Like many folks, I was wondering the other day about brakelights.

You can't tell how heavily someone is braking from just the lights turning on. Some european cars will turn on the hazard lights if you brake heavily, but most cars don't.

I was thinking about some way of differenciating between normal braking an panic braking and letting the person behind know about it. Hazard lights are one thing, but I was wondering about maybe having LED brake lights that flash at a very high rate (so it's obviously flashing, and not brake on/off). Either flashing on/off rapidly (ie 20 times a second) or going from normal intensity to a higher intensity (because 'flashing' brake lights may be illegal)


So, if you see a car in front of you braking, and then suddenly the brake lights flash very fast like a strobe light, what would you think that meant? Would you think the car was braking heavily? Or would it just attract your attention so you can see that it is braking heavily.


Hmmm. Something with LEDs and a 555 timer...

 

i would be happy if my third brakelight flashed. overall a good idea. what's a 555 timer?

 

Mercedes has it on the new S-class, but they needed an exemption from NHTSA.
http://www.autoblog.com/2006/02/17/n...lass-lighting/

 

A bunch of companies make conversion kits for this kindof thing...

http://www.signalz4u.com/

http://www.kahtec.com/smart_stop.htm

http://www.comagination.com/bflasher.htm

etc etc...

 

You notice that buses now light up amber when they coast? I wouldn't want it on a car, but I think it's a good idea for all heavy vehicles.

A 555 timer is an integrated circuit that can be used to time durations using simple r/c circuits. One of the oldest ICs ever developed.

 

sounds interesting, something to look into. you should come up with something and patent it

 

You can buy the flashing LED bulbs here:
http://autolumination.com/dcell3.html

"The D-CELL smart technology automatically senses the rate of deceleration when you hit the brakes. During a panic stop, or rapid braking, the D-CELL matrix bulb will strobe brightly 10 times per second for two seconds to warn drivers behind you that you are stopping quickly. The bulb operates like a regular brake light under during normal stops. "



I have the switchbacks up front, thought about these but went with the Light Tower II's instead....

 

The basic 1 second for every 10MPH following distance rule gives you more then enough time to react to a panic stop. Most people drive to close to the car in front of them. The brightest lights in the world woun't make you stop fast enough to avoid an accident if your to close to the vehicle in front of you.

 

Yeah but we all know that doesn't happen! At least on SoCal freeways, the second you leave a safety gap, it's filled!

 

BMW has "Adaptive Brake Lights". If you press hard enough, more brake light lights up. The problem is, not everyone knows the difference between the two.