Will there be laser aux driving lamps?

[Magio]

And aside from themselves (and you), who says it would be a good thing for them to be a Tier-1 supplier? And why, what makes you say so? Would it be good to see Nabisco looking to become a lighting Tier-1, too? How about Wrigley's? Trojan? Marlboro? Budweiser?

Why would it be a bad thing? If, after becoming a Tier 1 supplier, any of the companies you mentioned are supplying quality compliant products then I don't see how that could hurt anything. I most certainly see ways it could help.

Not really. Just about any light source crammed into a projector will produce a wall shot like this very easily with any camera.

Im sorry thats not true at all. Go look at some of the beam shots of LED bulbs and even low quality Chinese HID bulbs crammed in HID projectors that many people are posting on other forums. Most of them that I have seen do not have a beam no where near as good that shot that they show in that link. 99% of the pics I have seen have a bright hotspot right in the lowest portion of the beam, that would translate into intense foreground, and no light in the center portion of the beam right under the cutoff kink that would translate into the beam thrown farthest down the road. Of course you can not tell when a beam is compliant by looking at a wall shot, but you can tell, in many cases, when it is not compliant.

I have bought from TRS multiple times in the past but I tend to shy away from them now because pretty much everything they sell is very low quality as everyone here knows. That does not mean they will never and can never produce anything good though and I for one am glad to see any signs that they are moving in that direction.

 

[-Virgil-]

Why would it be a bad thing?

Staying true to years of voicemail tradition, let's answer the questions in the order in which they were received.

If, after becoming a Tier 1 supplier, any of the companies you mentioned are supplying quality compliant products then I don't see how that could hurt anything.

OK, you didn't understand the analogy, sorry: there is a huge gap, many miles wide, between what Tier-1 suppliers make and how they make it, and what companies like TRS make and how they make it.

Im sorry thats not true at all.

Yes, it really is, even if you don't understand why.

Go look at some of the beam shots

No. Why? Beam shots are useless. No matter how well-intentioned the photographer is, it is very easy (with or without trying) to make the shot look completely unrepresentative of reality. At the same time, it is impossible to make the shot representative of reality, for reasons having to do with what is called "dynamic range". Reasonably decent explanation here. And that's without even getting into the basic problems of credibility involved with standing up for "beam shots" taken on a living room wall, on a garage door with a big honkin' streetlight above it, through a windshield at some random wall, etc.

you can not tell when a beam is compliant by looking at a wall shot, but you can tell, in many cases, when it is not compliant.

That is true, but it's not a fine enough granularity to support your statement that the TRS beam shot is promising.

I have bought from TRS multiple times in the past but I tend to shy away from them now because pretty much everything they sell is very low quality as everyone here knows. That does not mean they will never and can never produce anything good

Also true, but most companies don't crawl out of the sewer and immediately come out with a high quality, effective, safe, breakthrough product nobody else has ever made before. They climb the stairs one step at a time

am glad to see any signs that they are moving in that direction.

Well, we'll have to wait and see. So far we have signs that they're talking about that direction.

 

[ssanasisredna]

http://www.off-road.com/blog/2016/12/16/piaa-unveils-new-auxiliary-light-with-laser-technology/

That article states that the PIAA laser module will produce 1million candela. We'll see.

Hitting 1 million candela with a laser pumped phosphor spot is not a big technical hurdle.

 

[ssanasisredna]

The thing that defines "Tier-1" has little to do with technology or tech capabilities but is a matter of size, portfolio, customer base, and who you make your sale to. Even if they sold $100 million into the OEM market, that would not make them a tier-1. At $1billion and selling directly to the vehicle MFRs, maybe we start talking.

On a tech basis, it is interesting. I do have to wonder how they have effectively (if they have) managed the heat generated in the phosphor. The reason why the BMW (and other) systems is reflective, not pass-through, is they needed to put the phosphor on an aluminum plate to get rid of the heat. Given you need a high spot intensity for a "pencil" beam, this probably does not go away with their system. It may be most effective a low/high beams, but I have to expect it can't begin to compete with LEDs on pricing.

 

[jzchen]

A lot of development went into the i8 laser lights, including delayed activation until above 39 MPH says the BMW shop foreman that lives near us. A somewhat older article, but I'm almost hoping, for the sake of my eyeballs and all the rest of humanity's, that the aftermarket is not successful in producing these laser aux driving lights!

https://autotechreview.com/media/attachments/50_55_ATR_May15.pdf