I have a kind offer from a forum member to code my car for a Xenon headlight conversion kit tomorrow. The kit hasn't arrived yet and I need to do a drive in the dark. Will the old halogens work o.k. until I get the HID kit in?

Get in the car, start engine, turn on lights, see what happens AFAIK it will be OK before he recodes anything.

leepatrick01 sorry not with you, before  he codes anything?

 

I want to know if after he codes the car will I be able to use the standard halogen headlights for a few days without damaging the electrics as the HID kit hasn't arrived yet?

Yes, that should be fine. Because you're turning off the cold diagnostics for the dipped beam, what you're effectively doing is turning off the ability for CANBUS to detect a bulb failure.

 

Because HIDs run at lower voltage, the resistance is different, hence CANBUS thinks it's detected a bulb failure because the value read is outwith of the acceptable range - hence the bulb warning

Thanks Wardy, I take it other bulbs will still show errors still if they blow?

Yes, correct. There are a number of options available within VCDS to enable/disable bulb diagnostics - so you're just de-activating dipped beam.