HIDs and Dazzling Drivers...

[Spinal]

We've all been there; you're driving down a country lane when a corsa comes the other way with mis-aligned headlights at full beam... usually with cr@ppy HIDs as well.

Well, the Chinese police have a punishment for these people.

Chinese Drivers Forced To Stare At Headlights

It's one punishment from China that I'm not totally contrary to importing into the UK...

The catch? That police car seems to have some pretty misaligned headlights as well!

M.

 

[Rashman]

Hahahaha!
Quality!

They even have a stool for them to sit on!
lol

A quick beating with a club would probably be quicker though
It would certainly save fuel or battery power.

I also find it amusing that they considered how long the perps should look at them for, too.

 

[JimboDS]

Ha ha! That's brilliant and I'd be up for bring that to the UK too...

Apart from the fact that my dipped beam seems to occasionally upset oncoming drives so I might end up being punished too

 

[prprandall51]

Will somebody please explain what is - to me - the greatest mystery of the road. How come, when you see a car with a non-functioning headlight, the other (working) light always seems to be adjusted up as if to compensate? Does the car autominously do this? Or does the owner think "I could spend seven quid on a new bulb, but it's easier just to crank the other one up." Or is it a trick of the mind?

 

[Spinal]

Will somebody please explain what is - to me - the greatest mystery of the road. How come, when you see a car with a non-functioning headlight, the other (working) light always seems to be adjusted up as if to compensate? Does the car autominously do this? Or does the owner think "I could spend seven quid on a new bulb, but it's easier just to crank the other one up." Or is it a trick of the mind?

I would assume V=IR comes into play.

(voltage = current x resistance).

The resistance in this case may go down (i.e. one bulb less), so, either the voltage goes up or the current goes down.

My assumption is that current stays constant, so the voltage supplied on the circuit goes up slightly.

What I'm curious about, is that I thought car bulbs were on separate circuits...

Just a guess

M.

 

[stevehg]

On older cars with traditional wiring, the bulbs are wired in parallel, so if one bulb blows there is still the same resistance in the circuit as when two bulbs were working ok.

 

[Meldrew2]

On older cars with traditional wiring, the bulbs are wired in parallel, so if one bulb blows there is still the same resistance in the circuit as when two bulbs were working ok.

But two loads in parallel halve the resistance - so when one fails the resistance doubles ... ?

 

[Ted]

The circuit resistance doubles but the same current flows through the bulb. Or to put it another way half of the circuit current is now flowing because it can only go through the bulb that works The reason that the other bulb appears brighter is because those who cba to check/change their headlamp bulbs also cba to ensure the alignment is correct.

However it is fair to say that there is always a small but significant voltage drop in any headlamp circuit and this means that if a bulb fails there will be a very small increase in the voltage at the working bulb.