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The Great LED Conversion, Part 5 (bright or too bright?)
Written by CalvinFold on 10/21/2004 at 03:00 am

Is there such a thing as too bright at night? Might be...

Guess the PC800 lenses must be less restrictive than the Uni-Go lenses
because WOW these LEDs are bright. Good news is they are really no
brighter than Hyper Lites or the Ultimate Light Bar...just alot more
surface area. The slight variances in angles among the arrays keeps them
from being capable of being blinding all at once. You have to sit pretty
much in just the right spot for them to really be over-bright, otherwise
they are just VERY conspicuously bright.

Compared to the stock bulbs, my running lights are like brake lights,
yet there is still good contrast between the brake brightness and the
running light brightness. Though I do admit I am likely to be trying to
be at least a little kind to cagers by not holding my brakes on at long
lights.

To be honest, I can see where these might almost get me in
trouble...will the police decide they are TOO bright? During the day I
doubt it, but at night I can't be 100% sure. Even I am wondering if I
should install something to notch-down the juice to the LEDs to dim them
just a bit at night. Still deciding. I know if I stare at them too long
it's like staring into a light bulb at point-blank range too long. But
that's a bit unfair since an smart driver would not fixate like that (or
drive that close).

Likely I will have to have Diana follow me at night and give me some
"cager annoyance factor" opinion.

So on one hand, I can guarantee no one will want to follow me at
anything less than a safe distance, on the other hand, is it a bit
overkill?

I took some photos tonight, plan to take some daylight shots tomorrow,
and hopefully have time to post them. Also hope to give some feedback on
the relative brightness during the day.

If any of you are in the San Leandro area some evening, I'd really love
to have you follow me around town for a few minutes to get some
objective feedback. Am I being "safe" at the expense of sheer annoyance,
or am I just being proactively visible?

Kevin
San Leandro, CA
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1996 Honda Pacific Coast 800 ("Red Dwarf")
45,000+ miles || HRCA #HM729375
<http://www.quosig.com/pc800/>
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2002 Uni-Go Trailer ("Starbug 1") || Trailer #499
<http://www.quosig.com/quosig/pc800/uni-go>
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Wednesday, October 20, 2004 || 7:57 PM PST