How exactly am I supposed to "aim" my headlight?
#1
incazzare.
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How exactly am I supposed to "aim" my headlight?
I have a dynamo hub setup with a Trelock 885 headlight. This is one of those German type headlights with a cutoff. I always feel like it's not aimed properly. I don't want to blind anyone, but I also don't want the thing aimed at the ground, either. Is there a standard way to aim / celebrate these lights? I'm not looking for anecdotal stories about how people set up their lights, I'm wondering if the German government or other body has set up a standard. I didn't find anything by googling, but that doesn't mean the info's not out there. Thanks!
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For a light with a cut off, I make a note how high the low beam from my car is on my garage door at a distance of ~20 feet. I then position the top of the beam on my bike at the same height. It takes a couple of passes because the stand light doesn't last long enough to fine tune it.
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I have a dynamo hub setup with a Trelock 885 headlight. This is one of those German type headlights with a cutoff. I always feel like it's not aimed properly. I don't want to blind anyone, but I also don't want the thing aimed at the ground, either. Is there a standard way to aim / celebrate these lights? I'm not looking for anecdotal stories about how people set up their lights, I'm wondering if the German government or other body has set up a standard. I didn't find anything by googling, but that doesn't mean the info's not out there. Thanks!
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If you have a light with a cutoff, then its entire purpose is to light up the ground. That's where it should point. There will be plenty of spill to be seen by.
By "at the ground" I assume you mean it's primarily lighting the ground. The top of the beam cutoff should be just about level with the surface of the road out 100 or so feet IMO.
If the top of the beam cutoff is above the eye level of a person in a car, then it's completely missing the point of having a beam cutoff.
By "at the ground" I assume you mean it's primarily lighting the ground. The top of the beam cutoff should be just about level with the surface of the road out 100 or so feet IMO.
If the top of the beam cutoff is above the eye level of a person in a car, then it's completely missing the point of having a beam cutoff.
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For a light with a cut off, I make a note how high the low beam from my car is on my garage door at a distance of ~20 feet. I then position the top of the beam on my bike at the same height. It takes a couple of passes because the stand light doesn't last long enough to fine tune it.
US standards for headlights place the cutoff about 1° below horizontal, which is also the height of the center of the headlight lens above the ground. That's about 3-4 inches below the height of the headlights, at 20 feet away.
#6
incazzare.
Thread Starter
For a light with a cut off, I make a note how high the low beam from my car is on my garage door at a distance of ~20 feet. I then position the top of the beam on my bike at the same height. It takes a couple of passes because the stand light doesn't last long enough to fine tune it.
No car, no garage, so this method won't work for me.
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#7
incazzare.
Thread Starter
That's pretty much what I have been trying to do. It's tough to get it exactly level.
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#8
incazzare.
Thread Starter
If you have a light with a cutoff, then its entire purpose is to light up the ground. That's where it should point. There will be plenty of spill to be seen by.
By "at the ground" I assume you mean it's primarily lighting the ground. The top of the beam cutoff should be just about level with the surface of the road out 100 or so feet IMO.
If the top of the beam cutoff is above the eye level of a person in a car, then it's completely missing the point of having a beam cutoff.
By "at the ground" I assume you mean it's primarily lighting the ground. The top of the beam cutoff should be just about level with the surface of the road out 100 or so feet IMO.
If the top of the beam cutoff is above the eye level of a person in a car, then it's completely missing the point of having a beam cutoff.
Yes, I know it's meant to illuminate the ground. By "at the ground" I meant "at the ground right in front of the bike." I didn't think the purpose of the thing was to use as a bat signal!
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You can find a building with a blank or mostly blank wall and paving adjacent to it just about anywhere. Parking garages work well, too. Set up your bike 20 feet away from the wall. Measure the height of your light from the ground. Measure that same height on the wall, and place a piece of tape about 3-4" below that height. Aim your bike light's cutoff to that piece of tape.
This is the method I use for aiming my car's HID projector headlights with a flat cutoff beam.
This is the method I use for aiming my car's HID projector headlights with a flat cutoff beam.
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Find a level parking lot. If you can find a blank wall, hold the bike 50' or so from the wall and aim so the cut off line is about 3' high. I prefer to aim against a large shot window form a distance. Raise it until the hot spot is in your eyes, then drop it a hair below that.
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I have two. I'm most comfortable with them lighting up the ground in front of me out for a distance of 3-5 seconds at my typical cruising speed.
I can't tell you what that is in feet, and I myself really don't care how far in feet. Speed is distance over time, and the time part is what counts for me. I want to be able to see things ahead with plenty of time to avoid them. The 3-5 seconds makes me happy and it's a lot more time than you might think.
As for actually doing it, there’s a happy medium when tightening the light in the bracket. Mine are tight enough that they don't go out of whack--even over the cobbles in my route--yet loose enough that I can reach down, grab a handful and aim as I ride.
I measure the time by my cadence. At 90 RPM, five seconds is about eight crank revolutions. So when I see a convenient target come into the beam--a pebble or a stick or something--I count off pedal strokes until I get there. (One foot only, BTW. Double that to 16 if counting both feet.)
I have found that in winter with slower speeds, I aim it down a bit more. With the three-seasons, it's aimed up a bit more. I really only mess with it twice a year. Even when aimed up higher, I find that oncoming peds on the MUP don't complain, and I light them up to just below the waist.
Sorry it's anecdotal, but I don't know of any "official" aiming points either.
I can't tell you what that is in feet, and I myself really don't care how far in feet. Speed is distance over time, and the time part is what counts for me. I want to be able to see things ahead with plenty of time to avoid them. The 3-5 seconds makes me happy and it's a lot more time than you might think.
As for actually doing it, there’s a happy medium when tightening the light in the bracket. Mine are tight enough that they don't go out of whack--even over the cobbles in my route--yet loose enough that I can reach down, grab a handful and aim as I ride.
I measure the time by my cadence. At 90 RPM, five seconds is about eight crank revolutions. So when I see a convenient target come into the beam--a pebble or a stick or something--I count off pedal strokes until I get there. (One foot only, BTW. Double that to 16 if counting both feet.)
I have found that in winter with slower speeds, I aim it down a bit more. With the three-seasons, it's aimed up a bit more. I really only mess with it twice a year. Even when aimed up higher, I find that oncoming peds on the MUP don't complain, and I light them up to just below the waist.
Sorry it's anecdotal, but I don't know of any "official" aiming points either.
Last edited by tsl; 04-10-15 at 01:19 PM.
#12
incazzare.
Thread Starter
Good ideas, guys, thanks.
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But you're right, I didn't account for someone to have their light mounted on their handlebar.
#14
incazzare.
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FWIW, my light is mounted on the front rack, at about the height of the fork crown.
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Those shaped beams usually have a very bright line near the top. The idea is that you need less light close to the bike, because your beam doesn't spread, and progressively more light at longer distances to illuminate the road in front of you evenly. If your lights are pointed too far down, there's a bright line followed by essentially NO lighting further out.
I use that to aim my lights. Tighten the light so you can just move it by hand, then go for a ride (preferably on flat ground). Start with that bright line visible, then tweak it up a few degrees at a time until that bright top line has just disappeared. At that point the "spotlight" part of the beam is out as far as the light will illuminate the road. Tighten the mount a little more, without moving the light, to lock the adjustment in.
I use that to aim my lights. Tighten the light so you can just move it by hand, then go for a ride (preferably on flat ground). Start with that bright line visible, then tweak it up a few degrees at a time until that bright top line has just disappeared. At that point the "spotlight" part of the beam is out as far as the light will illuminate the road. Tighten the mount a little more, without moving the light, to lock the adjustment in.
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I try to find a really dark country road, and with the light not fully tightened, adjust the angle so the sharp upper cutout line is about 25-30m ahead, then tighten the light.
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And you know that dynamos only reach full brightness over 6.2 MPH, then dim considerably when stopped?
So your "this is how I aim my battery lights" stuff doesn't work for us. Hence, my aim while riding reply.
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That's how I aim my dynamo light, not too difficult to aim it while riding.
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Unfortunately I don't know of any standard either.
Specialized now makes a shaped beam light (the Flux) that apparently you can put a level on the top of the light (which is flat) to set it up right. But most dynamo lights aren't flat on the top and don't have that.
With a shaped beam light, it's usually flat across the top of the light. So my best advice is to get the standlight charged by doing a lap around the neighborhood, then point the light at a wall/door/etc. You want the top of the light level with the top of the light that it's producing.
Then what I do is go for a ride on the bike trail and fine tune it from there. Basically point it up a little more until it lights all the way down the trail, when pointing it up more doesn't increase the range go back to the last point.
Specialized now makes a shaped beam light (the Flux) that apparently you can put a level on the top of the light (which is flat) to set it up right. But most dynamo lights aren't flat on the top and don't have that.
With a shaped beam light, it's usually flat across the top of the light. So my best advice is to get the standlight charged by doing a lap around the neighborhood, then point the light at a wall/door/etc. You want the top of the light level with the top of the light that it's producing.
Then what I do is go for a ride on the bike trail and fine tune it from there. Basically point it up a little more until it lights all the way down the trail, when pointing it up more doesn't increase the range go back to the last point.
#22
incazzare.
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I think this was the best method, I'm going to take it out in the dark in the near future and try it.
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