more uniformly, it can give the illusion of producing more light. Without a light meter, it is difficult to tell if the clear lens covers give up any strength in the middle of the pattern. If it does, then you will not be able to see as well in the distance. One way to test would be to drive with the 2 setups back to back on the same road under the same lighting conditions.
Was the oem set up tested with same bulbs as the clear set up? Comparing the reflectors with different bulbs only adds more variables.
Agreed. Can always do more testing.
The OEM lense diffused light a lot. Made it hard to see much of anything. It's not an uncommon complaint either. (There are Ford van forums...LOL!) I haven't had an opportunity to drive it at night. Probably won't get any huge testing until our first school at Topeka in April.