Did the porter save enough money to purchase a car with LED headlights?
I doubt it
Last I saw him, he was still driving a 1980s Chevy S10 pickup with a camper shell
The camper shell was naturally full of soda cans and plastic bottles
And the S10 had sealed beams :trollface:
Texases, I didn’t see the article you referenced on the laser lights. Can you provide a link?
TSMB - it’s on the 3rd page of this thread. I was going off of the quote from Robert G.
First, of course there are laser diodes. They have been around for a long, long time. In their simplest application, they are used in laser pointers for presentations. They are now ubiquitous in analytical instrumentation, telecommunications, bar code scanners and so on. They are not the same technology as a common LED.
The blue wavelength laser diode they are referring to was available as far back as 2009-2010 IIRC.
It's not laser light, not coherent light, it's just a focusing lens
Did you read the snippet?
They are using the coherent laser light from the diodes to excite phosphorous which in turn generates the “white” light that is emitted from the headlamp module. This type of excitation and secondary emission is also a common practice used in industry for a variety of applications.
This approach would solve a number of issues with direct photon emission from an LED achieving the optical power required with far less input power and likely improved lifespan at reduced cost. Naturally, the first units will be insanely expensive but I’d be willing to bet they eventually are the primary mode of light emission in all cars…
I did read the snippet, but didn’t see this in there.
I stand corrected. 
This quest for ever brighter headlamps does concern me. I’m already getting blinded by quite a few of the newer cars on the road today. I’m all for increased visibility but this ongoing quest to mimic the energy of the sun on a mobile platform has me concerned. One blast in the face with some of these lamps is enough to blind you to the point it takes some time to recover sufficiently. White® light may be good for the car driver visibility but it certainly is not for the people coming the other way…
What really irks me is when somebody has super bright headlights, which are clearly out of alignment . . . or a lifted truck
I hate when those guys are driving behind me
I agree, db, but have to admit that it’s a lot harder to properly align many of the modern headlights than it used to be in the days of sealed beams and round patterns.
These guys that jack their trucks up and add High Intensity Discharge (HID) light systems and aim them straight ahead should have their… well, I won’t go there, but IMHO they’re a***oles.
I have an adjustment on my rear view mirror just for that.
Invariably, they tend to ride offset and blind you through one of the side mirrors. I like electric mirrors for that reason. I’ve managed to tilt it just right to send the offending photons right back in their face when sitting at a light. The reaction was priceless…
If you set your side mirrors to be side mirrors instead of redundant rear view mirrors, then if they ride offset, it doesn’t bother you as much. Tinted windows help a little too. But, I have made that adjustment from time to time, especially when the truck sits too high for that adjustment of the rear view mirror to be effective.
If you set your side mirrors to be side mirrors instead of redundant rear view mirrors, then if they ride offset, it doesn’t bother you as much.
Actually, the mirrors ARE set to be side mirrors and that is why riding offset behind me has an effect. They are in view when off to the side…versus being directly behind.
Sorry, when you wrote offset, I thought you meant they were in your lane behind you but off by a couple of feet, not riding in your blindspot in the next lane.
I've managed to tilt it just right to send the offending photons right back in their face when sitting at a light.
^ That’s a good idea! I should do that.