KM Ah, I had not thought about it. Wow, that is scary.
I recently cursed so many people coming in the opposite direction, thinking they were using the upper beam, but after reading a thread here a few months ago, I figured out it was LEDs and not the upper beam. Basically all new cars mount them. It is very disturbing. To me they should be banned in the current configuration.
In-car screens
ensete Go to www.lightmare.org and sign the petition.
I think there is no petition currently. Googling, I found some from 2017 and 2018.
If I am wrong, could you please send me the link, even in form of private message? Thanks.
I made a donation, surely it won't contribute much, but this way I should be informed of what happens on the topic via newsletters and so on.
Vip My question is this - is anyone else out there getting the symptoms with in-car infotainment screens?
Yes, same for me in our Seat Alhambra.
Vip Yes, every car with screens and or LED backlight. I have to cover everything or turn off backlight to be able to drive it. During new year celebration I was the only one not drunk and had to drive 2015 toyota yaris, I was behind the wheel for 1 h and I got headache, blury eyes, etc. It lasted for 3 days.
I also drove 2017 Range Rover discovery sport and covered most of the screens and buttons. Still got eye strain and blurryness.
I am planning to buy a new car and I am looking into cars which still have buttons for essential functions. For example new Audis is a no-go as even climate control is incorporated in touchscreen. But many others still have buttons for climate, volume, etc. (which is enough for me, as I already cannot use most of the things around me).
Just an idea on covering lights of buttons but still be able to use them. Not sure if it is possible, but I want to draw all the icons of the car and print them on "night glow paper". Then cut all those :"icons" and stick them on every button possible to cover the lights. They would glow for couple of hours time, which should be enough to drive home after work and not have to turn on internal lighting, which is also flickering LED.
Another life saver are cars with ability to turn off internal lighting and still being able to have headlights on. I recently sat in 2011 BMW 5 series saloon, which had lights turned on and the dashboard lights were turned off. It was possible to turn it on and off. Unfortunately the new 5 series does not have this (not sure which continent or country), but I am sure that good electrician can solve this in one way or another. I don't really care if I had to damage the interior of the car to attach "a workaround button" or something just to be able to have modern car.
Does anyone else have workarounds or better ideas for cars?
I have two cars a doge caliber 2008 and a Nissan Rogue 2013. Both use halogen lights and have no screens. That's my work around.
jasonpicard I do have 2008 SCION too with halogen outside and bulbs inside, but it is aging now and I do not think it will last loads of year.
By the way, does xenon give you eye strain/headaches?
randomboolean yeah they do. I don't let it dictate my life though. Generally bright lights mess with me but if I do everything else right I have no issues. I haven't had any crazy problems since before 2016. I'm so educated on what affects me these days. I can usually deal with minor problems like this without being knocked out for days. Last problem I have ever had was when they changed our screens at work but changed the DVI adapters but I solved it.
jasonpicard Thanks! Will have to rent a car with halogens, cover all inside leds/screens etc. and test it at night. I also have issues with house halogen lights which are 40-50 Watts or more, so I guess the same goes with car lights
Yes, it takes some time to change yout lifestyle, but when you adapt, it is easy not to get triggered.
randomboolean interesting. I have noticed with myself that lighting that usually gets into LED/CCFL 3200k and above I don't perform well. I use all Incandescent lights. I do have 5 halogens in my game room but all 20 Watts so they are less bright. I'm testing one LED 2700K flicker free in my game room right now. If it works I'm going to buy 3 more amber 2200k flicker free. I want more yellow light. I can tell you for me personally when a LED light hits the 3000k mark I can't use it.
jasonpicard Please share your findings after the test Yes, it confuses me a lot too! For me the rule of LED lightning is simple - all LEDS are OK which were bought and used at my home BEFORE I started getting eye strain from LED (yes, I get LED strain starting last year, and from pc's/laptops/monitors 2015). If I change a bulb (for example 2200 K from IKEA) to the same, but new one it gives me strain.
randomboolean I bought a Phillips bulb because they really advertise the Flicker free. You have to buy the bulbs that say dimmable or they are not flicker free. Also is you can get the amber coating it will alter the spectrum a bit for the better. You want as yellow as possible no white. 1800k to 2200k even with LEDs terrible spectrum issues should be under most people's blue light filter in their eyes. Flicker becomes tricky because the laws don't really say what level of flicker it has to be.
- Edited
randomboolean Please share your findings after the test Yes, it confuses me a lot too! For me the rule of LED lightning is simple - all LEDS are OK which were bought and used at my home BEFORE I started getting eye strain from LED (yes, I get LED strain starting last year, and from pc's/laptops/monitors 2015). If I change a bulb (for example 2200 K from IKEA) to the same, but new one it gives me strain.
This doesn't make much sense to me. You are saying that you can still use the old bulbs, with the same specs, that you got before your strain started, but if you put a new one with the same specs in it hurts? Are you sure the specs are the same? What happens if you put the old bulb back in?
Do you have any "old" ones still in a box you haven't used? If so what happens when you put those in?
hpst I think the specs are the issue here, since every bulb is not made equal (the same with screens). I guess even the smallest difference gives strain to me. Those bulbs were bought back in 2016 and I haven't bought any spare ones, since I did not have issues with LED bulbs at the time. I bought the new ones at 2019 (the same model). So I don't know what has changed during the years, but no new bulb is usable. So it is not logical at all, but yeah, our issue does not make any sense to me either, there is no pattern yet...
The same goes with my only good screen Samsung F2380. These screens were bought for my fathers business back in 2011, all at the same time, the same year, month, day, model, specs - EVERYTHING. They are all still working so i thought I have plenty of spare monitors SINCE they are all the SAME. But I could not be more wrong. None of the other monitors from the same purchase is usable...
jasonpicard Thanks, that is very interesting idea, I will totally do a test next week. Not sure why I thought that "dimmable" was worse than non-dimmable LED bulb, so never gave it a try.
Could you share more details on the coating? Is it some kind of separate material, which is put on bulb? Or I can order it included with bulb?
- Edited
randomboolean They are all still working so i thought I have plenty of spare monitors SINCE they are all the SAME. But I could not be more wrong. None of the other monitors from the same purchase is usable...
On the exact same hardware, gpu etc...doing the same tasks on the same version OS...only that ONE monitor is ok and all the others are painful? What in the world could that be. It's so hard to accept something so minor as manufacturing variation could be a problem. I am not saying your experience in invalid. I am saying I cannot fathom why it should happen. To me its like being able to eat one brand of nuts fine, but the same bag of nuts from the same company sitting on the shelf next to it, maybe with some small, seemingly innocuous variation like color or size, sends you to the hospital with an allergic reaction. It's WEIRD.
randomboolean if I was you. I would just stick with incandescent for awhile. Sounds like you need to get control of your environment. Control your house, car and your work environment is possible. Then try changing one thing at a time to make sure your can prove what is causing you problems.
- Edited
hpst That's exactly my thoughts! I tried to convince myself that it is all in my head and this can't be true, but after doing the tests of these same models and getting terrible migraines again and again, I had no choice but accept this as truth.
jasonpicard Thanks, that makes a lot of sense! Actually my life naturally shifted towards this. Most of the lights in my flat are halogens. I stacked ~ 1000 of them to have enough until (if ever) I solve this issue. I had to change my work style - I work from home and go to meetings only if necessary. I accept meetings only on bright days and when lights are not necessary. If they have lights turned on - I politely ask to turn them off. Never had any problem with my clients. Of course I do not work as project manager too much anymore. I am more like consultant, business developer, partner, etc. Most of the work can be done via phone. That is also strange. I got all these business offers only when my health went downhill and this problem became major obstacle. So maybe this is all for the better...
Hello
I just bought a new 2021 toyota yaris 1.5. After 15 minutes it gives me horrible eyestrain like you mentioned earlier. I had the vw up gti 2019 for 3 years and never experienced anything like this. Did you find a fix for it?
Had the same problem with my ibiza. Ended up selling it. It was to the point where I felt sick while driving, had no choice.