Adaptive multi beam LED headlights problem

rf065

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because they don't know what they are doing...

there were three reasons on my BMW why I turned it off (and went to an adaptive perfectly judged setting instigated by the operator)
1) failing to use high beam at low speed (just as you find, its dangerous without it)
2) it wouldn't dip reliably against massive reflective road signs, so the world's lit up like its firework night and you can't see where you're going
3) the manual override became a double tap of the stalk instead of once to get it to respond

On a VW with morphing LED rubbish I found
1) it didn't move to high beam when in unlit 60 limit road's reliably
2) it forgot to dip and dazzled everyone,
3) it picked out lights in homes nowhere near the road on S bends and dipped till you couldn't see where you were going
4) it was slow to pick up high beam after a passing car had gone by
5) it dipped too early for on coming cars on twisty roads

all in all safer to DIY

I've two cars with ILS and none of them show these symptoms, maybe just a BMW thing?
 

Botus

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the bigger fault was with a VW

two german cars... so I fully expect if / when I try a Mercedes system it will meet my expectations just as much as the others do
 

ajlsl600

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You forgot the "fix for under £20 on the side of the road" bit as well Andy!

yup...
taking in mind that electronic components have few if any moving parts they sure are not very reliable, OR CHEAP TO REPLACE . i wonder how many modern headlight systems will still be functioning and if so at what cost at the same ages as the Citroen DS which for its day and even now one could consider useful design , if not tech.
the conflict on the issue i fear is, our (some consumers) desire for more and the makers desire to keep us connected by bungee to the service/parts counter. a scheme i am constantly trying to avoid...
 

grayb

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I have once been in a W212 with multibeam LED ILS as a passenger and it was like witchcraft. Want.
 

ajlsl600

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i want it to start, stop. be reasonably frugal on fuel. not bankrupt me in parts/materials to see up the road at night whilst maintaining a reasonable legal speed a degree of comfort and warmth. and not to leave me walking unless i had planned to do that. as i get older anything else that malfunctions will likely stay that way wherever i can get away with it.
 
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Digsy

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Anyone else noticed a similar problem?

For everyone debating whether or not adaptive main beam is better or worse than flipping the fingers on your left hand every few seconds - I get it. I also somehow managed to survive an entire thirty years on the roads doing just that. :)

However, when I test drove a car with the system I was amazed by it. The first and last few miles of my daily commute are down narrow, twisty country roads where wildlife (some of it very large) has a tendency to walk out in front of oncoming traffic, so I thought it would be a useful real-world device.

In any case, it came as a pre-defined package with the car I bought. Would I have specified it as an option for a new build? Probably not, but as with any tech, if I have it, I want it to work as advertised.

I'm guessing from the responses that what I am experiencing isn't actually a common problem. I will continue to see how things go as the weather gets colder.
 

Botus

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you don't say if you disable AC intentionally... it should be always on if you want the car to work the way they designed it
 
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Digsy

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you don't say if you disable AC intentionally... it should be always on if you want the car to work the way they designed it

With respect I think if that were the case then there wouldn't be a button to switch it off, unless its purely there for the emissions test :) However I do usually leave it on, but if I don't it doesn't seem to make much difference to whether the lights work properly or not. For example, over the last few days they have worked perfectly despite the weather being pretty damp and cold.
 

ajlsl600

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good luck with that. if i won the lottery i might even look at that myself as an option, in the meantime i regard it as a un necessary expense/probable headache that i can do without. think yr spot on with the button it SHOULD be designed to function correctly off or on maybe next time it goes to dealer the factory service solution will be ,remove switch/insert blank.!
 

Srdl

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With respect I think if that were the case then there wouldn't be a button to switch it off, unless its purely there for the emissions test :) However I do usually leave it on, but if I don't it doesn't seem to make much difference to whether the lights work properly or not. For example, over the last few days they have worked perfectly despite the weather being pretty damp and cold.
I think the point was that if you don’t use the A/C then the car is more likely to steam up in damp weather. If the car steams up in damp weather, the headlight sensor is more likely to mist up and fail to work properly. So use, or not, of the A/C may affect the operation of the lights.
 

Botus

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With respect I think if that were the case then there wouldn't be a button to switch it off, unless its purely there for the emissions test :) However I do usually leave it on, but if I don't it doesn't seem to make much difference to whether the lights work properly or not. For example, over the last few days they have worked perfectly despite the weather being pretty damp and cold.


possibly you had the sensor clean because the wipers were working
 

rorywquin

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With respect I think if that were the case then there wouldn't be a button to switch it off, unless its purely there for the emissions test :) However I do usually leave it on, but if I don't it doesn't seem to make much difference to whether the lights work properly or not. For example, over the last few days they have worked perfectly despite the weather being pretty damp and cold.

From my owners manual
Switching climate control on/off

General notes
When climate control is switched off, the air supply and air circulation are also switched off. The windows could mist up. Therefore, switch off climate control only briefly.

.................

Activating/deactivating cooling with dehumidification

General notes
If you deactivate the "Cooling with dehumidification" function, the air inside the vehicle will not be cooled during warm weather. The air inside the vehicle will also not be dehumidified. The windows can mist up more quickly. Therefore, deactivate the "Cooling with dehumidification" function only briefly.
The "Cooling with dehumidification" function is available only when the engine is running. The air inside the vehicle is cooled and dehumidified according to the temperature selected.
Condensation may drip from the underside of the vehicle when cooling mode is active. This is normal and not a sign that there is a malfunction.
 

grayb

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From my owners manual
Switching climate control on/off

General notes
When climate control is switched off, the air supply and air circulation are also switched off. The windows could mist up. Therefore, switch off climate control only briefly.

.................

Activating/deactivating cooling with dehumidification

General notes
If you deactivate the "Cooling with dehumidification" function, the air inside the vehicle will not be cooled during warm weather. The air inside the vehicle will also not be dehumidified. The windows can mist up more quickly. Therefore, deactivate the "Cooling with dehumidification" function only briefly.
The "Cooling with dehumidification" function is available only when the engine is running. The air inside the vehicle is cooled and dehumidified according to the temperature selected.
Condensation may drip from the underside of the vehicle when cooling mode is active. This is normal and not a sign that there is a malfunction.
I think they are talking about the button marked 'A/C' which turns the cooling/drying function off, rather than turning the overall Climate Control off.
 
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Digsy

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Its not the wipers because that was the first and most obvious thing to try when the warning first came up.
I haven't disabled anything other than if I happen to have AC off. I must admit that I don't know what "disabling climate control" actually means in the context of my car, unless they mean having the climate system set to full auto. But I have air directed at my screen all the time, the cabin temp set to 18-20 degrees and the fan on 2 or 3.
As I said in my OP, when I first start the car, the system works. If it malfunctions then it does it a few minutes later.
If and when it malfunctions, the screen shows no sign of being misted up - at least not within the part I need to see through to be able to drive the car.
Nevertheless, as in my OP, I have already made the connection between the malfunction and misting up inside the camera housing When the malfunction occurs, even if I turn the screen demist to maximum, it still takes several minutes for the system to become available again.

So what I am getting from this is that the camera housing isn't sealed off from the inside of the car but also doesn't have any special built-in demist function of its own, and so relies on the cabin air being dry to prevent the portion of windscreen that the camera looks through misting up. This pretty much means you have to have the AC on to prevent this happening. However as the cabin is very large, and the camera housing is within the portion of the screen that is usually last to demist, I guess that is why there is a delay. I notice that the camera housing itself is surrounded by air vents, but I had assumed that these were to keep the electronics cool rather than providing an airflow through the camera housing. This is speculation, however.

What I don't fully understand, and what doesn't fit with any of the advice given is why the system always works for a few minutes first, before going offline.
 

Botus

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I think they are talking about the button marked 'A/C' which turns the cooling/drying function off, rather than turning the overall Climate Control off.


the effect is much the same, but I think the post was correct, because it says "the air supply and air circulation are also switched off"

Turning of (where possible) just the AC unit doesn't stop the air flow.... but the windows will mist up in either scenario because the dehumidification feature has been stupidly taken out of action
 
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Digsy

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Turning of (where possible) just the AC unit doesn't stop the air flow.... but the windows will mist up in either scenario because the dehumidification feature has been stupidly taken out of action

So why does it always work for a period of time immediately after the car has been sat for 8 or 9 hours with nothing dehumidifying the air inside it?
 

Botus

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following up on the points you raise above.... misting can often be in areas of the screen you don't look out of in normal driving / haven't noticed may be misted (which would obviously include the sensor area... ). This misting just after start up is ALWAYS caused by intermitted use of the AC system.... by not just leaving it always on, unknown to the inhabitants it allows the overall interior humidity level to be just above levels the car can control (all of which of course will be exacerbated by any engine Stop Start stupidity)

Before you start a car its humidity tends to be just OK, then depending upon ambient conditions... as soon as you open the door you affect the conditions in the car. In the UK at this time of year, cool damp air enters the car, together with passengers breathing and damp clothing, moisture levels start to increase. Because of the cold engine you have no assistance heating air to keep it airborne, so the rising moisture level starts looking for cold surfaces to condense on (window misting). If you haven't been using the AC it will mist the windows until the heating system tries to reduce it by warming the air as the engine temperature increases, (although heat alone is often insufficient).

All that difficulty can be removed by leaving the AC permanently on. In doing so (over the last few months) it will have maintained the car's interior humidity to a controllable level. Thus during that small window of opportunity (where the vehicle hits its peak humidity and before engine heat and or AC systems have had the chance to kick in sufficiently) the car copes rather than misting.

In the summer you can get a similar issue where humidity in the car can condense and it gets all misted up just after start up until the AC kicks in hard to clear it, again this is usually controlled if some idiot doesn't play space invaders with the AC button needlessly.
 
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rf065

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So what I am getting from this is that the camera housing isn't sealed off from the inside of the car but also doesn't have any special built-in demist function of its own, and so relies on the cabin air being dry to prevent the portion of windscreen that the camera looks through misting up.

It was minus 4C this morning, when I started both my cars, the area around the cameras all melted the ice within 30 seconds while the remainder of the screen was still white with frost.
So the parts of the windscreen in front of my cameras are electrically heated, have a look on yours for some wires buried in the screen around the cameras.
 

LostKiwi

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As Botus...

However not only do you have no heat to prevent condensation the aircon will actively cool the windscreen at first thus creating condensation until the dehumidifier kicks in.
 

EmilysDad

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...., again this is usually controlled if some idiot doesn't play space invaders with the AC button needlessly.

That sums up my sister in law. Screen mists so fan on full on screen, screen clears so it's switched off, screen mists etc etc .... I eventually had to tell her to press 'AUTO' and leave it ... as I pressed 'AUTO' :rolleyes:
 
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