Laser lights quirk

[Pelo Cat]

Lately I've been driving quite a bit at night and using the adaptive setting with the lights (icon adaptive and laser lights on mine) and noticed that (at least to me, curious to hear others experience or opinions) the laser addition only comes on when the beams are focussed on one spot (so when there are no cars in front)...not when the 'voodoo' effect is occurring (split beam or only one side is on high beam).

Any thoughts on that? I suspect it would be too bright or maybe hard to focus the laser if it is adapting all the time to position relative to other cars or on one side only...and to be honest they are still plenty bright enough, just a quirk that I noted and was wondering if it is just me and my eyes are playing up on me or if this is a known behaviour?

Can't find anything about this in the manual (stating they only come on when the beams are focussed on same spot and have 'come together'), only the bit about laser only active above 37 mph.

[talaipwros]

As I am sure you have noticed, laser lights are extremely bright ( I think that they were actually forbidden in the USA because of that for a while) so I guess it's for safety reasons

[FastLaneJB]

Ah so this is one of the reasons I mentioned to you GP that I wasn't sure how often the lasers would turn on in the UK with the quantity of traffic on our roads. I've ordered them anyway though.

The lasers can only come on above the set speed because of light pollution. Too bright to be used around cities for instance. Also they only come on when no other vehicle is detected. If there's another vehicle you'll be on LED's as you've noticed.

Not sure if they are fixed in the straight ahead or move when you turn the wheel. Will try and work that out once I get mine but maybe so bright they don't even need to do that.

Not sure if it's a case that they cannot do the fancy bending around traffic with them or they simply are so bright it's just not really possible. I'm going to guess it's the latter and just simply too bright.

So generally in my night time driving you still often end up behind someone or there's a reasonably regular stream of cars coming the other way. In all those situations they won't be on.

Need to probably get off the main roads and even A roads to some B roads out at night to probably get them on a good amount of time. However I figure those are the situations you'll want them the most with thin lanes somethings, lack of road markings, etc.

It's also possible as we've previously discussed that you might accidentally cut a car in two with your frickin lasers

[Pelo Cat]

Thanks for the replies ^ and comments.

Apologies for not being precise, they do indeed move with the steering wheel when going around corners (so not just when the wheel is straight) so work well as long as no cars are around.

When other lights are detected (including street lights I believe) then they turn off and only LED's. When no lights are detected in front of the car (front or rear lights of other vehicles) then they come on and do move with corners and steering wheel movement.

Would have been nice if they would have been on when in split beam mode as well but maybe that would be counterproductive actually now thinking about it...as the LED beams do dynamically adjust coverage depending on vehicle distance so assume lasers will only work at full whack and don't reduce distance they cover...

The passenger side split beam covering the edge of the road and illuminating farther is quite useful (which icon adaptive have, lasers not needed) on a day to day basis and doesn't blind the driver in front so quite well done. I can see the beam width coverage change depending on speed and also the distance it covers depending on traffic approaching so the icon adaptive do work well...

A funny point about the icon adaptive lights in use...I find many cars do change speeds when one uses them, as they must not be used to seeing the split beams or moving passenger side beam...so they slow down (to either check it out or thinking one is a police car? if behind me) or speed up if in front of me as the beams are extending beyond their car either side and moving so may feel they are driving too slow! (they do not get blinded though as no brake lights or other indications they are affecting their ability to see or drive) I can imagine it must be strange to see the road beside and in front of one illuminated better by a car behind than your own car! (again only LED doing this not lasers)

The lasers must be bright as I've had many lorries dip their lights long before we would meet when going around corners or places where the cars don't yet 'see' each other but the lights show a vehicle is coming and they dip well before we meet I'm guessing due to the frickin lasers!

I wonder if GP SFL 1 is available as a private reg? (Gansta Princess Shark with Frickin Lasers 1)

Safe travels.

[FastLaneJB]

Originally Posted by Pelo Cat

A funny point about the icon adaptive lights in use...I find many cars do change speeds when one uses them, as they must not be used to seeing the split beams or moving passenger side beam...so they slow down (to either check it out or thinking one is a police car? if behind me) or speed up if in front of me as the beams are extending beyond their car either side and moving so may feel they are driving too slow! (they do not get blinded though as no brake lights or other indications they are affecting their ability to see or drive) I can imagine it must be strange to see the road beside and in front of one illuminated better by a car behind than your own car! (again only LED doing this not lasers)

I remember long before I had a car with this tech on it you'd once in a blue moon see cars coming towards you with one lamp much brighter than the other. It wasn't dazzling you and not the normal bulb gone because both were clearly brighter than that. Always thought it weird but obviously know these days those are cars which have this fitted to them.

Originally Posted by Pelo Cat

The lasers must be bright as I've had many lorries dip their lights long before we would meet when going around corners or places where the cars don't yet 'see' each other but the lights show a vehicle is coming and they dip well before we meet I'm guessing due to the frickin lasers!

I think they took a photo from space when you had your lasers on. You can clearly see the UK shining bright that night. No wonder lorries switch off their full beams when they get into the same postcode as you



I can deduce from this picture that you was probably just a bit west of the midlands heading east. The range of your lasers looks to cover Belgium and the Netherlands nicely before running out of puff at Germany.

Originally Posted by Pelo Cat

I wonder if GP SFL 1 is available as a private reg? (Gansta Princess Shark with Frickin Lasers 1)

Those kind of plates likely could cost as much as your car though. I've got a private plate but only a cheap one which my wife got me as a present one year. I don't think otherwise I'd spend money on it or much, though it is good at masking the year of the car from others.

[Pelo Cat]

Originally Posted by FastLaneJB

I think they took a photo from space when you had your lasers on. You can clearly see the UK shining bright that night. No wonder lorries switch off their full beams when they get into the same postcode as you



I can deduce from this picture that you was probably just a bit west of the midlands heading east. The range of your lasers looks to cover Belgium and the Netherlands nicely before running out of puff at Germany.

Let's not exaggerate, there were 6 of us with frickin lasers on that night in the UK and two in NL/B...

Originally Posted by FastLaneJB

Those kind of plates likely could cost as much as your car though. I've got a private plate but only a cheap one which my wife got me as a present one year. I don't think otherwise I'd spend money on it or much, though it is good at masking the year of the car from others.

Yeah, was only joking and I personally wouldn't get a private plate unless it was a random number...just in case you did do something like cut somebody up in traffic and didn't want to be remembered!

Safe travels, (best done by cutting cars in half with the frickin lasers!)

[FastLaneJB]

Originally Posted by Pelo Cat

Let's not exaggerate, there were 6 of us with frickin lasers on that night in the UK and two in NL/B...

We are definitely sure there's no women in this forum? Otherwise we need to keep exaggerating

[Pelo Cat]

Originally Posted by FastLaneJB

We are definitely sure there's no women in this forum? Otherwise we need to keep exaggerating

well the rest of us at least will need to continue to exaggerate...you've got the real deal! (both in the M5 and the new 760Li)

As a bit of humour, I'm not sure I could handle women that are into BMW 7 series , a man's lasers can only take so much before overheating!



(knowing full well there are women that do indeed love the cars and may be on here, they certainly are on some of the FB groups I'm on).

[talaipwros]

Originally Posted by Pelo Cat

well the rest of us at least will need to continue to exaggerate...you've got the real deal! (both in the M5 and the new 760Li)

As a bit of humour, I'm not sure I could handle women that are into BMW 7 series , a man's lasers can only take so much before overheating!



(knowing full well there are women that do indeed love the cars and may be on here, they certainly are on some of the FB groups I'm on).

I think the seat recognises female pelvis and stops the engine

[FastLaneJB]

Originally Posted by talaipwros

I think the seat recognises female pelvis and stops the engine

[Pelo Cat]

So I've been paying more attention to the split beam (voodoo beam) when adaptive mode is on and indeed the high beam does come on quite a bit, even in split beam mode, with the passenger side beam predominantly being the one on high beam...maybe that is actually enhanced with the laser...

Does anyone know if the lasers are able to be on, on one side only? (when in this split beam mode?)

The light is indeed very bright on that passenger side so maybe it isn't just the LED and is indeed enhanced by the laser...someone more observant than me will need to comment (or maybe we get a few people together to compare LED v laser...

[FastLaneJB]

Don't see why it cannot just use the laser on one side. From watching the video on it they shine the lasers into the normal LED high beams to give them a boost. So it's not like there's another set of high beams but simply the lasers add more power to the LED high beams.

I'll let you know when I get mine as I've just LED's currently so will be able to tell the difference on the range / brightness.

[Pelo Cat]

Originally Posted by FastLaneJB

Don't see why it cannot just use the laser on one side. From watching the video on it they shine the lasers into the normal LED high beams to give them a boost. So it's not like there's another set of high beams but simply the lasers add more power to the LED high beams.

I'll let you know when I get mine as I've just LED's currently so will be able to tell the difference on the range / brightness.

Thanks, that will be useful to know and hear the comparison...

I'm also curious if you'll be able to 'outrun' your lasers...in other words accelerate and drive fast enough to not be able to see far enough in the distance at speed to feel you can drive that fast...(can be a problem on the Autobahn, or for you Northern lads... )

You do realise that someone is going to think there is someone in the car giving you sexual favours....as your first drives will be stop/start, brake hard, accelerate strongly, high beams on, off, wipers, driving aids, etc....

[FastLaneJB]

Originally Posted by Pelo Cat

I'm also curious if you'll be able to 'outrun' your lasers...in other words accelerate and drive fast enough to not be able to see far enough in the distance at speed to feel you can drive that fast...(can be a problem on the Autobahn, or for you Northern lads... )

If I go faster than the speed of lasers am I not going to risk chopping my own car into half?

Fully understand what you mean here though. You need to see a very long distance in front to be going say 155mph safely. My gut feeling is the lasers are awesome but probably not going to give nearly enough range for those kind of speeds.

Originally Posted by Pelo Cat

You do realise that someone is going to think there is someone in the car giving you sexual favours....as your first drives will be stop/start, brake hard, accelerate strongly, high beams on, off, wipers, driving aids, etc....

That made me chuckle quite a bit

Either that or a women is driving... **Checks that this is anonymous and I don't need to hide in the fallout shelter**

[lemetier]

Originally Posted by FastLaneJB

Don't see why it cannot just use the laser on one side. From watching the video on it they shine the lasers into the normal LED high beams to give them a boost. So it's not like there's another set of high beams but simply the lasers add more power to the LED high beams.

I'll let you know when I get mine as I've just LED's currently so will be able to tell the difference on the range / brightness.

Because they emit radiation

[FastLaneJB]

Originally Posted by lemetier

Because they emit radiation

Well it's radiation in the form of visible light is it not? I suspect it's simply too bright even if not shining directly at you is why it has to be careful when they are used.

Of course if I get someone to turn a shade of green I'll be sure to report back

[Pelo Cat]

Originally Posted by FastLaneJB

Well it's radiation in the form of visible light is it not? I suspect it's simply too bright even if not shining directly at you is why it has to be careful when they are used.

Of course if I get someone to turn a shade of green I'll be sure to report back

Researching a bit about the laser lights, I came across this article (a bit older but still of interest to geeks!)

https://spectrum.ieee.org/transporta...rough-the-dark

So, the blue laser spectrum is somewhere in the 400 nm wavelength, can't find any information on whether it 'bleeds' over into other wavelengths like xenon lights do (although the focal spacing seems to indicate that this can be very focussed and therefore not allow too much bleed), interesting bit explaining about why they only come on at 37 mph as they are not eye safe so to avoid people staring into them at close range!

Safe travels.

[FastLaneJB]

Originally Posted by Pelo Cat

Researching a bit about the laser lights, I came across this article (a bit older but still of interest to geeks!)

https://spectrum.ieee.org/transporta...rough-the-dark

So, the blue laser spectrum is somewhere in the 400 nm wavelength, can't find any information on whether it 'bleeds' over into other wavelengths like xenon lights do (although the focal spacing seems to indicate that this can be very focussed and therefore not allow too much bleed), interesting bit explaining about why they only come on at 37 mph as they are not eye safe so to avoid people staring into them at close range!

Safe travels.

Thanks for the link Pelo, some interesting reading.

It seems then the way to dispatch of our enemies is to tie them to a wall, clockwork orange style force their eyes open and then drive at them at night at 38mph!

If people think cars are too complex now, just imagine how much electronics there will be in cars in 10 years time. Even if you get an ICE car then that's probably going to be the least complex part of the whole car.