Strange Cylon Light in my Skyline GTR Roof - Just What Is It???My Nissan Skyline GTR has a strange Cylon light cluster mounted onto the ceiling. It has no obvious purpose and is a complete mystery.
I have been racking my brains trying to work out just what this thing is. All I can work out is that it is some kind of projector onto the lower central part of the windscreen... but nothing is projected and I can only see it when the windscreen is misted up at night.
The cluster has slots in it at an angle so that you can't easily see in, except if you put your head up against it. Inside I can see what looks like a mirror and prisms with a red light and a green light.
The best suggestion I have had so far is Cylon light related! (compare the first picture with the Cylon from classic Battlestar Galactica)
If anybody can tell me what this is please do!!!
UPDATE Number 1: 26/04/2007 08:10
This morning in the light I decided to take off the cover of this strange device to see what was in there. The switch panel has Nissan on it which would indicate that this is an optional accessory/dealer/factory fitted. It is a substantial piece of kit as it is bolted through the headliner to the roof (not just stuck on by after market). With the switch panel removed, I can see a circuit panel but there are no part numbers to identify it. When I removed the cover with the slots in, I can see a little more, there seems to be two lights and an array of mirrors inside, but I still have no idea what this thing is.
UPDATE Number 2: 26/04/2007 21:49
I took the cover off when I got back from work, and found that everything was still under wraps. The headlining has been cut away, you can see where it was marked out. It has been done very professionally. Still no observed part numbers. The unit is bolted to the actual roof of the car, through what look like factory mount points.
I checked the number on the circuit board and it's an inverter. This will transform the 12V car supply to whatever voltage that the lamp would require.
I cleaned the mirrors as well because they were thick with dust. Maybe this will increase the light intensity a bit. The whole unit is coated with optical-quality matte back paint - which isn't cheap. It's the same stuff that the inside of my telescope is coated with.
As the tree said to the lumberjack: "I'm Stumped!"
You can read more discussion about this thing on the GTR Owners Club Forum
So after a bit more investigation, it appears that red light aids night vision, while green light aids visual enhancement to see map details. Mirrors create a polarizing effect on the light beam, which could be the reason the light does not reflect off the dash or windscreen.
I have finally had a chance to test this theory, and I can say that as a map light, this is very impractical. The light is barely bright enough and is in totally the wrong position.
The light is bright enough when it leaves the slots, but by the time it reaches the mirror, it would be too faint to see whilst driving. I have been outside for about 2 hours so my eyes were pretty accustomed to the light by then.
The beam of light is also far too narrow, it is like looking through a letterbox. The position of the dash and the windscreen rule out some kind of map holder there, as there is not enough space.
The position of the beam of light is also wrong, you have to look up to see the map.
The mirror can be adjusted up and down, however, you can't adjust it much or the light gets stopped by the slats and breaks up.
I used my proper camera (Canon 350d dSLR) for these pictures as it is far superior to the little one at low light levels and one thing I did notice in the pictures is that the green/red are split, not combined. The red only accounts for a small fraction of the beam.
