Illuminating the WWII German vehicle ‘Notek light’
Published 11:30 am Thursday, June 30, 2016
Many of the FHC’s German vehicles are equipped with a “Notek light” for night driving.
The unit was named after the company, Nova-Technik GmbH, that made them in Munich.
The 35-watt bulb under the hooded housing shines backwards, against a mirror. That reflected light spills out onto the roadway from under the helmet-like hood. It illuminates the road to about 100 to 130 feet ahead of the vehicle in a roughly 80-foot swath.
The light had three settings; dim, medium, and full. The dim setting made the vehicle’s light invisible from the air at altitudes above 2,000 feet. Lights on the full setting became hard to see at over 6,400 feet.
