Can a rear light be too bright?
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I had my first experience of a Range Rover Sport driver the other day, and I've never seen such an enormous cheesewand of a driver on our roads before.J L wrote:And regarding knob jockey drivers, in my 50,000+ miles per year experience of driving and 25+ years of riding the worst ones normally drive as follows.
In no specific order
BMW Drivers
Audi Drivers (the new BMW drivers)
Range Rover Sport DriversTruck drivers (these people used to be the kings of the road now they are just thugs in big motors)
Merc Drivers (including Sprinter vans)
Mr rep (Vectra / Mondeo man)
all the others are just bad drivers
I was already (ahem) making good progress, and this thing was literally inches away from my rear bumper, in the pouring rain. With foglamps, and full beam on :roll:
Eventually, he passed, and immediately forced his way back to the lane, forcing my to have to hit my anchors, HARD, then he did the same to the car in front, then the one in front of that.
Proper knobber.0 -
DCR00 wrote:Not like a driver is going to accidentally run you over cause your rear light was too bright eh ?
This.
If you're driving or on the bike, and a car comes the other way with main beams on, you don't think "wow, that's really bright, I'd better drive into it". Unless you're a moth!0 -
Don't you dare start dscriminating against us moths0
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yeehaamcgee wrote:
Sorry, that's just wrong.zeroseven wrote:
Largely irrelevant There are two ways to measure light, You can measure the light that falls on the meter from a given distance (Incident reading) where the amount of light halves every time you double the distance. However viewing the source doesn't work that way. You can measure the source at 5 metres, 20, 100, the result will be pretty much the same as the power of the source doesn't change with distance. This is what the driver behind you sees.yeehaamcgee wrote:Ah, but at what distance?
If it were a coherent light source, like a laser, then you would be closer to being accurate.
All light energy falls off over a distance, thanks to atmospheric conditions, but also dissipation. If it is spread over a larger area then it will rapidly decrease in observible power.
If your explanation were correct, then we'd be getting blinded by cars driving several miles away, and I could stand on top of Snowdon with my P7 torch, and blind someone standing on the tower of Caernarfon castle.
Thats why I said largely irrelevant, the distances discussed here would only make the fall off arguement releveant measuring the light falling onto an object, not the intensity of the source itself. All energy disapates over distance. As a photographer, I might use a 10,000 unit over a distance of 50 feet. There will be twice as much light falling onto a subject at 50 feet than there will be at 100 feet. Double the distance, you halve the measurement. However when looking into the source, this doesn't apply.
The reason you dont get blinded from several miles away is the size of the source point is diminished on your retina, it becomes a pin prick of light, but its relative reduction in brightness is neglagable, affected only by particles in the atmosphere.
Point a spot meter at a light source from 25 feet, then back off to 100 feet and read again. its the same.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverse-square_law0 -
DCR00 wrote:I fail to see how the brand of car driven has any bearing on driving skill
What happens if you sell your BMW and buy a different brand ? does your driving improve ? do you become less of a knobber ? no, of course not
If you are a sh*t driver, or a knobber for that matter, your brand of car is irrelevent
(i dont drive a BMW BTW)
IMO the brighter the better. Not like a driver is going to accidentally run you over cause your rear light was too bright eh ?
Its about attitude, people who drive BMW's tend to think they are a cut above and therefore act like tossers and in my experience are more aggressive when driving, same goes for Audi drivers.
yeehaamcgee, oh they are a new breed of tosser arnt theyI'm not old I'm Retro0 -
J L wrote:Its about attitude, people who drive BMW's tend to think they are a cut above and therefore act like tossers and in my experience are more aggressive when driving, same goes for Audi drivers.
I think this post says more about ill informed, over opinionated, keyboard warriors who have a chip on their shoulder's about not being able to afford a BMW.
And before you ask, I don't have a BMW.Northwind wrote: It's like I covered it in superglue and rode it through ebay.0 -
BorisSpencer wrote:J L wrote:Its about attitude, people who drive BMW's tend to think they are a cut above and therefore act like tossers and in my experience are more aggressive when driving, same goes for Audi drivers.
I think this post says more about ill informed, over opinionated, keyboard warriors who have a chip on their shoulder's about not being able to afford a BMW.
And before you ask, I don't have a BMW.
+1
In the last few days (whilst on the bike) I've had a BSM instructor in a Fiat 500 nearly hit me because she was texting whilst driving, an old man in a metro try to overtake, fail, so pull in anyway and a HGV overtake me without moving out at all :shock:
The most memorable BMW driver was one who, when I glanced over my shoulder while approaching a right turn, backed right off and held the other traffic back before waving me across the road
There are twits in all cars.
Anyway, OP, send the light back if it worries you so much, but I'd be glad to have a light like that on my bike.0 -
BorisSpencer wrote:J L wrote:Its about attitude, people who drive BMW's tend to think they are a cut above and therefore act like tossers and in my experience are more aggressive when driving, same goes for Audi drivers.
I think this post says more about ill informed, over opinionated, keyboard warriors who have a chip on their shoulder's about not being able to afford a BMW.
And before you ask, I don't have a BMW.
Not ill informed just experience taken from hundreds of thousands of miles on uk roads over the past 15years, you are right I can't afford a BMW but my boss can for me and I chose not to have one thanks.
I agree any driver can be a twat, but the most common ones are normally behind the wheels of big expensive motors. I'm not old I'm Retro0 -
Wrong again, sorry. It depends on how the beam is focused. If the light is spread in all directions, as an omnidirectional light source, then the intensity of illumination is proportional to the inverse square of the distance from the light source.zeroseven wrote:There will be twice as much light falling onto a subject at 50 feet than there will be at 100 feet. Double the distance, you halve the measurement. However when looking into the source, this doesn't apply.
Focus a light into a beam pattern, and all this goes out of the window.
Oh, and as for the BMW/etc comments. Of course, it is a gross generalisation to assume that someone will drive a particular way based on their vehichle, but it is apparent that certain types of person or mentality are drawn towards different cars.
I heard a story a while ago that most Honda Civic Type Rs were bought by quiet retired folk. The normal Honda Civic was a very popular, sensible choice of nice reliable car among older folk. And, when they retired, it was common to use a nice payoff to get the highest spec version, which was the Type R 0 -
Here are my two MJ818 Magicshine rears.........compared to a car's rear lamps, and FOG lamps..........ahem.........
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looks like the magic shine is as bright as the fog lightsShow me your green bits i might buy them !0
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Not quite so easy to tell. The lights have completely over-exposed, turning to white in their centres, so it's difficult to judge.mattyboy199 wrote:looks like the magic shine is as bright as the fog lights
If the image was exposed so that the very brightest point was just clipping the exposure, it would be clearer to determine what's going on.0 -
yeehaamcgee wrote:
Not quite so easy to tell. The lights have completely over-exposed, turning to white in their centres, so it's difficult to judge.mattyboy199 wrote:looks like the magic shine is as bright as the fog lights
If the image was exposed so that the very brightest point wasclipping the exposure, it would be clearer to determine what's going on.
oh well, that explains it. Very illuminating, mcgoo 0 -
yeehaamcgee wrote:Wrong again, sorry. It depends on how the beam is focused. If the light is spread in all directions, as an omnidirectional light source, then the intensity of illumination is proportional to the inverse square of the distance from the light source.
Focus a light into a beam pattern, and all this goes out of the window.
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No its correct. It doesn't matter if the beam is flood or spot, If you adjust the focus of the beam AFTER the reading of course it changes, these lamps tend to have fresnels or parabolic reflectors. But if you leave the adjustment alone (and on a bike light its pre set, fixed) then the light falling on any illuminated surface diminishes proportionally as you move away. We're not discussing a light with a variable beam, its a fixed output. To half the light you double the distance. Its something i've done most days for 35 years...... however when viewing the source, this does not apply. If it did, a car headlight would be invisible at 100 metres
Think of a sodium street light. How quickly the pool of light becomes irrelevant....100 feet? Very very low output. Yet the SOURCE is visible for miles.0 -
Oh dear god. you know what. I give up. You can believe whatever you want to believe.0 -
yeehaamcgee wrote:
Oh dear god. you know what. I give up. You can believe whatever you want to believe.
I gave up ages ago!0 -
Dinotte do a 400 lumen rear light! Only available in the US as far as im aware, so dont worry about your rear light being too bright!
As long as the light is sufficiently diffused there shouldn't be a problem with motorists!0 -
yeehaamcgee wrote:
Oh dear god. you know what. I give up. You can believe whatever you want to believe.
Not a question of what I believe, I'm a photographer, I use lights every day applying those principles.0 -
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Then you are a photographer with a fundamental misunderstanding of the behaviour of light. Seriously.zeroseven wrote:yeehaamcgee wrote:
Oh dear god. you know what. I give up. You can believe whatever you want to believe.
Not a question of what I believe, I'm a photographer, I use lights every day applying those principles.
But like I said, you believe what you want to believe.0 -
Ryan Jones wrote:Don't be silly, you can't be bright enough! When numbchucks in his Beemer is blinded by the blinkering light i hope he crashes, writes his overpriced ultimate driving machine and impales himself on the steering wheel. I hate beemer's with their mutated looks, saft adverts and turds as drivers
Why not generalise you small minded ****
So, how do you bracket BMW drivers that are also MTBers ?
Did you not consider that maybe, just maybe, bliding the driver behind you may cause him to misjudge you and wipe you out ?
Where is the facepalm smiley when you need it ?
Cheers,
Si.0 -
chill out for god's sake. It was a tongue in cheek comment.
Christ, grow up.0 -
yeehaamcgee wrote:chill out for god's sake. It was a tongue in cheek comment.
Christ, grow up.
It's all cool,
I thought I might act like a self righteous ***** for a change and have the last word but realised it doesn't suit me
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No, it doesn't. It takes a certain panache to pull off "rage" effectively.0
