Headlight modulator what is

The lighting depends on what type of emergency vehicle you are talking about. Some emergency vehicles have flashing headlights used with the other lights, and I suppose that is what the similarity might be that you are referring to.

Thanks for asking. Lifestyle Ask a Trooper: Headlight modulators are a motorcycle safety feature Q: This isn't a question but more of a need to get information out to the public concerning motorcycles. I was recently riding my motorcycle with another motor Written By: news duluthnewstribune. Suggested Articles. Northland Outdoors. Have you seen the red laser line distance markers for the rear yet?

You could modulate the headlights at a specific frequency A sensor in cars could pick up on the modulation and prompt the driver with a warning like a fasten seatbelt beep when the modulated light is seen. It could encode bike speed in the modulation. Encoding the speed allows for not warning if the bike is following the car for a period of time same speed. The Hurt report is quite an old piece of research, if I recall correctly it was written by a car driver who pulled out on a motorcycle, and went on to research how he failed to notice the approach of the motorcycle.

Perhaps there is some mileage in using LED lights intended for a bicycle as supplementary lighting on a motorcycle. They do to a certain extent here college town but from experience the gigawatt strobe blinkies on a dark road will give even a non-epileptic a seizure and people give up on that pretty quickly.

I see bikes with flashing-only taillights and it seems to increase the usual autokinetic effects the flashing light seems to be in different positions due to eye movement. A loophole could be a loose headlamp that bounces when driving.

Technically it is always on. Federal law U. It is NOT pointed at oncoming traffic to activate because of a passing car. The way he has set it up is so that it will NOT activate after daylight hours. During the day, the pulsing light is certainly attention grabbing, but not overly distracting. I have seen them many times in oncoming traffic while I was driving my non-motorcycle vehicle.

They have cars that do the same for headlights. My grandfather had one. Small things like these seem to help. There is nothing wrong with this from a safety stand point, aside from the danger you risk of riding at night if it some how fails completely and your head light goes out. Assume nothing and expect every car to pull out on you, change lanes on you etc. Plan your evasive action in advance as you approach any side road with a car in it.

Having a headlight switch would be perfectly legal now. There is also wording in those regulations specifically addressing the modulated headlamp. Actually recent studies show that adding a pair of 10Watt yellow LED driving lights to the motorcycle it gets the attention of drivers far more than the modulating headlight as very bright yellow lights in a triangle with a headlight draws their attention. The AMA actually discourages riders from using headlight modulators as they also significantly reduce lamp life, and nothing sucks more than changing your headlamp at night on the side of the road…..

Perfectly legal, but requires a bit more attention to be paid, which is best when you are on a bike, the murderous cagers around you require your full attention. Reducing lamp life using a modulator is absolutely not true…life is actually extended and in halogen lights it helps to prevent crystallization which shortens the bulb life. Well maybe you should read some recent technical information here is a link to prove my point…read on!

You know what else causes this behaviour? Your local kids that put huge amps and subs in their vehicle without proper wiring or a big enough alternator. Their lights dim too. Then there must be something missing here, because that circuit definitely blinks the light on and off. Even though the current goes to zero, the filament remains hot enough to emit light. I have not verified this experimentally, but I compared my modulator to a commercial one the Kisan linked to in the article and the Kisan also shuts the current off entirely.

The design above is about a solid-state turn-signal relay but the concept is the same : a driving a mosfet. It may be inserted without worrying about the chassis connection which may be a pita on a bike. So this scheme works only if you have a manual switch to turn off the modulation after dark. The modulator works as long as there is enough daylight to counterbalance the varying light.

They are only intended to be used in hours of daylight. Think of the effect as POV. Electrically the filament, or LEDs, are turned off but visually the effect is like sunlight shining on a lake with small waves.

I can run normally, have a modulated headlight and for Open Tour buses I use the Dazzler. It works a charm. Loosen the screw until the bezel is loose. Carefully pull off the 3-prong plug from the back of the headlight.

You may have to rock it back and forth a bit, or even pry it out using a flat-bladed screwdriver, but be careful not to bend or break one of the studs. Gently pull the small light bulb out, and carefully pull the brown ground spade connector off the terminal also and set the complete headlight assembly aside.

You may want to cover the headlight with something so that no dirt gets into the hole where the parking lamp was. Wrap the cable and plugs that come from the bike inside the headlight shell in a towel or plastic bag to protect them during the next step.

Now comes the scary part. In order to comply with regulations to prevent modulating at night, every modulator must have a device that prevents it from modulating when it gets dark, while still allowing the headlight to operate normally.

You need to get over the mental block of drilling into your precious baby, but I justified it by thinking if I messed up, I would simply plug the hole with a black rubber flush mount plug, and no one would notice. Drilling holes in thin walled sheet metal is a bit tricky, as the drill has a tendency to grab the metal and stall. Do not try to drill a large hole in sheet metal without first drilling a series of pilot holes!!

Use a very small drill and work your way up. Be patient! The sensor must be located in a way that will prevent oncoming headlights at night from allowing it to activate the modulator, so the best way to mount it is pointing straight up at the sky on top of the headlight cowling.

To locate the position for the hole, I measured back 35 mm from the front edge of the headlight cowling, which locates the hole about in the middle of the space from the front of the headlight to the beginning of the instrument module. You can eyeball it and get pretty close, or I found that you can locate the center by using your two scales. This should be the center. It turned out that on my bike the center was located mm from each screw.

To start the hole, you must use a center punch to create an indentation to help locate the drill bit, otherwise you will not be able to get the drill to start without wandering. If this does happen, you can gently tap the headlight cowling from inside to straighten it out a bit. You must drill a pilot hole first to guide the bigger diameter drill. I drilled a series of holes using progressively bigger diameter drills. After you have that hole drilled, put a drop or two of oil around the hole to help lubricate the next.

This one may want to grab the edges of the hole, so be careful. After drilling, the hole will have a burr. You must remove the burr using the round file and the emery cloth. The instructions that come with the Kisan modulator are not very clear on how to actually mount the sensor in the hole.

The grommet slides around the cable that holds the sensor, then fits up tight against the sensor head itself and pops into the drilled hole. Locate the grommet up around the threaded part of the sensor, and then push the sensor and the grommet unit down into the hole.

I had to file my hole a bit to get it to fit, and I over did it, so the fit was a tiny bit loose. I put a dab of black silicone sealant around the inside of the hole to make sure it stays waterproof. You may want to do this anyway, just as extra insurance against leakage. Replace the small light bulb and the ground terminal. Attach the original headlight 3-prong connector that comes from the bike into the 3-prong receptacle on the little extension cord that comes out of the side of the modulator.

Replace the headlight assembly and attach it by tightening the screw in the bottom of the bezel. Start the bike and turn on the high beam, and after about a second the headlight will start to modulate. Life is good! This bike has a plastic chromed headlight bucket, which makes for a tricky installation of the ambient light detector. If you have this type of headlight, you may need to use this procedure. I suspect, that this new twist may be more common than to just this one bike.