So what makes them "high" and "low" beams is just a matter of position?
So what makes them "high" and "low" beams is just a matter of position?
The low beam has a shield under the filament so that the only light that can come out of the bulb goes up and is reflected down. The low beam produces a light beam that only shines down below the light and forward, hence the term 'low beam'. This prevents blinding other drivers in oncoming traffic.
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When you switch to high beams, the low beam filament goes out and the high beam filament illuminates. There is no shield around that filament (high beam) so the light is scattered all around the reflector and then forward but there is no cut off line and the light shines both above as well as below the headlight itself.
So what makes them "high" and "low" beams is just a matter of position?
The position of the switch.
While what you say is accurate, it does not take into account what is really causing the "high beam". It is not the direction of the light (up or down or both) (which is what I used to think). It is the exact angular position of the filament relative to the reflector. The high and low beam filament are separated by about 1cm (just an estimate) on center. The reflectors have dual focal points- one for the low beam filament position and one for the high.
This is why when using HID lights, you still have high and low beam patterns by simply moving the single "filament" (bright spot) HID bulb in/out to the two different focal points... With the HID conversion, the bottom half of the reflector is never used, only the top half is used.
Of course, this creates an interesting question that I cannot answer- WHY is it set up that way with the typical HID conversion (only using the top half), and WHAT are we losing by not utilizing the lower half of the reflector when in high beam mode?
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And it's a fun place to be if you have a sense of humor about you.
We have very knowledgeable members on this board that have loads of experience with this bike.I sure wish one of them "Knowledgable" ones would show up
Maybe I'm a geek, but I love this conversation. I want to understand as much as I can about the bike. You guys are great.
chip
I sure wish one of them "Knowledgable" ones would show up
And there we have it- some of 'dat 'dare humor coupled with an unwitting straight man....Whatcha saying? No sane, knowledgeable person would try what we tried and I aint ever been accused of being unwitting
<ROFLMFO three times>
Brian
Does it have a high and low beam?
Somewhat off topic: last night I was in Homely Despot and saw something that I found amazing- Ryobi has an HID "flashlight" (those two words just do not go together) for sale for something like $60 (not including the battery). Amazing- the entire light system including the ballast, the burner (bulb), a reflector along with a housing and switch all for $60. And it is the full power, 35 watt, 3,000 lumen of retina scortching HID too, not some puny 'little brother' types like the medical industry uses (and you cannot even believe where they shine those lights but that is a different subject....) Finally a flashlight that we do not have to polish the lens cover on to use- or probably even take the lens cover off.Not many years ago those lights were thousands of dollars and only available as options on Mercedes Benz autos- now they are in the local hardware store as 'flashlights'. Back on topic (sorta'), I betcha' 4 of those things up front of a C-14 would provide a fantastic 'bang for the buck' lighting system if you could get by the cheap plastic housing and the flashy colors of the Ryobi product.
Brian
Does it have a high and low beam?
Yes and it is controlled by an electro-mechanical mechanism called 'wristus angulus', or something close to that, in Latin.Google Translate makes that 'angle of the dangle'.
Brian