Simple headlight anti-glare mod

[Papa Schultz]

As a long time reader but not so long time contributor to this forum, please let me introduce myself: the name's Jens, I'm German native, but living (and riding my EUCs) in France, Normandy region. I have been learning on a Ninebot 1s2 and currently upgraded to an Inmotion V10F. Engineering  background and studies, currently working in the automotive industry.

OK, so when upgrading to the V10F, there were some additional features, the Ninebot did't have, for example the head- and taillights. Not the most important, but the ones this post is about. This of course brings a first night ride on the plan, thing I avoided on the 1s2, I didn't feel secure enough. I might need to add that I'm not riding in the city but countryside, smaller roads which are well shared between cars, bikes and pedestrians but at night completely dark.

The headlight on the V10F is bright, and at first sight quite well oriented, you see the road and what's around you. Nevertheless the upcoming traffic let me know quite quickly that the light is blinding them. It is true for my wheel, as well as for most if not all others, the headlight is a more or less bright LED chip with either a reflector or a lens. These lenses/reflectors haven't been given a second thought obviously, as they are projecting a circular light beam which opens equally in all directions including the upper direction just like a handheld flashlight would. The part of the beam directed upside is blinding upcoming traffic, it is like driving your car or motorbike with the high beam permanently on. We could argue that this way at least we are seen which brings security but personally I don't agree. A blinded upcoming driver is disoriented and could steer towards you as he will by instinct fix the light source and automatically go that direction. Only few of us (manly motor bikers) are trained to do the opposite.

I was thinking about the solutions that are known to me. How is it done for motor vehicles? Well for the older ones, a combination of reflector and diffuser was used to form the light beam to a certain shape. In modern cars the same is achieved either through ingeniously formed reflectors or lenses, which can even be oriented in some higher-end vehicles. In all cases, the beam is shaped in a way that the upper part is cut off or redirected downwards, the same for the outermost left part for left-hand drive vehicles (right part for right-hand drive). I wanted a simple solution which can be applied by everyone with the least modification to the EUC, especially if you still have warranty on the device.

So what do we need? The EUC (obviously), it's software or phone app, some electrician's tape, a wall perpendicular to the ground (ideally a bright color, but not necessarily) and 6-10 meters distance to this wall.

Preparation: power up your EUC and your app and make sure that the inclination of the pedals is set to your liking.

Step 1: switch on the headlight and move your EUC the closest possible to the wall so that you see the light spot on the wall and have just enough room to tape a chunk (20-30 cm) of electrician's tape to the wall. The tape should form a horizontal line. The lower edge of the tape should be aligned with the upper limit of the light spot.

Step 2: reverse from the wall, put a maximum of distance between your EUC and the wall in a way that you can still clearly see the limits of the projected light circle (6-10m should do) as well as the previously installed tape.

Step 3 (base version): tape a piece of electrician's tape of 3-4 cm length horizontally over your EUC's headlight in a way that the upper limit of the projected light circle is cut and the limit corresponds to the lower limit of the tape strip on the wall.

Step 3 (improved version): tape a piece of electrician's tape of 3-4 cm length over your EUC's headlight inclined to the side where opposing traffic usually comes up, i.e. inclined to the left for countries with LHD cars, right lane traffic and inclined to the right for countries with RHD cars, left lane traffic (in the UK and Commonwealth). Taking the example of the LHD version, the lower cut of the light beam (on the left) corresponds with the lower edge of the tape strip on the wall.

I attached a small PDF file to put some images to these steps for your convenience.

The improved version has the advantage that you still can see further in front of you, better anticipating your surroundings at night (pedestrians who want to cross the street, ...) as opposed to the base version where you only see what's on the road. I have tested both, I am more at ease with the improved version on our dark countryside roads. No more complaints from upcoming traffic so far.
An even further improved version would need to cut the tape to shape, more or less a 'H' shape without the upper left and lower right dash for countries using LHD vehicles, right-lane traffic (without the lower left and upper right dash for countries using RHD vehicles, left lane traffic). I haven't pictured this as the idea came later on.

Well, I hope that this first technical post of mine was understandable and will be of use for you. If any questions, comments or further improvement ideas don't hesitate. 

EUC headlight antiglare mod.pdf

Edited October 28, 2018 by Papa Schultz

[FreeRide]

I suggest instead of completely masking the beam, which will cause heat buildup on the dies, try using a diffusion laminate instead of the black tape. Should cut down the lux enough for the on coming traffic even on dark country roads, reduce heat build up, and provide a nicer field of view.  

Needs testing on this model, but has worked in other similar situations.

 

[Papa Schultz]

I used black color for the contrast in the images, I think white will do as well.

concerning heat buildup, I think the heat will build up mainly between the dies and the already existing cover glass of the EUC, due to the sealing for watertightness and lack of air exchange. The tape won’t add much to that as it is not thick and the light is not reflected back inside.

Agree on the diffusion laminate giving a even nicer field of view, that’s definitely worth giving some thoughts, thank you for the hint. Any suggestions for use of a particular product?

[FreeRide]

2 hours ago, Papa Schultz said:

I used black color for the contrast in the images, I think white will do as well.

concerning heat buildup, I think the heat will build up mainly between the dies and the already existing cover glass of the EUC, due to the sealing for watertightness and lack of air exchange. The tape won’t add much to that as it is not thick and the light is not reflected back inside.

Agree on the diffusion laminate giving a even nicer field of view, that’s definitely worth giving some thoughts, thank you for the hint. Any suggestions for use of a particular product?

DC Fix is the standard for efficiency and view, but in this mask scenario I think it is not too critical. It's hard to get in just a roll though, so one usually has to buy sheets.  

[Papa Schultz]

Ok, well noted, thank you. As soon as I get hold of it, I’ll definitely give it a try. 

[Harold Farrenkopf]

What if you used reflective tape such as used on air ducts. Aluminum foil tape. Wouldn’t it reflect the light back in an out down?

[Smoother]

2 hours ago, Harold Farrenkopf said:

What if you used reflective tape such as used on air ducts. Aluminum foil tape. Wouldn’t it reflect the light back in an out down?

I don't see why not.  Where it comes out might be unpredictable, but in theory it can't come out in the wrong place as the foil will prevent that again.  But it might come out at fully angles.  Suck it and see I guess.

@Papa Schultz good first post. I didn't see it in October as I was taking a forum sabbatical.

Inspired by your tutorial, I decided to go see what my KS16 light was dishing out. And the result was pretty much a flash light type of beam as you stated. So I got my tape out and started marking things up,  Well, to cut a long story long, I couldn't achieve a clean cut line as suggested by your pdf.  I did get a very indistinct cut off line, but it was accompanied by an overall light reduction of about 50%; which isn't acceptable to me.  I tried various iterations, but none produced a satisfactory result.  I guess there's no substitute for a computer designed reflector and lens combination.  It's a pity we can't 3D print a lens corrector.

Edited January 27, 2019 by Smoother

[mrelwood]

4 hours ago, Smoother said:

overall light reduction of about 50%; which isn't acceptable to me.

Me too. But the aluminium foil tape (shiny side towards the LED) has worked quite well for me on an Airwheel A3 for a few years now.

[Papa Schultz]

I agree with you, Smoother, the more distance you have between the light source and the “target”, the less clean a cut you have. The PDF file is rather basic, and is targeted to describe the process. The cut of the light beam is not completely clean. It depends on factors like the light source itself, reflector and lens used. In my case the cut was fairly well visible up to 10 meters. 

As for light reduction, this is an issue with simple taping. I can imagine this being improved using diffusion laminate as suggested by FreeRide or just taping the upper left (or right) quarter of the light, to obtain a kind of z-shape. Couldn’t get hands on a reasonably small chunk of diffuser laminate, so not tested yet.

My method definitely is a workaround and needs some getting used to. It can not replace a properly calculated diffuser glass, reflector or lens, I agree. On the other hand, taking into account the tilt of our EUCs, with shaped light beams, we would also need a levelling device for the head light unit, same as being used in motor vehicles using discharge or LED projector lights, reason why I cut the opposing traffic side quite low.

In any case thanks for your feedback, don’t hesitate to bring in your ideas and workarounds on this topic, as Mrelwood did. Do you have a photo of your solution? Just curious.

Safe riding to you all

Edited January 27, 2019 by Papa Schultz

[Smoother]

9 hours ago, mrelwood said:

Me too. But the aluminium foil tape (shiny side towards the LED) has worked quite well for me on an Airwheel A3 for a few years now.

Maybe I'll try the foil tonight.

[mrelwood]

On 1/27/2019 at 1:23 PM, Papa Schultz said:

Do you have a photo of your solution?

I do now. The aluminium tape covers perhaps 46% of the lens area. There are two layers of alu tape on the lens. First is slightly smaller than the lens at the edges and has the reflective side towards the lens. The visible second layer has the sticky side against the lens keeping the first one in place. It shouldn’t matter how reflective the outer layer is.