Newbie Questions

[The_Exile]

Hi all,

 

I recently purchased a 2012 Mk2 Skoda Superb 2.0 TDI 4x4 L&K estate, my first Skoda and the first car I've spent any real money on (I know it's getting on a bit but despite its age it's only had 1 owner with less than 64k miles on the clock, full main dealer service history and not a mark on it... it really has been kept in amazing condition so I felt it was worth the money. Anyway I'm loving the car so far but do have a few questions that I'm hoping you guys can help with;

 

1) Is there any way of displaying what speed the cruise control is set to?

 

2) Is there any way of disabling the 12v cigarette lighter socket from being permanently on? 

 

3) Is there any way of adjusting the adaptive headlights? At times they seem a little high and that they might dazzle other users... obviously they do not have the scroll wheel height adjustments inside like on standard headlights and I know they do their self-levelling thing when the car is first started but I didn't know if there was a manual adjustment that could be done somewhere else like on the lights themselves?

 

4) Does the Columbus unit / TV tuner have any AV input ports fitted? From the research I've done I don't believe they have (despite my Columbus unit having the AV option in the menu) and I believe you can purchase a connector to add an AV input however this connection is then taken up by the TV tuner... is this correct? If so is there any way to have both the TV tuner and AV input together or is it one or the other? if there isn't an AV input, is there any way of sending a signal to the TV tuner to get an AV input stream tuned in on one of the channels? What I mean by this is a similar way to using an RF modulator to transmit audio over an FM frequency. What I would like to achieve if possible (and it's not something that is crucial, just an idea) is to screen mirror from my phone.

 

 

[DrCorbyLee]

Can help with #1 and #3.

 

By default you can't display cruise set speed but it is possible to enable it in VCDS:

 

Enable Cruise control setpoint display in MaxiDOT – https://translate.google.co.uk/translate?sl=de&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stemei.de%2Fpages%2Fcoding%2Fskoda-superb-3t%2Fgra-geschwindigkeit-anzeigen.php&edit-text=&act=url

 

 Unfortunately, a German website but link should take you to google translate English version, the main thing is that it shows exact what controller and parameter needs adjusting which is the main thing.  If you don't have VCDS, plenty of friendly Briskoda members willing to make such changes in exchange for some petrol/diesel/beer tokens - 

WRT adjusting adaptive headlamp levels.  No way for user to do this, these essentially use the level sensors on suspension to automatically adjust the aim against a mechanically set baseline level.   Needs the headlamps putting into a specific mode and then the headlamps manually adjusting and level checking with headlamp aim tool as used for MOT.  Mine were done FOC at main stealers when it failed last MOT on headlamp aim having changed the HID lamps earlier in the year.  It's a 5 minute job if you have all the kit and they weren't being that generous as they were also changing full set of glow plugs which certainly wasn't FOC 😞

[DrCorbyLee]

WRT Cruise set speed display, I've successfully enabled this on my car but does only work with certain combinations of instrument cluster and engine ECU versions:

So no guarantee it will work on your car and only way to know is to try it.   Is extremely useful though especially in setting exact speed to safely negotiate sections of motorway average and variable speed limits

[The_Exile]

Thanks for the advice DrCobyLee, I'll have a look into the VCDS... I do have a pretty good diagnostics tool but not sure if it has VCDS or not.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[superbdreams]

There is a manual adjustment for headlamp height, there was a post many years back showing where and what to do. in that case it was because they were set too low which was echoed by others who replied to the thread.

the search should reveal the post.

[The_Exile]

Cheers superbdreams, I shall try and search for it.

 

 

[DrCorbyLee]

2 hours ago, superbdreams said:

There is a manual adjustment for headlamp height, there was a post many years back showing where and what to do. in that case it was because they were set too low which was echoed by others who replied to the thread.

the search should reveal the post.

That's the mechanical / manual adjustment I mentioned in my first post, hex headed plastic screws for left/right and up/down adjustment on the rear of each lamp.  I tried this mechanical adjustment without using VCDS to set headlamps to correct setting mode after HID lamps were changed and despite using a laser level to try and ensure they were at correct slight downward slope, still ended up failing MOT on headlamp aim.  Think unfortunately this is one of those jobs that needs the correct tools to do properly (unless you are in a position like the post @superbdreams referenced where headlamps are aiming 6 foot in front of the car and certainly does no harm to crank them up a little without risk of blinding others)

[The_Exile]

@DrCorbyLee My issue is actually the opposite, my beams seem very high... for example when driving home last night I was behind a tall transit van and the top of my beams were about half-way up where his back windows would be (at a rough comparison id say it would be roughly in line with the top of a standard cars roof.... its quite clearly lighting up the road well ahead of me... I was suprised no cars coming the other way flashed me thinking I had full beams on... or is this just standard for these cars?

[spk]

3 hours ago, The_Exile said:

@DrCorbyLee My issue is actually the opposite, my beams seem very high... for example when driving home last night I was behind a tall transit van and the top of my beams were about half-way up where his back windows would be (at a rough comparison id say it would be roughly in line with the top of a standard cars roof.... its quite clearly lighting up the road well ahead of me... I was suprised no cars coming the other way flashed me thinking I had full beams on... or is this just standard for these cars?

 

That sounds too high to me - I'm struggling to picture how far mine throw light now (although there's a huge increase when switching to high beams on mine) but I am pretty sure they don't effectively shine "through" a normal passenger car in front which it sounds like yours would? I thought this sounded somewhat familiar and sure enough a similar thing came up last month - take a look in this thread:

Also, w.r.t. question 4 in your original post, I don't have the answer re: if the columbus can support what you suggest but I'm curious - are you thinking of using something like this with your phone? https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202044

 

Cheers,

Steve

[The_Exile]

@spk Thanks for that, I guess it could well be a sensor issue, I'm using my vehicle for work so is loaded up with a fair amount of weight in the boot so I guess if the arm of the sensor is snapped that would be giving a false reading and would explain why they are aimed so high. I'll try and have a look for this sensor shortly.

 

Regarding the phone mirroring, I'm an android user but yes in theory it would be a very similar device... on the Samsung Galaxy phones they either have the option of screen mirror (wirelessly or with a cable) but they also have "Dex" which turns the phone into a desktop computer on an external display (which on the later models can also be done wirelessly). Obviously I'd need to know what sort of connection the AV part of Columbus has but if it did does have HDMI input then that would be perfect, if it doesn't then there are adaptors / convertors you can get to convert HDMI connections to analogue.

 

However as mentioned if there is any device that can transmit short range DTV signals so it broadcasts onto a channel I can tune into on the TV on the columbus that would also be cool but I'm not sure these exist on the open market or are legal to use without licences to do so.