CliffordK

I do a lot of riding on the road (often rural). What I've discovered is that with a dim light, my eyes dark-adapt. Then when cars pass, inevitably they'll blast me with high beams.

They are more likely to dim their lights if I have bright lights on my bike (and I'll direct the light towards the ground when they dim theirs).

I'm hoping to have some shaped beam lights to experiment with shortly.

Anyway, the general rule when blinded by a vehicle with the lights on high is
With brighter bike lights one's eyes aren't as dark adapted, and it is easier to adjust to the (usually dim) car lights.

I crashed into a ditch a couple of months ago because I was blinded, and there was no fog line to follow, and thus I couldn't discern road vs ditch. Fortunately I wasn't going very fast, and there was no water.

We have one local median strip bike path. Someone had the bright idea of putting in a bunch of white lights 10 to 15 feet in the air. Whew!!! Blinding lights everywhere. Fortunately, the city doesn't maintain their lights and most are burnt out

Tall street lights can be helpful.

fietsbob

Wearing a brimmed cycling cap you might avoid being dazzled by the oncoming headlight, and so still able to see where you are going..

The plan ; just drop your head, lower your view the cap brim will block the lights so you can see again after they pass..


now back to the home shopping channel...

acidfast7

Wat?

We just switched all of the street lights in our city to cool-white LEDs, which save energy and are less obtrusive during night riding.

https://www.portsmouth.gov.uk/ext/en...treet-lighting

PDF for those with time to waste: https://www.portsmouth.gov.uk/ext/do...g-strategy.pdf

Spoonrobot 

Most of the cool white LED replacement street lights around Atlanta are 2-2.5x the lux of the prior incandescent/vapor lights at ground level. Some spots its helpful but others it's quite a nuisance.

acidfast7

I don't care about lux at ground level.

I care about energy consumption.

I moderately care about K colour due to the pineal gland.

no motor?

More lumens are what you are looking for, and this topic has been discussed ad nauseum in the electronics section.

CliffordK

Those appear to be tall posts with mostly hooded lamps to direct the light downward.

The hoods make a big difference, as does the height (and number of lights).

Eugene put some low level hooded lights which are tolerable along one of the bike paths.

Springfield used bare bulbs (or glass covers), and lots of them. So, as one rode down the path, 50 bulbs were visible and shining in the eyes.

Plus the tailights of the cars to one's right (median strip path), plus headlights of cars to the left.

It was really really bad. And, UNSAFE. That is one place where I used to blink my headlights. Still, one can often have troubles seeing dark pedestrians without lights, and it was BAD.

I'll try to get some photos in the next few weeks (with the lamp posts, but fortunately no lights).

RubeRad

You don't care about battery life?

(If you use a hub dynamo, then I guess not)

CliffordK

I take all the visors off of my bike helmets.

I ride drop bars, and I discovered that I tended to look up, and the visors were restricting my field of view (in the daylight).

acidfast7

on a street light, no.

Spoonrobot 

Lumens aren't going to make a difference if they're not directed properly. Throw/Lux is more important than overall brightness.

acidfast7

What is this, the 1950s? Who uses bulbs any longer, unless they contain an LED filament?

Spoonrobot 

Light pollution is an issue in certain areas of our state. Less energy consumption but brighter is not always positive. A lot of places would have preferred same brightness and even less energy consumption.

acidfast7

I never stated that less energy consumption but brighter is a positive. I inherently disagree with that statement. In fact, I never commented on brightness.

acidfast7

no.

Spoonrobot 

You don't care or you disagree?

2x the lux at the same distance is almost 4 times the brightness and probably a little more as the overall hotspot is slightly larger as well. Assuming the prior bulbs were to specification that's a ton of extra light being put out for no reason.

acidfast7

I don't care about brightness at ground level compared to energy consumption and light colour.

I would prefer that it's not brighter but that's a secondary concern.

Lux is lumens/m2 ... so I don't understand your other commentary.

CliffordK

Lots of yellow bulbs in use around here, which I believe are sodium lights???

As far as a couple of paths in Springfield, definitely not from the 1950's.

The Rosa Parks path was an old abandoned railroad through the 1980's, and I believe up until about 2000, when it was upgraded to a median strip bike path, maybe about the time the new hospital was built.

I haven't inspected the bulbs carefully, but they were short, upward facing, and white. And, working about 2 years ago, but mostly non-functional now.

The 42nd street path was an active railroad in the 1980's, usually with strings of rail cars loaded with logs on it. Also turned into a path around 2000. It got the lamp posts, but I never saw the lights on top of the posts.

Likely Springfield got some government grant money (State), and bought a bunch of pretty posts without thinking, just as municipalities started transitioning away from incandescent bulbs.

acidfast7

davei1980

Ok sorry I didn't know there was an electronics forum! Commuters are my peeps so I post nearly everything here (including a thread about whether or not to wear standard underwear under your lycra pants, watch for that one soon!)

davei1980

OP here - thank you actually, I had no idea there were so many variables - I just thought more lumens and less weight the better!!!!

davei1980

You could be right - I am not 100% positive on the lumens output and 10-4 on the not staring into the lights of oncoming traffic but literally the trail goes dark when cars approach. Happy commuting.

davei1980

Yeah the light was a gift and I am not 100 percent sure the specs, could be wrong on the output number

davei1980

Nein

rseeker

That would be my vote.

I'm not sure what the energy sacrifice would be going from blue-white to a warm white color temperature, but I much prefer the warm colors of hearth and home. Blue-white to me makes the whole world look like an auto parts store parking lot.