Author Topic: New owner questions  (Read 5755 times)

andruec

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Re: New owner questions
« Reply #15 on: January 13, 2018, 09:55:50 AM »
I think you can cancel the auto main beam by manually putting it on and off as others have said but in my experience it is less than 5 seconds.
Yes, that's one of my annoyances. It might be 5 seconds to turn it back on but I've turned it off unintentionally several times by just trying to flash my headlights.

On the problem of it not dipping until another vehicle is in view that might not matter a lot of the time. Main beam headlights do not illuminate everything in view. They have a particular beam pattern just like dipped lights (less side illumination and longer). The fact that another vehicle is in front of you does not automatically mean they are being dazzled. If the vehicle is round a curve or is above you it's entirely possible that they won't be dazzled.

d2d4j

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Re: New owner questions
« Reply #16 on: January 13, 2018, 10:04:12 AM »
Hi

I have read this thread with interest

Our jazz does not have auto lights and I prefer it

I do have to say though, and I drove home from London this week at night (I do this regularly), using the A1 and the number of cars on the other side of the road which use main beam is annoying. Firstly, my eyes are drawn to bright lights, secondly tired eyes are easily blinded and thirdly, looking away means I am not directly looking at the road

I was always taught to only use main beam if no traffic was in sight, and to immediately go to dipped beam upon first sight of any traffic

These auto lights do not respond quick enough and drivers become reliant upon them

Many thanks

John

culzean

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Re: New owner questions
« Reply #17 on: January 13, 2018, 10:14:56 AM »
I think you can cancel the auto main beam by manually putting it on and off as others have said but in my experience it is less than 5 seconds.
Yes, that's one of my annoyances. It might be 5 seconds to turn it back on but I've turned it off unintentionally several times by just trying to flash my headlights.

On the problem of it not dipping until another vehicle is in view that might not matter a lot of the time. Main beam headlights do not illuminate everything in view. They have a particular beam pattern just like dipped lights (less side illumination and longer). The fact that another vehicle is in front of you does not automatically mean they are being dazzled. If the vehicle is round a curve or is above you it's entirely possible that they won't be dazzled.

Couple of things to watch out for with the auto-dipping:
1. If I’m dipping the lights manually, I prefer to dip just before another car appears, as judged from the “loom” of the other car’s lights; the auto system does it just after the lights have actually appeared. So you’re constantly blinding/annoying the other drivers. That’s a particular issue if you’re following another car on a windy road, the lights are constantly flashing up and down as the preceding car appears and disappears. In those circumstances I switch the auto system off.
2. If you’re ever unlucky enough to experience condensation on the screen inside the sensor pod (as a couple of us have), the auto-dipping is one of the things that stops working, along with the lane departure warning.

Neither of our cars has auto dip (and I am glad) I always dip my main beam in plenty of time,  if i see a vehicles lights approaching round a bend I dip mine before the vehicle appears, same with vehicle in distance I will dip sooner rather than later.  Some people dip and then turn main beam back on too soon before they have passed your vehicle and that can be like a camera flash going off.

On Civic you get best of both because with separate reflectors (H1 and H7 bulbs) when main beam is on dip stays on as well,  giving both a good spread and distance as well.  Having said that LED H4 bulbs in Jazz are a big improvement.

What ColinB says about sensors not working dues to condensation etc, is one of my concerns about myriad of sensors autonomous cars will need.
« Last Edit: January 13, 2018, 10:18:32 AM by culzean »
Some people will only consider you an expert if they agree with your point of view or advice,  when you give them advice they don't like they consider you an idiot

ColinB

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Re: New owner questions
« Reply #18 on: January 13, 2018, 11:00:53 AM »
On the problem of it not dipping until another vehicle is in view that might not matter a lot of the time. Main beam headlights do not illuminate everything in view. They have a particular beam pattern just like dipped lights (less side illumination and longer). The fact that another vehicle is in front of you does not automatically mean they are being dazzled. If the vehicle is round a curve or is above you it's entirely possible that they won't be dazzled.
I disagree (strongly). It’s like using a torch at night: you get the benefit of it within an area maybe 15 or 20m in front of you. But that torch beam can be seen from many hundreds of metres away. So just because you can’t see anything in the area illuminated by your lights does not mean that you are not affecting drivers outside that area.

andruec

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Re: New owner questions
« Reply #19 on: January 13, 2018, 08:35:05 PM »
On the problem of it not dipping until another vehicle is in view that might not matter a lot of the time. Main beam headlights do not illuminate everything in view. They have a particular beam pattern just like dipped lights (less side illumination and longer). The fact that another vehicle is in front of you does not automatically mean they are being dazzled. If the vehicle is round a curve or is above you it's entirely possible that they won't be dazzled.
I disagree (strongly). It’s like using a torch at night: you get the benefit of it within an area maybe 15 or 20m in front of you. But that torch beam can be seen from many hundreds of metres away. So just because you can’t see anything in the area illuminated by your lights does not mean that you are not affecting drivers outside that area.
Being able to see a torch is not the same thing as being dazzled by it. As long as the main beam is not illuminating your face you will not be dazzled by a torch. And being just outside the edge of the area of main beam illumination will not significantly affect other drivers ability to see.

The system on the Jazz is not as good as the system that Audi and Ford have developed but I doubt it dazzles many other road users and if it ever does it's probably only for fractions of a second and of less concern than badly adjusted dipped lights.

But for the record I went out to a golf club do tonight and can confirm that a half second flick of the headlights disables auto dimming. It's also a bit silly that there is no indication when you've held them on long enough to activate auto mode. It's only when you release them that either the indicator bulb light or it doesn't.
« Last Edit: January 13, 2018, 08:39:34 PM by andruec »

culzean

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Re: New owner questions
« Reply #20 on: January 14, 2018, 08:11:40 AM »
On the problem of it not dipping until another vehicle is in view that might not matter a lot of the time. Main beam headlights do not illuminate everything in view. They have a particular beam pattern just like dipped lights (less side illumination and longer). The fact that another vehicle is in front of you does not automatically mean they are being dazzled. If the vehicle is round a curve or is above you it's entirely possible that they won't be dazzled.
I disagree (strongly). It’s like using a torch at night: you get the benefit of it within an area maybe 15 or 20m in front of you. But that torch beam can be seen from many hundreds of metres away. So just because you can’t see anything in the area illuminated by your lights does not mean that you are not affecting drivers outside that area.
Being able to see a torch is not the same thing as being dazzled by it. As long as the main beam is not illuminating your face you will not be dazzled by a torch. And being just outside the edge of the area of main beam illumination will not significantly affect other drivers ability to see.

The system on the Jazz is not as good as the system that Audi and Ford have developed but I doubt it dazzles many other road users and if it ever does it's probably only for fractions of a second and of less concern than badly adjusted dipped lights.


When I was commuting regularly on unlit country roads I used to curse oncoming bicycle riders with their high powered (10watt +) LED front lights they are easily capable of dazzling a car driver as many were not pointing at the road but straight ahead,  same with the OTT LED flashing rear lights, more akin to lasers than bike lights.
Some people will only consider you an expert if they agree with your point of view or advice,  when you give them advice they don't like they consider you an idiot

andruec

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Re: New owner questions
« Reply #21 on: January 14, 2018, 08:37:27 AM »
On the problem of it not dipping until another vehicle is in view that might not matter a lot of the time. Main beam headlights do not illuminate everything in view. They have a particular beam pattern just like dipped lights (less side illumination and longer). The fact that another vehicle is in front of you does not automatically mean they are being dazzled. If the vehicle is round a curve or is above you it's entirely possible that they won't be dazzled.
I disagree (strongly). It’s like using a torch at night: you get the benefit of it within an area maybe 15 or 20m in front of you. But that torch beam can be seen from many hundreds of metres away. So just because you can’t see anything in the area illuminated by your lights does not mean that you are not affecting drivers outside that area.
Being able to see a torch is not the same thing as being dazzled by it. As long as the main beam is not illuminating your face you will not be dazzled by a torch. And being just outside the edge of the area of main beam illumination will not significantly affect other drivers ability to see.

The system on the Jazz is not as good as the system that Audi and Ford have developed but I doubt it dazzles many other road users and if it ever does it's probably only for fractions of a second and of less concern than badly adjusted dipped lights.


When I was commuting regularly on unlit country roads I used to curse oncoming bicycle riders with their high powered (10watt +) LED front lights they are easily capable of dazzling a car driver as many were not pointing at the road but straight ahead,  same with the OTT LED flashing rear lights, more akin to lasers than bike lights.
Well, yes. I'm not denying that a light shining directly into your eyes will not dazzle you, obviously. What I'm saying is that main beams will only shine directly into your eyes if you're directly in front (of a vehicle with properly adjusted headlights). If you're approaching me from around a curve you're not going to be dazzled until we get to a point where you are directly in front of me and by then my Jazz will have dipped its lights. The only reason to dip lights as soon as you see another car's headlights (or the glow of them) is because a human driver might be otherwise unable to do so if they leave it until the last minute. The car's electronics don't have that problem so they can safely leave it until the last minute.
« Last Edit: January 14, 2018, 08:39:07 AM by andruec »

ColinB

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Re: New owner questions
« Reply #22 on: January 14, 2018, 09:10:58 AM »
If you're approaching me from around a curve you're not going to be dazzled until we get to a point where you are directly in front of me and by then my Jazz will have dipped its lights.
Ah, I think I might have seen you going the other way ! The Jazz only dips when it detects a car within a defined field of view which is pretty well directly ahead of the car. My experience has been that by the time an oncoming car has entered that zone, and the electronics have seen it and reacted, that driver has been subjected to full beam glare for a fraction of a second, which is more than enough to ruin his night vision and cause serious angst.

I’m not saying the auto-dip function isn’t good, on the contrary it generally works well and it’ll help many drivers. Just that - like most things - it isn’t perfect.

culzean

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Re: New owner questions
« Reply #23 on: January 14, 2018, 10:14:29 AM »
If you're approaching me from around a curve you're not going to be dazzled until we get to a point where you are directly in front of me and by then my Jazz will have dipped its lights.
Ah, I think I might have seen you going the other way ! The Jazz only dips when it detects a car within a defined field of view which is pretty well directly ahead of the car. My experience has been that by the time an oncoming car has entered that zone, and the electronics have seen it and reacted, that driver has been subjected to full beam glare for a fraction of a second, which is more than enough to ruin his night vision and cause serious angst.

I’m not saying the auto-dip function isn’t good, on the contrary it generally works well and it’ll help many drivers. Just that - like most things - it isn’t perfect.

The truth is a human being behind the wheel who is paying attention is still much better than all the AI and other stuff...  The trouble starts with too many distractions and driver aids that do not work properly.
Some people will only consider you an expert if they agree with your point of view or advice,  when you give them advice they don't like they consider you an idiot

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