Adjusting bi-xenon setup for driving abroad...

[aerofurb]

Okay, now possibly the most useless pair of pictures in the history of Forums (Fora)...

Firstly the standard UK headlamp beam pattern:

Secondly UK lamps in Travel Mode:

If you look really, really, carefully then you can see the beams have shifted down a tad and to the right a tad and a bit. Interesting the 'Yeti eyes' above the main beams . Fortunately the neighbour was out for it is in front of her bedroom (ground floor flat..!) I park the mighty Yeti. To be seen taking pictures of her bedroom window may have been my last act in freedom.

[qsracing]

Love the pictures! Travel Mode is a fantastic feature - pictures do show the offset rather well. Thank-you for this.

Keep the "Light" obsession going I say

[Anthony 1]

aerofurb,

Most illuminating!

Excellent, do not worry, I shall bring you grapes on visiting day! :beer: What a remarkably flat dipped beam cut-off. I would not mind presuming that they may use exactly the same lamps in the EU and GB and most other places also. The is some slight asymmetry but the only way of seeing that is to take an image on the wall with one light covered, blanking it off, so that the whole of the cut off for one beam could be seen in its entirety, without any distortion from the other beam. Its OK, very well done. Have three pints on me :beer: :beer: :beer:

Edited 15 January, 2010 by Anthony 1

[gadgetman]

Having a flat beam says to me the dealer didnt check xenon alignment at PDI. The left should kick up a bit more than that.

[aerofurb]

Having a flat beam says to me the dealer didnt check xenon alignment at PDI. The left should kick up a bit more than that.

Somehow, I don't really think a photograph on a forum of a cars' headlights parked 3 feet from a wall could be judged to show that it hadn't had a proper PDI. I can assure you that the lights work absolutely brilliantly in real life with a good 'kick up' to illuminate the nearside verge. Mind you they didn't activate the elusive AFS/AHL....

PS Thanks, qsracing and Anthony!

Edited 15 January, 2010 by aerofurb

[Allams Skoda]

They are pretty useful to have actually, I shall save these and when someone asks me next time do they actually change anything in travel mode, I can show them the proof!

[Ads677]

Interesting points from all, esp aerofurb. However, having had a weekend test drive in a 140 Elegance, one of my misgivings was about the lights - I found the headlights unfocussed and they just seemed to create a broad white beam with no penetration down the road. Might this be poor setup or is it common? A deal breaker for me so far!

[gadgetman]

Could be that it wasnt setup correctly at PDI. Quite common sadly

[Barsteward]

Tourist setting is with Xenon lights, I tried with my Halogens and nothing happened -back to the stick-ons for me,shame !

[flinflon]

Hi guys, having never taken my car abroad before can anyone confirm whats needed to adjust the Elegance bi xenon setup for driving in France/Spain/Italy....

is it a dealer visit or can it be done manually by myself or via maxidot (probably very wishful thinking!)

Thanks in advance

Lee

Took delivery of new Octavia Elegance 1.8 dsg with bi xenon just before Xmas. Last week I wanted to take the car to France for a few days so tried to adjust lights to tourist mode. To my surprise I discovered that because I didn't order the maxi-dot option I cannot use the tourist mode option! When I ordered the xenon option no mention was made of the need to also order the maxi dot option.

The dealer said I would have to bring the car in and they will set the xenon lights for euroland, and on my return they will adjust lights back for UK (they do this with their all singing and dancing diagnostic computer, for which there is a charge). What a hassle each time I want to take the car across to euroland. I wish I hadn't bothered with the xenons.

In the end I didn't take the car to France.

Edited 26 February, 2010 by flinflon

[jan25]

Okay, here's the griff - remember this is for Yeti cornering Bi-Xenons as fitted to the Elegance.

Under 'Setup' then 'Lights and Vision' on the Maxidot, click on 'Travel Mode'. The headlight warning lamp flashes 5 times and both headlamp beams lower by a few degrees (not many) and shift to the right by 5 or 10 degrees.

If I remember correctly the Xenons swivel when above 10kph with steering input and the light on the inside of the corner swivels further than the one on the outside of the corner.

Thanks, Aerofurb et el for all this info. I've had (single) xenons on my Octy L&K - my salesman said to remove the headlamp unit to reach the manual lever to convert the beam. I disconnected the wiring connector to make access easier, and this left a fault code on the elec-tricks that disabled the the self-levelling!

I've just ordered a Yeti Elegance; I asked about conversion for europe and the salesman said he thought it could be done via the maxi-dot, but wasn't sure how. I am much relieved to learn that it can.

The silly thing about not being able to do it yourself ("take it to a dealer" is the handbook advice) is that you drive illegally from dealer to home to port, and vice versa. So lens stickers are your only solution!

[shrub]

I was once advised that lens stickers should not be used on Xenon lights due to the heat that they produce. Is this still the case?

[jst_at_home]

I'm still waiting for my 140 Elegance.

However my current Passat has bi-xenon headlights with the swivelliung function. Unfortunately on the Passat, there is no "tourist" function.

The instruction in the handbook is to take the car to the dealers where for a charge, they will switch off the swivel function.

I couldn't see the difference this would make as the lights swivel both right and left.

I also felt that when abroad, a UK reg. car without beam converters was just asking to be stopped.

For the last three years I've used Eurolites converters and placed them on the headlight by trial and error. In fact I don't take them off since the beam bends around them!

John

edit: regarding heat, I think xenon headlights run cooler than halogens.

Edited 2 March, 2010 by jst_at_home

[Terfyn]

Tourist setting is with Xenon lights, I tried with my Halogens and nothing happened -back to the stick-ons for me,shame !

Check your lights against a wall. I think it is only the nearside light that has the angled "uplift". The drivers light seems fairly flat.

The halogens have a fixed beam pattern dictated by the positioning of the reflectors. As far as I can see, the angle of the reflectors cannot be changed. (unlike the Octavia)