[oonowindoo]

I have F36 LED, you know the $1900 option without projectors .... so adaptive.

[lemetier]

Originally Posted by oonowindoo

I have F36 LED, you know the $1900 option without projectors .... so adaptive.

Haha...I use the app most of the time and see that now. Yes you used the correct adjuster, yes there are 4 total on your car with the horizontal one buried and hard to find.

I definitely remain with my suggestion to recheck the adjustments made with the switch in auto. That's how most end up out of alignment because the lights have potentially moved out of their alignment position.

The adaptive lights always perform a movement range sweep test regardless of the light switch position when the ignition is turned on. This includes when the light switch is in off. But in auto, with the engine off, the signal to the electric motors (which are on the other end of the manual adjuster) are still active.

[oonowindoo]

yah i will check it. But with the reflector beam, it is kinda hard to tell sometimes because you know it is reflectors..

But my overall pattern still looks similar to what i had before. My left side is brighter and seems aimed higher when i see it from the reflection of the car in front of me but the left beam is aimed lower/closer on the ground. Dont know how that happened but it is like that since day 1. so i think the very left headlight might not be aiming to the left from the factory, that is what happens when there are 4 lights on, i would not know where they are aiming at.

[lemetier]

Originally Posted by oonowindoo

yah i will check it. But with the reflector beam, it is kinda hard to tell sometimes because you know it is reflectors..

But my overall pattern still looks similar to what i had before. My left side is brighter and seems aimed higher when i see it from the reflection of the car in front of me but the left beam is aimed lower/closer on the ground. Dont know how that happened but it is like that since day 1. so i think the very left headlight might not be aiming to the left from the factory, that is what happens when there are 4 lights on, i would not know where they are aiming at.

I'm insanely familiar with the Adaptive Reflector LED's. They are quite complex reflectors that produce convergent, divergent, and parallel beams. The LED Arrays themselves also have optical lenses over them to manipulate the reflector distribution.

Without sufficient distance, the beam pattern can look very ragged, especially without coding the slightly cleaner ECE pattern when the supporting hardware exists. This makes manual adjustments somewhat difficult. 10m is acceptable, but 25m is preferred for low beam adjustment.

[Trevster]

Im sorry, but im confused here. Theres so many different headlight combinations being talked about. I have adaptive xeons. If i am understanding this corrected those of us with the adaptive systems, cannot manually adjust the beam height??

[lemetier]

Originally Posted by Trevster

Im sorry, but im confused here. Theres so many different headlight combinations being talked about. I have adaptive xeons. If i am understanding this corrected those of us with the adaptive systems, cannot manually adjust the beam height??

No you can absolutely adjust it manually in the vertical position (and horizontally as well though this is against current DOT regulations and the lights are designed in a way to make access and use of the adjusters difficult to comply with the legalese). But to properly aim them, certain steps must be taken before making any manual adjustments.

[Trevster]

Originally Posted by miamiten

No you can absolutely adjust it manually in the vertical position (and horizontally as well though this is against current DOT regulations and the lights are designed in a way to make access and use of the adjusters difficult to comply with the legalese). But to properly aim them, certain steps must be taken before making any manual adjustments.

So an easy screw adjustment is out of question
I presume?

[lemetier]

Originally Posted by Trevster

So an easy screw adjustment is out of question
I presume?

It is just turning a screw.

The few steps prior to that are the most important. Because the position of the lights are manipulated by the car, they need to be at what is called the Zero Position before making any manual adjustments. Otherwise the car will either fight back because the motors are still active, or the adjustment will be incorrect.

A couple of scenarios:

If the engine was running, light switch in auto, the steering wheel turned right, and a 150lb person was sitting on the rear bumper, the alignment would be skewed towards the left and up since the car has adapted to these conditions.

All the prerequisites are done but weight is added to the rear of the car while turning the manual adjusters, so the electric motor to which the manual screw is attached will run to compensate and strip off the gears. Then a new headlamp is required.

[oonowindoo]

Originally Posted by Trevster

So an easy screw adjustment is out of question
I presume?

It can be done. I did in in my F30 335i with adaptive HID.

It is much simpler than LEDs because you have 1 low beam on each side vs 2 on each (LED)

Also Adaptive LEDs have a lot more features than the Adaptive HID, which make things more complicated. If i recall correctly it adapts to your surround lights and your speed.

for LED, there is a noticeable difference in light spread between when i am driving 80mph on the highway vs. 25mph in city street.

[lemetier]

Originally Posted by oonowindoo

It can be done. I did in in my F30 335i with adaptive HID.

It is much simpler than LEDs because you have 1 low beam on each side vs 2 on each (LED)

Also Adaptive LEDs have a lot more features than the Adaptive HID, which make things more complicated. If i recall correctly it adapts to your surround lights and your speed.

for LED, there is a noticeable difference in light spread between when i am driving 80mph on the highway vs. 25mph in city street.

The number of low beams on Adaptive LED (which is more than two per side actually) doesn't make the vertical alignment any more difficult per say since both chambers are sitting on a vertical alignment chassis. Only the outer chambers can be adjusted horizontally.

Unless you've coded to enable Variable Light Distribution, there is no change in distribution pattern for US Adaptive LED's based on speed. The only change supported is with fog lamps on, or if the rain sensor activates the wipers above a certain wipe rate.

[oonowindoo]

the difference between lowspeed and high speed is really there and noticeable. If i recall correctly, it was something like up to 3 degrees at certain speed.

It was confirmed by a PDF document from 5 series. i will see if i can find it.

[Trevster]

Originally Posted by oonowindoo

It can be done. I did in in my F30 335i with adaptive HID.

It is much simpler than LEDs because you have 1 low beam on each side vs 2 on each (LED)

Also Adaptive LEDs have a lot more features than the Adaptive HID, which make things more complicated. If i recall correctly it adapts to your surround lights and your speed.

for LED, there is a noticeable difference in light spread between when i am driving 80mph on the highway vs. 25mph in city street.

Did you use a guide? I wanna try it because my adaptive xeons need to be raised to cover the area ahead of the vehicle moreso than directly infront

[oonowindoo]

http://f10.m5post.com/forums/attachm...1&d=1383686157

page 16

and it is not the EU high beam assist that we don't get in the US.

[oonowindoo]

Originally Posted by Trevster

Did you use a guide? I wanna try it because my adaptive xeons need to be raised to cover the area ahead of the vehicle moreso than directly infront

http://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=742204

[lemetier]

Originally Posted by oonowindoo

http://f10.m5post.com/forums/attachm...1&d=1383686157

page 16

and it is not the EU high beam assist that we don't get in the US.

That's for a European car (notice the EUR designation for the vehicle at the beginning of the document). Variable Light Distribution (starts on page 15 and states (depending on the national variant)

Unless your US spec car has been coded to remove option code 8S4 (decoding variable light distribution), and completed a diagnostic reset (LED Array Teach In), then no you don't have VLD. 5AP (decoding glare free high beam) is completely separate but dependent on VLD.

If you have coded, manually aligning the lights with the switch in Auto will severely screw things up.

[oonowindoo]

Since other than the high beam assist (EU) is not part of the US spec cars, i am not too familiar with what other are shared or are not.

But based on observation, which i am really good at HAHA. There is definitely a difference in the higher speed.

Example, i drove back from Vegas at 2am 3 times since Dec to avoid traffic. The light output (how far i can see) is noticeabily different from 50mph than at 90mph. 50mph feels like the cut off is like 10 feet ahead of me while at 90 i could see much further.

I do not use high beam assist since it is useless as it never turns on.

[lemetier]

Originally Posted by oonowindoo

Since other than the high beam assist (EU) is not part of the US spec cars, i am not too familiar with what other are shared or are not.

But based on observation, which i am really good at HAHA. There is definitely a difference in the higher speed.

Example, i drove back from Vegas at 2am 3 times since Dec to avoid traffic. The light output (how far i can see) is noticeabily different from 50mph than at 90mph. 50mph feels like the cut off is like 10 feet ahead of me while at 90 i could see much further.

I do not use high beam assist since it is useless as it never turns on.

Since there is a large number of people reading this and enough incorrect information exists, there shouldn't be more intentionally contributed.

On your car it is IMPOSSIBLE to have VLD without modification because it would be a violation of DOT conformity. The hex and binary values in the ECUs that control the modes of VLD are fixed at the same level. Until this is changed by re-coding the values that were de-coded by option 8S4, they won't change the intensity or position in VLD maps 6-13. Your car only has map 5 (basic light) Map 1 (Guiding Fog Light), and Map 15 (high beam). All the other maps are the same value as 5 except 14 which is the same as 15 and 2 which is the same as 1.

Not all US cars that have 8S4 (decoding variable light distribution) have the hardware to fully enable complete VLD, but there isn't any harm. They just won't be as effective.

Not all US cars that have 5AP (decoding no-dazzle high beam) have the appropriate hardware or are programmed differently and coding this feature on creates a very hazardous situation for other drivers.

[abs5394]

Now you guys have me paranoid thinking that I broke my adaptive led headlights. I adjusted the vertical aim with the car fully on, headlight set to auto, and door open. How can I tell if I messed anything up?? Can a dealer tell?

[abs5394]

Also, do you know any way I can revert the vertical adjustment back to stock? I.e turn them all the way down, then turn them up a certain stock amount?