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Driving with high-beam headlights will ensure your visibility in the coming winter months, but they’ll blind any driver who’s coming from the other direction.
The automatic headlight brightness switch can be wired into your headlight switch to provide automatic switching between high and low beam headlights when there is oncoming traffic. It does this by sensing the lights of that traffic. This will ensure you will be able to drive safely without blinding oncoming drivers.
Link includes circuit schematic and parts list.
For more car-related gadgets, see Cruising: Gadget Freaks for your car.
Comments (5)
Although it sounds like a good idea, it isn't. Anything that affects a car's safety is a serious matter and must be approved by insurers before fitting. In a night time accident this device could be blamed and insurance cover invalidated.
Posted by Ian Cooper | February 5, 2008 11:03 AM
Posted on February 5, 2008 11:03
A circuit that affects the behaviour of headlights must have the characteristic that it is extremely unlikely to accidentally blind an oncoming driver.
The present circuit does not meet this requirement, since at least four components could fail so as to produce a permanent full beam.
The way to make this circuit suitable is, in essence, to build two sensor circuits, and two sets of switches, and arrange them so that no single component failure can result in the full beam being left accidentally on. Further, a detector needs to be made that senses if the two sets of circuits are behaving differently, and to produce a clear alarm when this happens.
If you can achieve this, you now have a circuit that is safe enough to use.
Posted by Brian Pollard | February 5, 2008 12:45 PM
Posted on February 5, 2008 12:45
While I support the notion of redundant equipment for the sake of safety the real world doesn't work this way! When I switch to high beam in my car this evening, if the switch then fails or snaps off completely I suspect that my lights will be stuck on high beam! Thats all with the failure of a single component!
In the real world life is a she dog and when things fail they... well... fail! Then you fix them!
Lets not try to design NASA tech to fit into Ford Escorts!
Posted by Derek Owen | February 5, 2008 2:41 PM
Posted on February 5, 2008 14:41
Dipping has nothing to do with brightness, as written, but concerns the direction of the beam.
More interestingly, an electronic dipping device was 'invented' by McMichael Radio in the early 1960's, and a director of the firm (Buckmaster, I think) had it fitted to his Bentley.
Unfortunately, this was 'totalled' when the light form a bus waiting to turn right across the path of the car caused the headlights to flash, taken by the bus driver as an invitation to proceed.
Posted by paul goddard | February 6, 2008 12:13 AM
Posted on February 6, 2008 00:13
Fantastic car. first time i saw it i was playing california speed on the n64 and i fell in love with it. I've been looking for them at old car shows ever since and i never see them :(
Posted by Kay | April 22, 2008 10:40 PM
Posted on April 22, 2008 22:40