Leaving Xenon lights on Automatic

[deutsch100]

maybe a dumb question...but here goes:

Is it ok to leave the lights on the A (automatic) setting all the time? My concern is that I park in the garage, and when I start the car the Xenon lights fire up (spring to life)...then 5 seconds later I am outside, and they immediately shut down. They never even get a chance to heat/grow to their brightest.

Does this do any harm, or affect the life on the Xenon system? Any feedback???

Thanks!!!

 

[stewthebassman]

I read in the owner's manual that they last longer if they're not turned on and off frequently. So because I'm a stingy bugger, I'm now leaving them on Park, unless it's dusk, and then I stick'em on Auto and roll on home all fired up!!

 

[///M SPEED]

I leave mine on almost all the time except when I am sitting in the car with the engine off and the power on then I will turn it off....

 

[aNoodle]

I don't have the auto option like all you cutting edge later production E46ers. But I was the first on the road with xenon lights in '98! They say they don't know how long the bulbs will last. It's like the center led brakes lights on cars (and now some of you have the led in the regular brake lights too). Cars have died before these new-age lights do.

My manual always said don't turn 'em on and off real quick all the time, but the auto function would avoid that. So I bet you're fine!

 

[drkeng]

Supposedly the less on/off the longer they'll last. I have the same issue; they turn on in my garage at home and at work, so I keep them off a lot--won't be as much of an issue as we hit winter.

The only thing to remember is to use the auto mode so the adaptive feature works; I didn't realize that until recently, courtesy of the board.

 

[bmwrocks]

It is unclear to me what BMW means by "on and off frequently". Does this mean rapid on and off flashing (like flipping a light switch really fast on off on off ...). Or just garage to outside and vice versa? Maybe some genius on this board can give us a scientific explanation cause I am sure there is one (an explanation that is).

 

[deutsch100]

It is unclear to me what BMW means by "on and off frequently". Does this mean rapid on and off flashing (like flipping a light switch really fast on off on off ...). Or just garage to outside and vice versa? Maybe some genius on this board can give us a scientific explanation cause I am sure there is one (an explanation that is).

Exactly. To me when they turn on in the garage, and then in a matter of seconds they turn off because I am out of the garage is rapid On and Off.

Quite a few people have told me that it is best to let Xenons heat up/grow to their brightest and let them run a while, opposed to quickly on and off.

I really like the Auto feature, but it is impossible to prevent them from going on, then shutting off right awaw.

Yep....we need a genius on this board for this thread,,,, or a BMWNA Tech Rep

 

[///M SPEED]

I don't worry about it. When they burn out I will just replace them....

 

[theBMWenthusiast]

never heard of this "A", is it on newer models?

 

[epj3]

Okay, the way Xenon headlights turn on is different than normal Halogen bulbs. They get
sent a "charge" to initially light up and it ain't no thang to light up your Xenons. Feel
free to use them as you normally would, but don't just sit in your car, turning your Xenons
on and off and on and off. This "charge" you send to the Xenons does hurt the bulbs just a
super tiny bit and it means nothing to turn your bulbs on normally, but when you just sit
there and do it repeatedly, you hurt the overall life of the bulbs, but it is kind of
marginal anyways. The truth is that it's only "testing that has shown that flickering the
Xenons several times on and off within an hour reduces the overall life of the bulbs."
This is why, even if you have Bi-Xenons, if you drive around during the day with the lights
off and flash your high-beams (you pull the stalk towards you), your inner halogens will go
on and off instead of the bi-xenons. This is a step that German car manufacturers take to
preserve the bulbs.
Now as for the "Auto" feature, this is a great feature but also leads to potential bulb
abuse. If you park in a garage and you have the "Auto" feature set on all the time, the
lights will turn on every time you start your car, and then will turn off once you leave.
This isn't a big deal, but again, to do this every time you take your car out for the day
or whatever, these unnecessary "light ups" affect the overall life of the bulbs. Or if you
drive around a highway with overpasses or go through toll booth gates, you'll see that your
Xenons will also unnecessarily ignite. On the Cross Bronx Expressway (lots of traffic and
overpasses) I often see cars' lights automatically turning on and off for no reason at all
and going through the Cross Bronx to the GW Bridge, the auto lights will ignite people's
Xenons at least 5-10 times and this is terrible for the lights!
Clearly, the "auto" feature still has not been perfected yet. My best advice is to leave
the headlight switch on "off" and then when it's not time, put the switch on "Auto" and
leave it on the Auto setting for the whole night until you park your car overnight, then
put the switch back to "off". This way you enjoy the benefits of the Auto switch without
abusing your bulbs.
A personal system I have come up to potentially resolve this issue is that maybe when you
have the bulbs on "Auto" setting and the darkness triggers the lights to go on, then the
lights should turn on and stay on for 5 minutes, regardless of lighting conditions. So
let's say you turn on your car in your garage, and the lights turn on because you have the
Auto feature on. Then you drive around and for those 5 minutes, even if it's bright and
sunny, the lights will stay on. If the sensor does not detect any more darkness during
those 5 minutes, only then it should turn off the ligths. This should resolve the constant
"on and off" issue with highways such as the Cross Bronx Expressway I mentioned earlier.
But the lights will still turn on when you start up the car or enter a garage in the middle
of the day, which might be unnecessary....but if you live in an appartment or something and
you have to navigate through a garage to get to your parking spot, it is a nice safety
feature to have the lights go on automatically as soon as you pull into this garage
(although completely unnecessary if you park in your own 2-car garage or something).

Overall, basically you can just leave it on the Auto setting for as long as you want or
follow whatever system you prefer (such as the "auto" setting on only at night, and then
"Off" for the rest of the time). Although it might give your Xenons some unnecessary
"abuse" to have the bulbs on Auto all the time, the bulbs still do last 4-5 times longer
than Halogen bulbs and if you ever do have to replace your Xenons, they will be well worth
the $200 for the pair.


(PS Not written by me )

Written by an elussive member of this forum. [bmwdance]

 

[codex57]

never heard of this "A", is it on newer models?

probably. It's just the Automatic headlight setting where there's a sensor that tells the car whether to turn on the lights or not. It's not really a new feature since Toyota's have had them standard on most of their cars for like a decade or more. My g/f's bro's 1994 or 1995 base Corolla had automatic headlights. But yeah, I suspect that they'd lead to a decrease in the life of the xenons over time if you drive through garages or tunnels and stuff on a daily basis. The parking garage at my apartment sets off the Camry's headlights constantly.

 

[TheBry]

I live in a condominium complex with underground parking. I park underground at work as well. It's nice to have the lights come on automatically. Even though the lighting underground is adequate enough to see oncoming cars and hazards, it's not adequate enough to illuminate my dashboard. The auto feature does that for me nicely. The lights do come on automatically in tunnels and on underpasses, but I really do WANT them to do that. I look at it as my BMW taking care of me and making certain I'm seen when the ambient light gets darker -- even if for just a few seconds.

I'm with ///M Speed on this one -- I'll just replace them when (if) they burn out. It's worth it to me to not have to worry about remembering what position the light switch is in and when / where to turn them on / off. One less thing to worry about.

 

[Ben]

i really dont see why you guys worry so much about automatic headlights....... i for one done find it that hard to pull a little knob when it gets dark. but maybe thats just me..... and all this fuss about the xenons..... you wouldnt have to worry about it if you leave them off when its light out and turn them on when its dark.
just my thoughts.....

 

[Average Jae]

once you have a convenience feature, one tends to get lazy. i don't have the auto lights, but i could really care less. only thing is i couldn't get a compass mirror, since it requires the rain sensor, which is also sends info for the auto lights.

eric, i was going to read your response, but after running into lines, i gave up.. maybe another time

here's my take: if car manufacs are ok w/ the lights turning on and off in auto setting, then you shouldn't worry about it. they test the crap out of these cars, and chances are an issue come up during testing and was prolly patched. if all else fails, you'll get a nice lil mail w/ recall notice on it. besides, i think having the system automatically turn on and off would actually be better, since it'll have to meet some conditions before firing back up.. (w/in safety parameters or something..) or you could be like me, and *gasp* manually turn the sucker on, and off.

 

[damo]

I read in the owner's manual that they last longer if they're not turned on and off frequently. So because I'm a stingy bugger, I'm now leaving them on Park, unless it's dusk, and then I stick'em on Auto and roll on home all fired up!!

This may be a bit off topic, but when are you supposed to use the parking lights. I've always wondered that. My guess is when it's a bit dark (like dusk) and you just want to ensure other cars see you for safety reasons. Anyone have a more proper answer?

 

[bmwrocks]

This may be a bit off topic, but when are you supposed to use the parking lights. I've always wondered that. My guess is when it's a bit dark (like dusk) and you just want to ensure other cars see you for safety reasons. Anyone have a more proper answer?

I use them when executing a parking manuever. Doesn't everyone? [headbang] [joke]