Casualsurfer
Well-known member
- Joined
- Oct 6, 2015
- Messages
- 87
What's the point of having "Auto" when the headlight is on ALL the time?
Gripe about the headlight
- Thread starter Casualsurfer
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nikwax
Well-known member
tail lights
Casualsurfer
Well-known member
- Joined
- Oct 6, 2015
- Messages
- 87
nevetsyad said:
I've tested mine out in the open and they seem to be exactly the same (brightness)....
Yep, I don't see a difference in brightness between the DRL only versus ON / night time headlights.
With the DRL only during the day time you are saving a few watts of tail lights and the displays don't dim.
If you really want to pinch some watts turn off the DRL,, and not be as safe,, statistically.
With the DRL only during the day time you are saving a few watts of tail lights and the displays don't dim.
If you really want to pinch some watts turn off the DRL,, and not be as safe,, statistically.
fr100 said:
Yes, it's your left hand.
Is this to pinch a few watts? Or for the 'Danger Zone'?
A friend wanted to make a square bumper sticker like walmart trucks used to display,, only the opposite:
I'm driving with
my lights OFF
For Danger
Nashco
Well-known member
This is a pet peeve of mine. No way to do it from the factory, unfortunately. I turn the lights off when it's daylight instinctually after years of dealing with this annoying feature.
Note that turning off the lights will increase efficiency about 1%. Seems like a tiny amount, but if you are pushing the limits that's the difference between pushing or not.
Bryce
Note that turning off the lights will increase efficiency about 1%. Seems like a tiny amount, but if you are pushing the limits that's the difference between pushing or not.
Bryce
How can 110 watts equal 1% of a 21 kWh battery pack?Nashco said:
It would also depend on your kWh/mile usage.
Roughly, that is 190 hours of DRL.
To each his own, but how can DRL be annoying to the driver? They are statistically a much safer way to drive.
NORTON said:
Two hours of driving at 40-50mph would use all the battery - during that time 110W into the headlights would consume ~220Wh, which is ~1% of the ~20kWh contained in the battery.
If you drive slower it could be more than 1%.
kevin
Nashco
Well-known member
NORTON said:
There aren't any statistics which support headlights on a vehicle increasing safety. Don't take my word for it, google "NHTSA DRL safety statistic" and you'll see there's a lot of data, but none that can show a strong support for DRLs and safety. On the contrary, it's extremely easy to highlight data that shows the impact of headlight use on energy consumption. In my case, it's a personal preference. My motorcycles have the lights on any time the key is on by law, but in my car I have the option to turn off my headlights, and I do.
Kevin already showed the math; as he points out, if you're driving very efficiently/slow, headlight use could actually add up to more than 1%. Also, note that it's not just the headlights. The DC-DC converter on the Spark EV has an "eco" mode that reduces the output voltage to ~12.x (the AGM battery's nominal voltage) which puts out JUST ENOUGH current to meet the vehicle loads, but not enough current to force charge into an already fully-charged battery (which not only accelerates wear of the 12V AGM battery, but also wastes energy in the form of heat). This "eco" mode is only active if the 12V battery is fully charged AND the headlights are off, as far as I can tell in my testing so far.
I've been meaning to put a current sensor on the multimedia system to see the current draw there as well. I have a sneaking suspicion that with OnStar, display screen, etc. on, there's probably another 1% or so improvement that could be had if you really wanted to stretch the limits on electric load reduction. But that's for another thread.
Bryce
So I did.Nashco said:
Well I'll b'damd.... There is small evidence for safety, but nothing big like I thought. I thought from the old GM adds touting their cars with DRL and studies from the Europeans it was a big deal...
This is a positive excerpt:
A key European study
(Elvik et al., 2003) that used statistical meta-analysis to aggregate 41 DRL studies (25 studies that evaluated the
safety effects of DRL for cars, and 16 for motorcycles) found that DRL use produced a 5 to 10 percent reduction in
multiparty daytime crashes for cars. In this study, all 25 of the passenger car studies evaluated in the meta-analysis
found that DRL use yielded a crash reduction of some magnitude—no studies demonstrated an increase in crashes.
And the down side of having cars with DRL's is:
Cars with NO Auto-On Headlight system are driven with just DRL's at night.
There are goof-balls I see driving home in evening rush hour with just the DRL and the rest of the car is dark.
The instrument panel is let up and they can vaguely see things in front of them, so all is well with them. Some have noticeably dim DRL's.
Have you seen these people? :roll:
At least GM got it right with the Volt and the Spark EV, (I don't know how the rest of the fleet works.)
But come on.... 1%.... maybe? What is the percentage of improvement driving 1 MPH slower? Or 5 MPH slower?
I choose safety and don't push the range too far into single digit %'s
And then there are LED/HID headlight bulb replacements. I'm currently running a 70 watt headlight system. But that is for another thread.....
nikwax
Well-known member
Heck, I see people driving around in the dark with no lights on at all.
Nashco
Well-known member
NORTON said:
I've pushed the limits as long as I've had EVs, going on lots of EV road trips. With limited charging infrastructure in its infancy in some locations, sometimes I've had to stretch it really close...even when pulling all the tricks. 1% is 1%, and if you pull all the stops and get 5% or 10% better range on a charge, that might make the difference between a 4 hour trip and a 5 hour trip. Like I said, above, 1% seems like a tiny amount, but if you drive 110 miles and are 1 mile from the charging station when your battery runs out...I bet you start wishing you had that 1% really quick.
I never said it's a huge difference in safety or energy efficiency. My personal preference is to turn them off. I do think about the fact that if every new car on the market didn't use the headlights during the day time, that's thousands of barrels of oil every year that we could keep in the ground. With automatic sensors that turn the headlights on at night, I think this would actually increase safety compared to the crummy front DRL only at night situation as was already brought up. Moot point, as I can't change the industry with hopes and prayers!
Bryce
The thing that really frustrates me is that, while the headlights are turned off, I have no control over the dashboard lights. I can understand for the daytime driving, but even then, I'd like to adjust the lights myself thank you. If I'm waiting to pick someone up, I have to turn the car off so the cab is dark while I'm waiting. Seems really petty and insignificant I know, but it's till irritating.
Biggest pet peeve thus far of owning the spark ev.
The law only allows you to have DRL, it does NOT prohibit you from driving without DRL (what a shocker when the DOT find DRL to be statistically insignificant when it comes to safety) so it irks me that GM take it upon themselves to make this option a sticking point for the owners. Have anyone reach out to the dealership to see if they could program this off indefinitely?
The law only allows you to have DRL, it does NOT prohibit you from driving without DRL (what a shocker when the DOT find DRL to be statistically insignificant when it comes to safety) so it irks me that GM take it upon themselves to make this option a sticking point for the owners. Have anyone reach out to the dealership to see if they could program this off indefinitely?
lude219 said:
Why does it bother you so? How do you even know the DRL are on, other than that little icon on the display? You could never measure the range effect. It's 110 watts. And many studies find DRL do increase safety. That is why GM 'took it upon themselves' to add this safety feature.
Just turn them off and feel better in your version of the world. GM gave you options, right ?!
Nashco
Well-known member
NORTON said:
Are you being serious? You just described how measurable it is! 110 watts over a full charge is about one MILE of range reduction. Have you ever run out of charge one mile or less from a charger? If not, when it happens, you'll wish you hadn't had the headlights on. It's considerably easier to flip the headlight switch off compared to pushing the car a mile. I promise.
Bryce
Yes, mathematically you can measure it.Nashco said:
But, "about one Mile" is about as accurate as it gets. Everyone has different driving patterns and kW/mile numbers.
Could you ever do repeatable real world driving measurements?
Try to do two identical +80 mile trips and get identical usage/range numbers.
The real world always changes a lot more than 110 watts worth.
Wind, Temperature, Your Mother-in-Law in the right seat or two bags of groceries in the back, Tire Pressure (a biggie) .
If it makes you happy: Turn off the DRL. Statistically you know what that means. But then, a lot of major car manufacturers do not have DRL....
If you want safety and you want to pinch those expensive watts, you could swap the headlight bulbs to LED or HID.