Pictures showing JDM headlights at night.

alcyone · Post by **alcyone** » Tue Jun 08, 2004 7:59 am

I thought I would post these. Installed them tonight.

These pictures were taken with the parking lights on, and the headlights off.

Mike

LaureltheQueen · Post by **LaureltheQueen** » Tue Jun 08, 2004 9:06 am

any photos of the beam pattern against a wall?

kastrix · Post by **kastrix** » Tue Jun 08, 2004 9:36 am

Ever thought about making the front corners blue? Its simple to switch the bulb since theres no orange reflector. Mines green and it looks really good. Its more of of blue white.

Post by **Legacy777** » Tue Jun 08, 2004 2:29 pm

Damn....I really need to get my EDM lights in!!

vrg3 · Post by **vrg3** » Tue Jun 08, 2004 3:54 pm

Why on earth did you install JDM lights on a car in Pennsylvania??

And please don't make your turn signals blue.

Kelly · Post by **Kelly** » Tue Jun 08, 2004 4:04 pm

But do post a pic of the beam pattern.
Please

LaureltheQueen · Post by **LaureltheQueen** » Tue Jun 08, 2004 8:00 pm

turn signals are amber for a reason...

kastrix · Post by **kastrix** » Tue Jun 08, 2004 9:33 pm

LaureltheQueen wrote:turn signals are amber for a reason...

Yea i know, But in montana where the cows outnumber people 100 to 1 its ok

I know they should be amber but they just look so much better when they're white

vrg3 · Post by **vrg3** » Tue Jun 08, 2004 10:17 pm

It's okay as long as you're not on a public road...

May I make a suggestion if you want them colorless? Maybe try some Philips SilverVision bulbs and disconnect the parking lights. That way, the lights will have no visible trace of orange when they're not flashing, but they'll still behave as proper amber turn signals. And parking lights are optional equipment (most people seem to use 4-way flashers when they ought to use parking lights anyway).

Oh, and you guys understand, right, that a photograph of a lamp shined against a wall doesn't really tell you much about a beam pattern?

Yukonart · Post by **Yukonart** » Wed Jun 09, 2004 1:00 am

vrg3 wrote:Oh, and you guys understand, right, that a photograph of a lamp shined against a wall doesn't really tell you much about a beam pattern?

More or less it just gives you and idea about beam cutoffs.

alcyone · Post by **alcyone** » Wed Jun 09, 2004 1:05 am

I'll be happy to post a picture of the lights shined against a wall as soon as it gets dark.

vrg3- How would you suggest I photograph the beam pattern?

Mike

THAWA · Post by **THAWA** » Wed Jun 09, 2004 2:14 am

with a photonogentomonemernmernemjhgoenemneiroehtemometer

vrg3 · Post by **vrg3** » Wed Jun 09, 2004 3:10 am

If you want to measure the beam pattern, you use the measuring instrument THAWA refers to. Most people call it a "photogoniometer" for short though

.

I don't understand why you guys want to see a photograph of the beam pattern... What do you hope to learn?

If you want to get an idea of what such a photograph would look like, just shine 92-94 North American lights against a wall and look at it through a mirror.

Mike, you should switch back to your stock lights.

alcyone · Post by **alcyone** » Wed Jun 09, 2004 3:36 am

Here is a picture of how the beam pattern is represented on my garage door. The left hand flare is there, but is not terribly pronounced. Nobody has "high beamed" me yet, but i may want to switch back to the USDM lens. I spent a good chunk of money to get the JDM lights, so i dont want to toss them without giving them a chance.

THAWA · Post by **THAWA** » Wed Jun 09, 2004 3:56 am

i'm sorry vikash I know you're going to be mad at me but look at that picture! I'm debating finding some jdm lights now. I'll try some xtravision(or whatever, I cant remember the name off the top but I know which ones) bulbs before I make the descision, and upgrade the wiring harness, but its either jdm lights (which so far are looking infinately easier to get), edm lights, or custom fab some hella's (i'll probably end up doing this after the other lights but who knows). I know that pictures don't mean shit for lighting, but my eyes are telling me that light that bright and clear I'll go w/o seeing road signs and blinding others.

HomeSlice · Post by **HomeSlice** » Wed Jun 09, 2004 3:58 am

^ i hate getting flashed with mine.....i really want edm ones

LaureltheQueen · Post by **LaureltheQueen** » Wed Jun 09, 2004 7:18 am

but how close was he to the wall? at 10 feet my lights look very much like that, at 25, the cutoff is very pronounced. if i go to get a slurpee tonight i'll shine my lights against a wall

vrg3 · Post by **vrg3** » Wed Jun 09, 2004 1:12 pm

THAWA - What about that picture makes you want those lights?! "Bright and clear" are especially divorced from what that picture shows. You can't even begin to make any judgement on that stuff unless you know the bidirectional reflectance distribution function of the wall's material, use multiple cameras, calibrate the precise geometric relationship between the lamp, the wall, and the cameras, and know or control the parameters of the cameras, their optics, and their sensing elements. Believe me, it's a big problem in image-based rendering, and I've involved in and exposed to a lot of research in the field.

You guys aren't paying attention to what I'm saying. You can't tell how big a problem that upward rise is from a picture of the lights against a wall! What makes you judge that they're "not terribly pronounced?" Did you measure the subtended solid angles? Or the precise elevations? Did you think about what it means for any light to be thrown above horizontal elevation at all? Did you measure absolute or relative luminous flux?

The upward rise is what ECE-type headlights are all about. It is significant. The near-side beam pattern has a very short seeing distance to limit glare, and the off-side beam pattern has a long seeing distance to allow you to see. They're mutually exclusive goals; you can't have both. Completely different engineering goes into the near-side and off-side beam patterns, just like completely different engineering goes into the front and rear brakes and suspension.

If you admit that pictures don't mean anything, then quit using them to make engineering decisions! That's the same rule the US justice system uses, right? If a form of evidence has prejudicial value exceeding its probative value (which is certainly the case here), it is inadmissible in court.

And it's insufficient to use the "people don't flash their high beams at me" metric for headlight acceptability. DOT-spec headlights from American manufacturers are ridiculously glaring, so it's hard to tell that you don't actually just have those crappy lights. Not being flashed at doesn't mean you're not causing a dangerous situation.

The worst part of all this is that Mike's stock lights already had a good beam pattern!

alcyone · Post by **alcyone** » Wed Jun 09, 2004 3:07 pm

I just thought people might like to see the lights. I'll keep to myself from now on. I'm very sorry if I upset you, "vrg3."

*runs back to SVX forum*

ultrasonic · Post by **ultrasonic** » Wed Jun 09, 2004 4:13 pm

alcyone wrote:I just thought people might like to see the lights. I'll keep to myself from now on. I'm very sorry if I upset you, "vrg3."

*runs back to SVX forum*

:(

No, don't do that. He's just making a point about which he is obviously passionate.

I will disagree that we can't learn anything from the picture, though. We can learn that the lights do have the left biased distribution, thereby showing that they are the wrong lights to use in our country. Even if we don't know the subtended solid angles, that seems pretty obvious. Simple, it would seem.

People do things all the time that shouldn't be done. Removing all the cats in their exhaust system, for instance. All the vendors claim "for off road use only." Yeah right.

Expensive mistake on the lights, if you ask me, which you didn't. I'd sell them. I'll bet you can sell them to someone reading this thread.

Then they can post a picture of their new JDM headlights shining on a wall and we can have this "discussion" all over again.

I can't wait!

vrg3 · Post by **vrg3** » Wed Jun 09, 2004 4:25 pm

I'm trying to help, Mike. It seemed that you weren't aware of the fact that your lights will either blind other people or will not allow you to see at night.

Education's good, right? Don't you want to know more about your car?

It's true -- you should put your stock lights back on. Then you should install or fabricate a heavy-gauge wiring harness for them. Then you should get a set of performance bulbs. Then, if you want city lights, you should install a pair of city lights in your stock headlights. Then you'll have very good lighting indeed. As it is now, you have very bad lighting for your purposes, assuming you drive this car on public roads.

THAWA · Post by **THAWA** » Wed Jun 09, 2004 5:57 pm

Sorry it's the ricer in me talking. I know that at night if i turn my lights off, the only thing I can't see better are reflective signs. that's it. I can tell no real difference with the lights on and with them off. My ricer is thinking, more light thrown infront of me will help with that, at the very least the ground before me will be visible. Wether the lights are LHD or RHD they still shine the same in the middle right? That's what my ricer wants. More center road shining. Like I said I'll probably end up fabricating some hella's morette style but i'm being tempted.

vrg3 · Post by **vrg3** » Wed Jun 09, 2004 6:05 pm

Stop being tempted. You're smarter than that.

If you didn't care about blinding people, you could just use your high beams, right? Those would shine more "in the middle."

Funnily enough, one of things your lights actually lack most is peripheral lighting, more so than straight-ahead lighting. They actually have more central foreground lighting than they ought to have, which in the end hurts your overall seeing distance.

totech · Post by **totech** » Mon Aug 09, 2004 3:53 pm

THAWA wrote:Sorry it's the ricer in me talking. I know that at night if i turn my lights off, the only thing I can't see better are reflective signs. that's it. I can tell no real difference with the lights on and with them off. My ricer is thinking, more light thrown infront of me will help with that, at the very least the ground before me will be visible. Wether the lights are LHD or RHD they still shine the same in the middle right? That's what my ricer wants. More center road shining. Like I said I'll probably end up fabricating some hella's morette style but i'm being tempted.

PSSST - I have a set...

THAWA · Post by **THAWA** » Mon Aug 09, 2004 4:39 pm

pssst are they your old rhd's? I might be interested in using them as a mold. How much do you want for them?

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Pictures showing JDM headlights at night.

Pictures showing JDM headlights at night.

yea