Dark mornings and evenings Options

[Berkshirelad]

Autumn is definitely here and winter will follow closely along. These things are immutable.

But why-oh-why is it that when driving around the area, you can spot so many vehicles with defective headlights. It seems to average about one per mile travelled. I even saw an Ambulance with only a single dipped beam working.

Surely they can't all be "Sorry Officer, it must have just blown"

[motormad]

I am the queen of banter.

The point is, 36w per headlight is just as wrong as my calculation.
So is it wrong to say you lose power when your headlights are on and that driving around with your sidelights would SAVE FUEL.

[Exhausted]

I am the queen of banter.

The point is, 36w per headlight is just as wrong as my calculation.
So is it wrong to say you lose power when your headlights are on and that driving around with your sidelights would SAVE FUEL.

I used 36 Watts per bulb as I didn't want to overegg the point. It isn't wrong to say that you lose power when your headlights are on. Energy can only be converted from one form to another.
It goes like this. The fuel in your car which you buy has energy stored within it. You burn the fuel to release that energy and by the design of the burning, you run an engine which converts that energy. Most of it will go to the wheels to overcome friction and provide motion. Some is converted into electrical energy by an alternator and will be used as needed to charge the battery which will store some of that energy. Some goes to produce heat in the filaments of a bulb and this will be converted to light.

So, if you mounted a 1.5 kw searchlight on the top of your car your engine and alternator as energy converters will need to provide 2HP to keep it going. This comes from the petrol which you burned. Not having it switched on will save you fuel.