That was part of the safety enhancements. Turn a four lane street into two lanes with a suicide lane a two very generous bike lanes. There are quite a few places that require careful choreography to avoid a head on as each driver tries to make a left.
At least we don't have the Tucson system where the direction of the lane changes depending on the time of day.
Sure, if the headlights are turned on. At dusk mine aren't.
Considering I'm the guy on the bike, I'd prefer some moron didn't hit me head on, or what is much more common, blissfully make a left hand turn in front of me because they 'didn't see' me. Car drivers only see other cars. Anything smaller than a minivan is off their radar completely. They *might* notice a headlight, but if it's just one little headlight in a stream of DRL's, they're going to ignore it.
What can I say? We're cowboys in Montana and figure most drivers aren't blind. Why the hell would you turn your headlights on before the sun sets? Why not at high noon?
No. The bimetal strip form of flasher provides the indication as a "pleasant side-effect" of its NORMAL operation.
- The bimetal strip must be sized to carry the load of the lamps.
- The current through the strip causes it to heat and, thus deflect (opening the circuit, allowing it to cool and the cycle to repeat). Less current (failed light) causes it to heat more slowly and "blink longer".
- The dashboard indicator is "just another turn signal" as far as the wiring is concerned -- nothing "special" to convey the normal operation of the turn signals to the user *or* the "altered" indication.
With an electronic drive, the normal "user" indication can be anything you can create with your available "user interface". Many cars now synthesize a "click-clack" sound to *simulate* the sound of the old flasher unit (opening and closing that bimetal strip). This in addition to any visual displays, tie-in's to other warning systems (e.g., blind spot detector, lane deviation warning, etc.)
I.e., the "normal" indication isn't a natural consequence of the wiring -- as it was with "dash indicator lamps" wired in parallel with the actual front/rear turn signal indicators.
While the bimetal strip inherently sensed the amount of current flowing through it as part of its design and reacted differently based on that current (thus changing when the load changed), an electronic drive has to explicitly sense *sense* that current is being drawn (to know that ANY lamps are illuminated) and sense how
*much* if you want to be able to differentiate between "one lamp load" and "two lamp loads".Then, you have to convey this information to your "user interface" where it must be presented to the user in a manner that makes it apparent that you are indicating a "load change" (bulb failure). Whether that is done by altering the numeric value used to specify the "on time" and "off time" for the indicators (visual and audible) or an "error message" displayed in the "information console" (which has to be prioritized with any other competing messages) is up to the designer. Do you adopt a common means of communicating this information regardless of make/model vehicle? Do you *augment* that "display" for vehicles that have more "verbose" display media? etc.
It's not "free". Someone has to decide it is important to convey this information and then figure out how to *get* it (sensing current, sensing an open load, etc.).
E.g., you can sense the actual current flowing through a particular load (LED/lamp). You can quantify this to any level of precision that you deem is important (i.e., you can conceivably tell if a
5W lamp is installed instead of a 10W -- or 6W). Or, you can just say: "A load of at least X is present, or not"In a degenerate case, you can simply notice the OFF voltage at the load while introducing a high impedance bias. I.e., shunt a tiny amount of current AROUND your "switch" into the load at all times. When "off", an intact load will look like a low impedance overwhelming that high impedance shunt (voltage divider where the load is so much lower impedance than the bias that *it* governs the "measured voltage" at the divider). OTOH, an OPEN load looks like an infinite impedance! So, the high impedance *shunt* governs (voltage divider where the load is now infinite impedance and the bias governs the measured voltage).
Or, you can sense the current flowing to/from the battery (to some degree of precision) and try to correlate that with actions that
*you* are taking ("OK, I'm turning the light on... NOW! So, that increase in current draw is PROBABLY a reflection of the current being consumed in the lamp. If I'm right, it should decrease when I turn the lamp off... NOW!"). But, this can be confused if other "uncontrolled loads" are present (e.g., someone plugs something into a "cigarette lighter" and you don't have an explicit way of knowing this to compensate your other observations) [I use this approach in my home automation system to infer what users (occupants) are doing -- just by looking at the instantaneous demands placed on the "utilities". E.g., water flowing at a certain rate for a certain time while a user is located in a bathroom suggests a toilet flush, not a shower! OTOH, I have no PROOF that the water really was flushed and not just a "hand washing" that happened to use the same amount of water flowing at the same rate for the same length of time as a toilet flush!]I suspect that is an obsolescent implementation. Our current vehicle uses LED front and incandescent rear indicators. I've seen other vehicles with far more elaborate (Tbird style) indicators and imagine even higher levels of integration in the future.
I've not yet purchased a workshop manual for current vehicle so I haven't had a chance to examine wiring diagrams, etc.
So, at the very least, it requires extra code, a flasher unit designed to explicitly note the load change (as it is no longer relying on a bimetal strip) *and* a path BACK to the electronic instrument cluster that lets the vehicle KNOW that this has happened (to alter the "A/V user display").
Much more "involved" and requiring explicit addition of that "feature" than the "free side-effect" of a bimetallic flasher!
Newer vehicles add a "sound effect". Probably to "be familiar" to drivers accustomed to hearing the bimetal flasher. But, it also has value as a non-visual indication: "Hey, idiot... your flasher is still on!"
[I've not invested any time to identify where the sound is sourced -- i.e., through a dedicated click-maker vs. through the entertainment system.]
People zone out when driving. They get "acclimated" to a particular set of stimuli -- then tend to ignore it.
If you want to be noticed, you have to stand out by "being different". E.g., a headlight that flashes, etc.
This is the rationale for every tweek to the safety equipment (e.g., now center mounted brake lights *flash* when first applied; it's not enough that they are UP HIGH, in your LINE OF SIGHT -- cuz you've gotten used to seeing them there and now "tune them out".
The issue is that there are no "obvious" rules governing when/where you should ENTER that lane! So, I could opt to start *driving* in it (not just waiting to turn) long before I plan on actually turning. This, of course, means anyone wanting to make a turn at any of the places I "drive by" gets screwed into waiting (in their LEFTMOST lane of traffic) until I've driven past.
No, that's primarily in D.C.
I'm not surprised. It's new-speak, from cop shows. I woudln't normally use it but I was playing a role.
She's inside and I'm across the street and two houses down. It's a quiet engine also.
But I've actually never done this.
I offered to go over to my ex-girlfriend's new boyfriend's house and see if his car was there or not, after she had asked if I would. But then she changed her mind.
And I did go to my dentist's home one night, after no one called me back after I called his emergency number and the 3 office numbers, one of which, based on the answering machine, seemed like it was his home number instead. Unfortunately, he had a long not-straight driveway and trees and I couldn't see if his car was there or not.
He called me the next morning, Saturday, at 11, but he called on my cell, after I gave him that number only for Friday morning, and he left a message that he was out of town and would call me when he got back in a few hours. (Maybe he was in DC which is only an hour away). But then he never called and never answered my email. He made two other big mistakes in treatment that month too, the exact same mistake twice. What a jerk.
Eventually I'm going to go to his office to get him to talk to me. If he's embarrassed in front of his other patients, that would be fine.
I don't think they do.
The switch is on all the time, and the lights go on when the engine goes on. The photocell on the dash determines which lights go on. But maybe if I turn the switch off and back on again, the lights really will go on even if the engine's not running. I'll try it. I had this all settled two or three years ago, but then I forgot how it works. This plan doens't ring a bell, but maybe.
Pa just put on the wiper ruling for a few years now. That overlaps the main rule, put lights on in poor weather. It's a pain though to clean the window LOL
Greg
Anyone can pay taxes and fees.
It takes a real man to face smuggling charges.
OT but my 2000 Solara has a driver's window that goes all the way down with one push, but requires holding the button to go up.
My friend's '99 Rav4 had a button that went up or down with one push, a year earlier, cheaper car, but better switch, IMO.
I'll have to check on that too!
That's another strange thing about this 2000 Solara. When I let the headlights turn on automatically, because I've started the engine, the dash lights don't go on for another 10 seconds or so. I don't know why it's not right away and I don't know what finally makes them go on! It might be shifting into gear, but I have to check.
If you mean like a blank screen until the car is started, no. All gauges and indicators are always visible. The gauges are backlit when the ignition is on and the indicators light up.
headlights with no tail lights did not mean the tail lights were
I'm guessing that's at least part of why DRL's never gained wide acceptance - they gave the cops probable cause to pull someone over and then find a REAL reason to eff with them. Seems dippy to cut the rear lights when the purpose of DRL's is to make a car more visible.
Brake lights should broadcast a wifi signal that flashes the smartphone screens of the texting driver(s) behind you when you apply the brakes. Or is there already an app for that?
Per Muggles:
On my first trip to Germany I was at the airport waiting for my ride and noticed that the cars all had windshield wipers on their headlights.
WTF ? Thunk I.
A half hour later, I found myself in the passenger seat of a car doing
110 MPH in the rain at night....Question answered....
Brain fart - Almost 500nfeet ( I was going by 50 meters -)
How absurd. Don't the Canadians trust the Americans? If it was ok in one country, it's ok in another one.
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