WTF do I do/can I do about the ridiculous, dangerous candle-in-in-a-jar Low/Dipped Beam projected distance and intensity?

I have read as much as I could find on this and appreciate that the Zennon gubbins is the source of both Main & Dipped on my 2012 Superb. I also have a Halogen in there that comes on with Main. I changed those Halogens for Phillips 'White Vision' H3's before I knew how the Zennons functioned. I don't see the point of the Halogens as they are yellow and as dim as ditch water? Upon recommendation I also bought some Phillips H7's. More the **** me as they don't appear to fit anywhere on this vehicle. So my question is, WTF do I do/can I do about the ridiculous, dangerous candle-in-in-a-jar Low/Dipped Beam projected distance and intensity?

Check the self levelling is working correctly and the headlamps are not pointing down. There are sensors attached to your suspension that sometimes get broken so it thinks your car is pointing upwards.

 

Then, if happy thats ok, change your bulbs, Xenon bulbs lose intensity over time, falling off rapidly at end of life, 3000+ hours

Xman, Thanks. No, the Main Beams are teriffic and at a good height. It's that the Dipped is dim with max projection far too near. Then there is the issue of the Halogens and what are they for?

I think you haven't understood me. The dipped beams are Xenon and as such are required to have self levelling. Self levelling is linked to the supspension position using position sensors attached to the front and rear suspension to work out if the car is pointing up or down. The control unit will then adjust the tilt of the beam up/down using the electric motors in the headlamps to level constantly as you drive.

 

If you look at the link above they are connected via links, which sometimes pop off or get broken.

 

If the bulbs are dim the most likely cause are the Xenon bulbs are worn out and reached the end of their life. Unlike halogen bulbs, Xenon bulbs loose intensity with age, just like a fluorescent lamp ( both are discharge bulbs). The other but less likely possibility are the high voltage bulb drivers/ballasts, if both bulbs are dim, bulbs are more likely.

 

 

Xman, Got you, re. the projected distance of the dipped beam in relation to sensors. Thanks.

On the dimness, it's the same bulb/light source for Main & Dip and they are excellent on full beam so are they dimmed on Dip?

What's the reasoning behind the yellow light (particularly compared to to the Zennons) halogen that comes on on full beam and swamped by the Zennons?

Hi, I believe that the standard Halogen full-beam bulbs are there to allow you to flash your lights momentarily in the event that your bi-Xenon units aren't on.

 

You are correct in that the Xenon units operate as both dip and main beam (using a mechanical shutter inside)  but I should imagine that it would take too long for the system to fire up the Xenon unit and then operate the shutter if all you want to do is flash your lights, hence there are supplementary Halogen ones alongside (which aren't particularly bright nor a good colour match compared to the Xenons!)

 

D

Edited 18 January, 20224 yr by ethel

it is also possible that the mechanical height adjustment is too low as set at the factory, seems to be the case with my 2012 and there were a few threads on this years back.

It is something i have got used to and have never got round to correcting.

On 18/01/2022 at 14:35, xman said:

I think you haven't understood me. The dipped beams are Xenon and as such are required to have self levelling. Self levelling is linked to the supspension position using position sensors attached to the front and rear suspension to work out if the car is pointing up or down. The control unit will then adjust the tilt of the beam up/down using the electric motors in the headlamps to level constantly as you drive.

 

If you look at the link above they are connected via links, which sometimes pop off or get broken.

 

If the bulbs are dim the most likely cause are the Xenon bulbs are worn out and reached the end of their life. Unlike halogen bulbs, Xenon bulbs loose intensity with age, just like a fluorescent lamp ( both are discharge bulbs). The other but less likely possibility are the high voltage bulb drivers/ballasts, if both bulbs are dim, bulbs are more likely.

 

 

Had a similar experience with my own 63 plate facelift car.  Main beam was still OK (I assume due to combined output from xenon and separate halogen bulbs) but dipped beam had become downright dangerous despite the car having had best headlamps I'd ever seen when I purchased it 8 years ago.  Knew self levelling was fine as had a failed front level sensor replaced back in the summer and even manually cranked up the level to no avail.  Nothing to do with aim, simply there wasn't sufficient light output any more to properly illuminate the road ahead.  Turns out output from xenon bulbs slowly decrease with time (some manufacturers even recommend changing bulbs every 3 years, but then they would wouldn't they!) so bit the bullet and decided to replace the bulbs with Osram Xenarc Original which come with a 4 year warranty.  The results were quite literally like night and day and fully restored the original performance.

 

Facelift cars like mine use D3S bulbs and I paid just under £95 the pair from Amazon but then had to pay local VW independent for 2 hours labour to install as it's a bumper off job to change the bulbs.  Lot of money compared with swapping a couple of halogen bulbs as I'm used to but still 200 quid all in well spent.   I believe the OP's pre-facelift 2012 Superb uses D1S bulbs which are currently less than £63 the pair from Amazon (https://www.amazon.co.uk/ORIGINAL-discharge-quality-66140-folding/dp/B00HWWX7R2) and, even better, understand that they are easy to swap without having to dismantle half the front of the car (directly accessible from rear of of headlamp in engine bay)

Yep I have changed the HID bulbs in my pre-fl Superb, it takes 5 mins.  Make super-sure you don't touch the glass or they'll fail really early.  

 

The front indicator bulbs in the pre-fl Superb on the other hand.....The person responsible for that will be among the first against the wall when the revolution comes.

9 hours ago, wokwon said:

Yep I have changed the HID bulbs in my pre-fl Superb, it takes 5 mins.  Make super-sure you don't touch the glass or they'll fail really early.  

 

The front indicator bulbs in the pre-fl Superb on the other hand.....The person responsible for that will be among the first against the wall when the revolution comes.

The same person is almost certainly responsible for the utter joy (not) caused by having to replace headlamp bulbs in an Alfa Romeo 156 - they were either insane, a sadist or both.

18 hours ago, DrCorbyLee said:

Had a similar experience with my own 63 plate facelift car.  Main beam was still OK (I assume due to combined output from xenon and separate halogen bulbs) but dipped beam had become downright dangerous despite the car having had best headlamps I'd ever seen when I purchased it 8 years ago.  Knew self levelling was fine as had a failed front level sensor replaced back in the summer and even manually cranked up the level to no avail.  Nothing to do with aim, simply there wasn't sufficient light output any more to properly illuminate the road ahead.  Turns out output from xenon bulbs slowly decrease with time (some manufacturers even recommend changing bulbs every 3 years, but then they would wouldn't they!) so bit the bullet and decided to replace the bulbs with Osram Xenarc Original which come with a 4 year warranty.  The results were quite literally like night and day and fully restored the original performance.

 

Facelift cars like mine use D3S bulbs and I paid just under £95 the pair from Amazon but then had to pay local VW independent for 2 hours labour to install as it's a bumper off job to change the bulbs.  Lot of money compared with swapping a couple of halogen bulbs as I'm used to but still 200 quid all in well spent.   I believe the OP's pre-facelift 2012 Superb uses D1S bulbs which are currently less than £63 the pair from Amazon (https://www.amazon.co.uk/ORIGINAL-discharge-quality-66140-folding/dp/B00HWWX7R2) and, even better, understand that they are easy to swap without having to dismantle half the front of the car (directly accessible from rear of of headlamp in engine bay)

Thank you for this. Yes the bulbs on mine are a cinch to replace but as I have stated the main beam is exceptional and I can see no reason other than settings for them to dim down for dipped so I assume those contributors who make reference to level sensors and shutter settings must be on the right track in my case. I want to known- if this is the case - if there is someone near me who can efficiently deal with this and at what cost otherwise I'll buy some extra lamps and bolt them on somewhere.

The reason your main beam looks ok is because the halogens come on as well as the Xenon part opening the dip shutter.

 

The Xenons are NOT dimmed when dipped, there is an electromechanically operated shutter that cuts off the top of the Xenon projected beam when on dip and the Halogens are turned off.

 

Either the alignment of the Xenon projector lens is pointing too far down for reasons explained previously regarding the legally required self levelling system - which only applies to the Xenon projector part of the headlamp or more likely reason is  simply need new Xenon bulbs, your bulbs having reached end of life and have lost their brightness

 

 

 

Edited 20 January, 20224 yr by xman

If you look underneath the car at the nearside suspension arms both at the front and the rear you should see a small bracket connecting the arm to the level sensors. These can get broken or detatched so the self levelling doesn't work and gets stuck in the down position.

 

 

44 minutes ago, xman said:

The reason your main beam looks ok is because the halogens come on as well as the Xenon part opening the dip shutter.

 

The Xenons are NOT dimmed when dipped, there is an electromechanically operated shutter that cuts off the top of the Xenon projected beam when on dip and the Halogens are turned off.

 

Either the alignment of the Xenon projector lens is pointing too far down for reasons explained previously regarding the legally required self levelling system - which only applies to the Xenon projector part of the headlamp or more likely reason is  simply need new Xenon bulbs, your bulbs having reached end of life and have lost their brightness

 

 

 

Clearly you are convinced that the Xenon illumination is dim. Thus I will remove the halogens this weekend . If you are correct the high beam intensity will be greatly reduced. Then it's looking in to the cause of the ridiculously near dipped range. Thanks Xman.

35 minutes ago, xman said:

If you look underneath the car at the nearside suspension arms both at the front and the rear you should see a small bracket connecting the arm to the level sensors. These can get broken or detatched so the self levelling doesn't work and gets stuck in the down position.

 

 

Thanks again. I'll check this out when I take the R16's off and put back the low profiles for returning to European roads. 

1 hour ago, Name said:

Thank you for this. Yes the bulbs on mine are a cinch to replace but as I have stated the main beam is exceptional and I can see no reason other than settings for them to dim down for dipped so I assume those contributors who make reference to level sensors and shutter settings must be on the right track in my case. I want to known- if this is the case - if there is someone near me who can efficiently deal with this and at what cost otherwise I'll buy some extra lamps and bolt them on somewhere.

Dr, Did you receive notice that you had a levelling sensor fail or was it found by inspection/process of elimination? Your Osrams .......... you wouldn't have considered LED replacements?

17 minutes ago, Name said:

Dr, Did you receive notice that you had a levelling sensor fail or was it found by inspection/process of elimination? Your Osrams .......... you wouldn't have considered LED replacements?

Afaik a broken lever on the sensor does not trigger an error code or message.

 

Fitting LED replacements is illegal in the UK and is an MOT failure, but would you want to anyway, take a look here

 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-PKI0zrdntg

Watched the video. Point taken and thank you for the lever info. Physical inspection reqd. Return to France soon so I'll do it then. Halogens out this weekend to test for buggered Xenons. 

As @superbdreams has stated above the 2012 models were wrongly set at factory.

Stick 2 new bulbs in and get it set at a garage with headlight beam testing equipment and all will be good 

The difference just setting to correct level was huge on mine 
Only to be made better by replacing both bulbs with cheep amazon ones for about £30 the pair

8 hours ago, Name said:

Dr, Did you receive notice that you had a levelling sensor fail or was it found by inspection/process of elimination? Your Osrams .......... you wouldn't have considered LED replacements?

I didn't notice any change to headlamp performance as happened in the middle of summer when was only driving in daylight hours.  The car started to intermittently show a lighting fault with MaxiDot message "No Bend lighting (AFS) Function. Check Manual!"  As usual the manual is of no use, just tells you that "AFS system is defective, the headlights are automatically lowered to the emergency position, which prevents a possible dazzling of oncoming traffic".  Eventually fault stayed on permanently and was investigated at the dealers at same time as my rear suspension was being rebuilt.  I think in my case the sensor failed electronically (hence the error message as I assume controller was seeing an implausible reading from the sensor).  If the sensor instead fails mechanically (e.g. lever arm breaks or becomes disconnected) then I assume no such error will be shown as it is seeing a signal from the sensor albeit on that isn't actually accurately reflecting the current level.

 

As xman says, LED "upgrades" are illegal in UK (believe some of the Philips bulbs are being homologated in select European countries but not yet in UK) and as I was perfectly happy with the headlamps when I got the car at 3 months old I only wanted to restore them back to original factory performance rather than upgrade. 

 

If you are convinced that this is an alignment issue, there is another possibility to consider, namely that the actual mechanism in each headlamp that adjusts the aim of the headlamp is knackered.  Less likely than the basic adjustment being wrong (as superbdreams describes) or a faulty level sensor as you would need same fault in both headlamps, but is possible.  Do your headlamps still go through the up/down left/right dance on start up?  If they both do this and end up at the back at highest position once the dance is finished then think you can discount this.