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Technology Connections

@techconnectify.bsky.social

170K followers 420 following 11K posts

I'm that YouTuber who taught you how dishwashers work. Guess I'm tryin' out the whole Bluesky thing now. he/him https://www.youtube.com/technologyconnections

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Technology Connections @techconnectify.bsky.social · 1h

I have another video today! It's about old-school video projectors and how amazing they were.

Seriously, not only is it almost unbelievable that this even works, but it's doing full HD video with incredibly good image quality. It's also a royal PITA.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ms8u...

Video projectors used to be ridiculously cool

YouTube video by Technology Connections

www.youtube.com

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Technology Connections @techconnectify.bsky.social · 30m

I know a pretty quick way to find that out...

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Technology Connections @techconnectify.bsky.social · 1h

Video projectors used to be ridiculously cool

YouTube video by Technology Connections

www.youtube.com

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Technology Connections @techconnectify.bsky.social · 1d

Oh man. This might tempt me to break my no-faces-in-thumbnails rule again...

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Technology Connections @techconnectify.bsky.social · 2d

Now, that will work well enough *depending on the car* and that's, like, the whole issue here.

Designers of the optical systems in taillight housings could count on the omnidirectional output of an incandescent lamp. This gave them some design freedoms which LED drop-ins cannot replicate.

Technology Connections @techconnectify.bsky.social · 2d

It's not laziness, it's a technical limitation. The "bulbs" I'm showing (and that were in the cube) put the diodes as close to where the filament sits as they can, but filaments shine light in all directions and these shine light from just two directions.

360° emission vs. ~120° + 120°

Technology Connections @techconnectify.bsky.social · 2d

this looks great

Drew Harwell @drewharwell.com · 2d

The Sora AI disinfo nightmare is here

For more like this:
tiktok.com/@drewharwell
instagram.com/bydrewharwell

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Technology Connections @techconnectify.bsky.social · 2d

Also - make sure you test this with the engine running (or the car "powered on" in the case of a hybrid/EV)

The incandescent lights will be significantly brighter with the engine running. LEDs may not get any brighter depending on their control circuits.

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Technology Connections @techconnectify.bsky.social · 2d

The brake lights look basically equivalent but you're too close to really judge them - those "hot spots" I'm seeing are likely not there when centered in the cone of visibility.

I think overall, though, what you've done with the turn signals is worthy!

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Technology Connections @techconnectify.bsky.social · 2d

And for what it's worth, I still vehemently disagree with those who *do* know and go through the effort to find ideal drop-ins.

But that's more about my sensibilities than anything else.

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Technology Connections @techconnectify.bsky.social · 2d

People don't know what they don't know, and unfortunately my message of "don't do this," while intended for those who don't know, is rubbing those who do know the wrong way.

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Technology Connections @techconnectify.bsky.social · 2d

I have seen a few LED drop-ins which look decent. I have even seen a few which truly are brighter than most turn signals.

But they're the exception and not the rule. Most that I notice are not as bright as they should be and/or aren't filling out the light in the way they should.

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Technology Connections @techconnectify.bsky.social · 2d

I mean the drop-in ones.

But when you say "demonstrably brighter" may I ask - did you stand back a solid hundred feet from your car when making those comparisons? And were you comparing not just apparent brightness but how much the LEDs filled the intended area of illumination?

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Technology Connections @techconnectify.bsky.social · 2d

That people are in the comments saying "this isn't a good example because they should be red" or whatever simply aren't realizing *they are making my argument for me*

It's enthusiasts who actually know what they should be looking for not realizing I am not speaking to them.

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Technology Connections @techconnectify.bsky.social · 2d

OK, Dylan, I'm going to try one last time to give you my perspective here which you seem to be missing.

It is completely reasonable for a layperson to expect "this is an LED. It must be better! And the light that was in there was clear so I don't know why white would be a problem"

and here we are.

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Technology Connections @techconnectify.bsky.social · 2d

And listen, I'll make this my last reply but please rewind your brain to this point:

Somebody at some point bought the "wrong" LEDs and put them in the Cube. That, right there, is the problem.

"Well that guy just did it wrong" is not actually a good defense of the idea.

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Technology Connections @techconnectify.bsky.social · 2d

That's what I feel like you're stuck on.

Yes, I could have said "it is possible to do this correctly if you make all these comparisons"—which I did at the end!

But the most important thing for people to understand is "optics matter, LEDs screw with that, they aren't road legal, don't use them"

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Technology Connections @techconnectify.bsky.social · 2d

Consider for a moment that those comments are coming from people who aren't quite grasping that the *potential* to make a mistake as the previous owner did is the reason these products are bad.

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Technology Connections @techconnectify.bsky.social · 2d

I don't want to get into an endless argument here, but my video is for the less-informed. It's the moderately-informed who are dangerous here.

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Technology Connections @techconnectify.bsky.social · 2d

I think it really can be that simple!

There are too many cars on the road with crappy LEDs in them. Most people just put them in there thinking they're better and don't know how to check their performance.

And since they're illegal anyway, I feel like that's that.

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Technology Connections @techconnectify.bsky.social · 2d

I do generally love discussing minutia, but here?

The bottom line is "none of this is road legal"

I could not in good conscience encourage people to make illegal modifications to their cars. And I happened to have a good example of someone not knowing better and demonstrated the consequences.

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Technology Connections @techconnectify.bsky.social · 2d

I think my argument isn't persuasive to you because you've won the lottery of "a car which these work well in" and would rather I had discussed that.

I deliberately chose not to because there are too many variables which people either don't know about or aren't considering.

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Technology Connections @techconnectify.bsky.social · 2d

What frustrates me about this conversion is, again, the taillight housing was designed for a specific bulb. You can guarantee its performance will be as expected by using that specific bulb.

"LEDs good" is in people's heads more strongly than the fundamentals of the optics and this is bad.

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Technology Connections @techconnectify.bsky.social · 2d

And another reason it's much simpler to say "just don't do this" is that *they are going to perform different on a car-by-car basis*

You can see in my video that the beam pattern from the running light LED is completely wrong. That wouldn't change even if I had the red version.

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Technology Connections @techconnectify.bsky.social · 2d

The post above this one is the actual problem, and I would ask that you consider what's more reasonable:

Communicate to a general audience all of the minutia on how to check and verify that any drop-in replacements are working well (as well as color matching info)

or

Just don't do that.

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Technology Connections @techconnectify.bsky.social · 2d

The reason I'm cranky about this is that I cannot identify a genuinely good reason to modify your car like this. The one I agree with most is the benefit of instant-on, but I would never accept a faster-to-light but significantly dimmer light.

Many people will, though, and this is a genuine problem

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