Sorry if it's a RTFM job but I don't have it with me.

Do the automatic headlights have any intelligence in them so that if you go under a bridge they don't come on for 2 seconds then go off?

Also do they only come on/off based on ambient light or do they come on based on a timer?

I ask as I'm still getting used to them and found myself thinking "What if they come on then go off really quickly and someone thinks I'm flashing them out/across and they pull in front of me".

Thanks.

(Usually I am a glass is half-full kind of person but for some reason I found myself thinking this today).

They will come on when in a tunnel, and are triggered by the ambient light. No timers or intelligent systems

They will, like all auto lights come on when Joe BMW is waiting to pull out and thinks you have flashed him!

Last edited by Mercedes_Ben on 21st Mar 2011 8:05 pm. Edited 1 time in total

I've not noticed them switch on/off straight away, as you say you drive into a tunnel and they come on a few seconds later, likewise in reverse when you drive out, there must ve some sort of delay as they'll be on and off with every lamppost shadow we drive past

I believe they can come on is low bright sunlight aswell to aid visibility, but dont know if its foggy  Former Mod/Member, with the most post & Chicken George Arch nemesis

Depends on the bridge. I regularly go through the underpass in Derby under the A52 near Jury's Inn - Small underpass but wide enough bridge above to activate the lights. They do go off approx 10 seconds after emerging back into day light.

They do annoy me sometimes though. Slightly misty morning the other day and nothing. This morning, super bright sunshine and they come on

Bloody things  LL.B (Hons) - University of Derby
LOT (Lord of Time) - University of Gallifrey

Pain in the a e sometimes LL.B (Hons) - University of Derby
LOT (Lord of Time) - University of Gallifrey

Last edited by The Doctor on 21st Mar 2011 8:04 pm. Edited 1 time in total

What i don't like is that the dip/main switch is non latching. In other words, if your last setting was main beam, the next time they come on is main beam. It would be safer if they switched back to dip once ign is switched off.
Not the only VM to have this, could be dangerous. Another member of the failed FL2 clutch/DMF club, twice.

Pegleg wrote:

What i don't like is that the dip/main switch is non latching. In other words, if your last setting was main beam, the next time they come on is main beam. It would be safer if they switched back to dip once ign is switched off.
Not the only VM to have this, could be dangerous.

I tend to keep mine set to manual. Apart from all the above being annoying, it's the on/off actuations that kill xenons early.
Factory Xenons are one of the things that'll be a 'must have' on all my future cars though, until they come up with another, better technology, they are far better than halogen or the upgrade bulbs/kits!

Wing wrote:

I tend to keep mine set to manual. Apart from all the above being annoying, it's the on/off actuations that kill xenons early.
Factory Xenons are one of the things that'll be a 'must have' on all my future cars though, until they come up with another, better technology, they are far better than halogen or the upgrade bulbs/kits!

Gaz lamps (xenons) should last much longer that the standard filament bulb. Tungsten, although incandescent, is basically a heating element. All that heating and cooling plus vibration don't do it much good. Another member of the failed FL2 clutch/DMF club, twice.

[quote="hutchingsp"] "What if they come on then go off really quickly and someone thinks I'm flashing them out/across and they pull in front of me".

Ive not looked at the highway code for a long time but it used to say if someone flashes their headlights at you it means "stay put Im coming through" and if you move Im going to crash into you.  I was only wrong once and thats when I thought I was but wasnt.

2010 Freelander 2 XS Stornaway Grey
2010 Aston DBS Morning Frost
2010 Bentley Continental Brooklands Green

I thought flashing your headlights was a "warning" not your "intention"  2002 Honda VFR800
2002 Toyota Celica 140 Silver (mid life crisis - again!)
2007 FL2 GS Manual Army Reconnaissance Green + freel2.com sticker
2004 Toyota Celica 140 Black - Gone
2000 Toyota Celica 140 Silver - Gone
1998 Toyota Celica ST Pearl Green - Gone
1996 Nissan Primera 1.6 - Gone
1994 Rover Montego 1.6 Auto - Gone

Quote:

Ive not looked at the highway code for a long time but it used to say if someone flashes their headlights at you it means "stay put Im coming through" and if you move Im going to crash into you.

russben wrote:

Quote:

Ive not looked at the highway code for a long time but it used to say if someone flashes their headlights at you it means "stay put Im coming through" and if you move Im going to crash into you.

Flashing head lights means the same as the horn, 'I am here!'. It is a warning of your presence, it doesn't give you any rights or infer right of way.

Just to add my two-pennorth on the orginal thread, the auto lights come on for long bridges not short ones; they take longer to respond to light than they do to dark so mine are on somewhat longer than if I used my own judgement - on the other hand, I've been hit twice as innocent party since having a grey FL2 after a Tangiers Oange Disco 2 so having lights on a bit more is OK by me.
I agree that Xenons are great - a decent level of lighting without fitting auxilliary lamps!.
I agree that flahing can be taken as ambiguous and the writers are all correct about the Highway Code - as people are aware that they have auto lights, they are aware that the car can "self flash" so watch out Gone... 2013 XS TD4 Manual Firenze Red
Gone... 2008 (09MY) XS Td4 Manual Stornaway Grey
Prior... 2003 G4 Discovery 2, 1998 Disco 1 and 1997 Disco 1 Company car before that
Also gone in Nov'13, after 7.5 yrs, to new owners with time for more TLC - 1980 Series III 88
Current 2015 Discovery Sport HSE 2.0