Pulsing headlight - is this legal???

[Woody]

saddlebum, you took the letters right off my key board I can see both sides of this discussion

[hig4s]

The example you cite is not a valid comparison.

 

We are discussing DAYTIME use of modulators & high beams. Walking into or out of a dark room is not at all comparable.

 

As beer30 stated above, there are numerous situations that one can drive into, and have a much brighter light in ones vision, than will ever be experienced by a driver seeing a high beam coming at them in daylight. An example being the sun, I was out riding tonight just before sunset, heading west, right into the sun that was low in the sky. This was what I would refer to as a difficult situation. But I was lucky, at no time was I blinded. Now had I been traveling the opposite direction on that road, with the sun to my back, and in the face of drivers coming at me, I would have been very concerned about their ability to see me and my meager 65 watt high beam headlight bulb.

 

Gary

 

I never said just what I was comparing it to, so how can you say it is not valid?

 

I was just trying to compare how fast your eyes adjusted to changes, brights coming up on you, even during the day, changes the amount of light your eye is hit with fairly rapidly. While the sun is much brighter, it doesn't change quickly, and unless you come around a mountain corner into the setting sun (which has almost caused me to crash before) your eyes have plenty of time to adjust before it is right in your face.

 

My wife can walk into a dark theater and just keep going and find a seat, I have to stop and wait a couple minutes before I can see anything. Same going out to bright sun, I have to stop and shade my eyes for about a minute, even though I wear glasses with transitions automatic tinting lenses.

[Black Owl]

Ok....I'm not going to jump in the deep end here but I want to say this. If the modulator would work on the 1st gen....I'd have one. They do get ones attention.

 

 

The modulator will work on a 1st Gen. Had one on my 86 for several years. You just need to make sure you order the correct one.

 

[Rocket]

The modulator will work on a 1st Gen. Had one on my 86 for several years. You just need to make sure you order the correct one.

 

 

I have this one on my 83.

https://www.kisantech.com/view_product.php?product=P115W-S

[Venturous Randy]

I am also one of those that is a bit on the fence on modulators. First of all, I am one that believes in using about anything to be seen, but unfortunately there are some that a modulating headlight could confuse them to the point of being dangerous.

Last summer I was on the way to Asheville on the interstate and met headlights coming at me in perfect unison flashing from one side to the other, just like I have seen police vehicles many times. Once I got closer, I realized it was two crotch rockets running beside each other.

For over 13 years I have run strobe lights in my headlight and I even run them at night. Technically, they are not legal because the laws, as I understand them, state that the lights should not go completely out and the brightness for that fraction of a second exceeds the maximum light. But, I also know that they do attract attention and I have the strobe rate slow enough that they do not appear to be emergency lights. I have also noticed that the left lane bandits seem to move over a little sooner if I am behind them. The other good thing is the strobes take a very small amount of power.

RandyA