chunky2772
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| posted on 13/9/10 at 09:39 PM |
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lights for b,e,c, kit car question?
engine is a gsxr1000cc,k8 when the engine is in the bike the main lights are on all the time can i leave this set up the same for my car or does the
light have to turn off for iva. if lights have to turn off which way would you lot rocommend i wire these to turn on and of by the switch.
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cosmick
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| posted on 13/9/10 at 09:59 PM |
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You do not need to have the lights on all the time. How are you intending to set up your dashboard? I used a MK3 Fiesta indicator switch which runs
everything. Horn, Indicators, Lights, Main Beam, Wipers etc. This makes a neat installation and takes care of wiring. If on the other hand you are
planning to use the Suzuki switches, then you will either need to rewire the lighting wiring to make them switchable or stick with lights on all the
time.
I drive with lights on all the time anyway as you need to be seen in a car a low as a 7.
If it can't be fixed with a hammer then its probably an electrical problem.
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RazMan
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| posted on 13/9/10 at 11:15 PM |
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Either way it is good to remember that your alternator is quite small and you will probably be running twice the lights that the donor bike used to
have and running headlights all of the time might be a bit of a challenge for the battery. LED stop/tail/indicators make the most of the power - and
after IVA you could even go for HID headlights to really make night driving a pleasant experience.
Cheers,
Raz
When thinking outside the box doesn't work any more, it's time to build a new box
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Strontium Dog
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| posted on 14/9/10 at 07:30 AM |
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quote:
[i
I drive with lights on all the time anyway as you need to be seen in a car a low as a 7.
This USED to be what we were advised to do on a bike when I was a lad. Since then it has been noticed that as you bounce down our pot hole filled
roads your headlight appears to flash. This is seen as a signal to pull out by the guy at the next "T" junction who promptly wipes you
out. It is now considered very unsafe and lights should only be turned on in poor visibility! This is gonna be just the same in your little sports
car IMHO and I wouldn't do it.
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mistergrumpy
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| posted on 14/9/10 at 08:23 AM |
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Hey that's a good point actually!
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adithorp
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| posted on 14/9/10 at 08:59 AM |
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I'd say wire the lights up as you'd normaly have them on a car, via a switch. If you want lights on during the day get a set of LED
daylight running lights (like Audi's, etc). You won't get the flashing effect and they'll draw less juice. Check the IVA
requirements for them though; they might have to go off when the main lights come on? You don't want HID unless you want to have to build in
self leveling (and headlight wash?) as thats required for IVA.
adrian
"A witty saying proves nothing" Voltaire
http://jpsc.org.uk/forum/
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coyoteboy
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| posted on 14/9/10 at 09:00 AM |
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quote:
you could even go for HID headlights to really make night driving a pleasant experience.
HID are the bane of society. I hate people with them, I really do. They're meant to self-level - they don't ever seem to work properly and
are always glaring. They bounce through potholes like no other light.
Their sharp cut-off of their beam pattern makes them appear to flash at you more than any other light.
On anything as low as a locost you're going to have to aim them more upwards than they're meant to be, which means all these problems get
worse.
IMO having insanely bright lights is distinctly selfish and the trend towards them through manufacturers is a joke. Now cyclists and motorbikes
struggle to make their presence felt through a glare of floodlights, people think they can drive at stupid speeds on the road at night as they think
they can see just as well as in the day and the flashing from them causes confusion with other drivers.
</rant>
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Rocket_Rabbit
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| posted on 14/9/10 at 01:30 PM |
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Flashing your lights is to let other road users know you are there.
If you are a stupid enough person to pull out of a junction on someones flashing of lights alone, you have it coming.
I'd certainly fit HIDs at the drop of a hat.
My visability is paramount and I couldn't give a stuff what joe bloggs is annoyed about on the other side of the road because he isn't
going to be the one paying for my written off car when some pi55ed person has thrown a breeze block in the road and I didn't see it until too
late.
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coyoteboy
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| posted on 14/9/10 at 02:48 PM |
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Many know flashing your lights is to warn people of your presence. Most do not, and will pull out stupidly. Insurance claims are fine when
you're not dead or injured, so that's not a smart stance to take. They might have it coming, but you now have spinal injuries and problems
for the rest of your life (yes, I've suffered because of this). I'm sure you could sit in the hospital smugly contemplating how right you
were to have bright lights and how you have the moral high ground as you know flashing lights means you're present and they didn't. 
It's also considerably less likely for someone to throw a brick in the road in an unlit location than it is for you to dazzle someone into
having an accident (possibly involving you).
I just don't understand the logic. It's like an arms race for the brightest lights, no-one wins in the end, we all just drive around
having to look away from the road (especially in the wet) because everyone's blinding each other.
If you're not able to see far enough to stop you're driving too fast for the conditions. I can see perfectly well for 60mph with my
non-HID, fairly lowly normal 55W headlights. I don't even want to think about how fast you want to drive in a location with pedestrians, such
that normal headlights are not sufficient for you to stop.
[Edited on 14/9/10 by coyoteboy]
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Rocket_Rabbit
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| posted on 15/9/10 at 07:24 AM |
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I don't have a problem in residential areas because they are well lit and I only do 30.
If there was a way to dim them according to external lighting, not a problem.
But when lighting is poor I would very much like to see as much as possible.
Like I said, I don't give a stuff about Joe Bloggs on the otherside meaning I am not in a willy waving contest over bright lights.
And just like your accident (which I am genuinely sorry to hear about - These twunts that pull out are also ones that pull out from junctions upon
people signalling and not waiting until manouver is made), I have come accross and avoided afore mentioned obstacle because my car had HIDs.
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coyoteboy
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| posted on 15/9/10 at 09:16 AM |
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Thanks for your concern, but I still just don't see the point. Unless you have vision problems, I don't see what additional benefit they
give you - I can see perfectly clearly all of the road I need to to drive safely at 60mph, even 70. Back in the days of the old circular-headlight
rangerovers it was a bit less pleasant I'll admit, but normal modern headlights are perfectly good and don't have the glare/bounce
problems. The "I don't give a stuff about others" attitude is what creates the silly situation where everyone has to have brighter
lights (I never said it was a willy waving contest). Once you have really bright lights your night vision is trashed, meaning you need brighter lights
again to compensate for having been shone at by someone with HIDs, and that's a viscious circle. And if you're looking somewhere outside
of your beam (like in bends, or down dips) you actually LOSE vision as the lower brightness area now looks black as you're used to stadium
lighting. When you're on a bike (pedal or motor) you really notice that at dusk/dark times if you're the only person out with lights on
(and I have a 40W halogen push-bike light, it requires me to carry a 5"x4"x4" lead acid battery about!) you get spotted easily, but
amongst cars you vanish as you're a tiny point of dim light against a background of stadium floodlights. That's another reason that the
lighting arms race isn't helpful and is in fact a bit selfish. "I want to drive at 60 at night at the same speed as during the day, so
everyone else can suffer".
Brighter is not always better. Of course dangerously dim is also not great, but I'm sick and tired of being dazzled by morons with badly
adjusted HIDs, being repeatedly strobed by HID's that bounce over the roads, completely losing all night vision when someone with them drives
past glaring away. Just because you can have brighter lights doesn't mean you should. I used to be of the same opinion as you, I had 100/130s in
my car, until I saw it from the other side and realised my mistake.
[Edited on 15/9/10 by coyoteboy]
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RazMan
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| posted on 15/9/10 at 12:46 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by coyoteboy
Brighter is not always better. Of course dangerously dim is also not great, but I'm sick and tired of being dazzled by morons with badly
adjusted HIDs, being repeatedly strobed by HID's that bounce over the roads,
I can understand the point you are driving at, but a well adjusted HID headlight produces LESS glare than a badly adjusted 100/130W halogen that you
had in your car. Cheap bulb replacements are notorious for this, as placing the filament even 1mm out of position on a reflector causes horrendous and
spurious dazzle to oncoming drivers. There are a lot of cheap halogens on eBay and they sell in their thousands because they are so cheap but I
suspect that HID users are not the majority of 'dazzlers'. Most projector headlights are in fact better designed for HID replacements than
filaments (my Lexus for example which has terribly weak lighting for a sportscar) but I will admit that the average boy racer in his Saxo, Nova etc
should not fit anything other than a standard bulb (even the high output variety) if they want to avoid dazzling oncoming drivers. Look at the light
colour next time you get dazzled and it will probably be a halogen colour, not HID - the difference is quite noticable once you know what you are
looking for.
Cheers,
Raz
When thinking outside the box doesn't work any more, it's time to build a new box
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coyoteboy
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| posted on 15/9/10 at 04:32 PM |
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quote:
produces LESS glare than a badly adjusted 100/130W halogen that you had in your car.
Borderline TBH, but I never said the 100/130's were a better alternative!
quote:
Look at the light colour next time you get dazzled and it will probably be a halogen colour, not HID - the difference is quite noticable once
you know what you are looking for.
I'm well aware of the differences in spectral output of the different types of light, all I can say is there must be an aweful lot of badly
adjusted HID's out there. I don't generally find badly adjusted halogens any real problem, maybe its because they are brighter all the
time and thus your pupils lock down further. But not a huge issue, and I don't notice it affecting my night vision as badly as HIDs. Badly
adjusted HID's, or getting flashed by them going over a rise in a road or through a bump, are piercing and horrifically bright. The reason a
correctly adjusted one creates less glare is it has a very sharp beam fall-off to prevent it, it's that sharp fall-off that creates the
"flash effect" and dazzles you with the flash as your pupils are quiet open for the relatively low ambient.
It's just my opinion of course, but quite frankly I regret the day someone thought of putting HID's in cars. People are bad enough as it
is in looking after their cars, a poorly maintained rocket is more dangerous than a poorly maintained rowing boat.
[Edited on 15/9/10 by coyoteboy]
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chunky2772
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| posted on 15/9/10 at 07:55 PM |
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thanks for the replys lads (dident mean to start a war between you lot) ha,ha,
i think i,ll go for standard lights and wire up to an on/off switch. thanks again.
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matt_gsxr
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| posted on 16/9/10 at 04:12 PM |
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on the HID question. I put them on due to alternator limits.
I was worried that they would cause glare, and the self-levelling issue was mentioned.
In practice I don't get flashed by anyone (which is a reasonable test of whether I am blinding people), and the light from them is excellent.
The quality of the product I got was very low, but it all seems to work and it was cheap.
Matt
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coyoteboy
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| posted on 16/9/10 at 04:13 PM |
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quote:
dident mean to start a war between you lot)
Not a war, I just get a bit moany when HIDs are mentioned - sorry for the hijack (though I assumed your answer had been found hence the shift).
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