Anti-dazzle and VLD in 2018 cars?

[CanAutM3]

Originally Posted by noone

Would you mind posting pics of your headlight undersides with the part numbers stickers?

It's all in the thread

See post #46 for my particular car.

[PaulM]

Originally Posted by CanAutM3

Have you tried coding the VLD and AGHB? Because they seem to be working fine on my 2019 M4cs after I coded them without having to do any physical changes.

I think that's what I'll try. I just have to figure out if I can attempt it myself (without messing something up) or have it coded remotely.

Paul

[noone]

Originally Posted by PaulM

After lots of fruitless searching on the web for that special tool from BMW and trying to have it retrofitted by my dealership (apparently they legally can't retrofit Canadian cars that were produced before a certain date even though the regulations changed before car production), I decided to see if I can remove those things on my own.

Turns out they are just regular dumb caps, easily taken off with a set of thin tweezers. I tried to look around the headlight to see if there are other pins or lock-looking pieces, but I couldn't see any. Maybe lemetier or Almaretto have more info on where the physical locks are located on the headlights?

Paul- I have these same part numbers on my headlights - 63.11-8378710-01 on right and 63.11-8378709-01 on left. Do you have the 3 led chips on each headlight? I wasn't able to see the led emitters on my lights because of the glare on them. Let us know how your coding works out.

CanAut - What are your light part numbers?

[PaulM]

I had the headlights coded today and tested them tonight with my brother driving in another car. Tests were done on a dark road with 1 lane in each direction, driving at about 70-75 km/h (43-46 mph), the other car was a Jeep Wrangler.
I could definitely see the beam pattern moving to the side when approaching another car either from behind or oncoming.

Oncoming: not blinded at all, but at about 2-3 car lengths away from me he said he was bothered by my lights until about 1 car length from my car (not all out blinded, but enough to be annoyed).
Driving in front of me, he was not blinded at all until I got to about 2 car lengths behind him, at which point he was blinded by his rearview mirror.
If he was driving in front of me, with another oncoming car in the other lane, he was never blinded while I could see the right side in front of his car illuminated by my high beams.
Attached is a representation of what we observed.

He said that the times he was uncomfortable or blinded by the high beams with anti-glare active is nothing compared to how blinded he was when we tested the regular high beams (while he was driving well ahead of me).

fernisatree, was it similar to your observation before you got euro headlights installed?
CanAutM3 did you notice a similar pattern after you coded your lights? Wondering if your M4cs has the same headlights part numbers as the 440.

Paul

[noone]

Originally Posted by PaulM

I had the headlights coded today and tested them tonight with my brother driving in another car. Tests were done on a dark road with 1 lane in each direction, driving at about 70-75 km/h (43-46 mph), the other car was a Jeep Wrangler.
I could definitely see the beam pattern moving to the side when approaching another car either from behind or oncoming.

Oncoming: not blinded at all, but at about 2-3 car lengths away from me he said he was bothered by my lights until about 1 car length from my car (not all out blinded, but enough to be annoyed).
Driving in front of me, he was not blinded at all until I got to about 2 car lengths behind him, at which point he was blinded by his rearview mirror.
If he was driving in front of me, with another oncoming car in the other lane, he was never blinded while I could see the right side in front of his car illuminated by my high beams.
Attached is a representation of what we observed.

He said that the times he was uncomfortable or blinded by the high beams with anti-glare active is nothing compared to how blinded he was when we tested the regular high beams (while he was driving well ahead of me).

fernisatree, was it similar to your observation before you got euro headlights installed?
CanAutM3 did you notice a similar pattern after you coded your lights? Wondering if your M4cs has the same headlights part numbers as the 440.

Paul

Awesome. Thanks Paul for the extensive tests. Anti dazzle looks to be usable in my eyes. Paul, can you take pictures of the bottom of your outer lamps so I can see your circuitry? I have the same part numbers on the lights as you and my lights circuitry is similar to fermisatree's old US spec lights shown above on post 72.

First pic is drivers side outer lamp.

[CanAutM3]

Originally Posted by noone

Awesome. Thanks Paul for the extensive tests. Anti dazzle looks to be usable in my eyes. Paul, can you take pictures of the bottom of your outer lamps so I can see your circuitry? I have the same part numbers on the lights as you and my lights circuitry is similar to fermisatree's old US spec lights shown above on post 72.

First pic is drivers side outer lamp.

You are missing the complete LED array and circuitry on your driver's side.

[fernisatree]

If your headlights do not have the extra circuitry in them you do not have the proper hardware. If you can not distinctly see a shadow in front of the car in front of you, more than likely they have glare from your headlights. These glare free headlights have a distinct pattern when correctly working and US spec cars do not have the proper hardware to work them. Trust me it is a night and day difference when the correct hardware is used. It is an easy check to LED arrays and see if they match the EU spec, if not put it back to stock or buy a EU set. I can point you in the right direction for headlights if you need help.

[fernisatree]

I thought my GFHB were working like yours are but they are not. There is a lot of light leakage that oncoming traffic gets blinded with. When i installed the proper headlights there is a distinct tunnel around the cars in front of you. With the wrong headlights there is not a distinct tunnel. Eventually you will be flashed by other drivers. With the proper headlights haven't been flashed once.

Originally Posted by PaulM

I had the headlights coded today and tested them tonight with my brother driving in another car. Tests were done on a dark road with 1 lane in each direction, driving at about 70-75 km/h (43-46 mph), the other car was a Jeep Wrangler.
I could definitely see the beam pattern moving to the side when approaching another car either from behind or oncoming.

Oncoming: not blinded at all, but at about 2-3 car lengths away from me he said he was bothered by my lights until about 1 car length from my car (not all out blinded, but enough to be annoyed).
Driving in front of me, he was not blinded at all until I got to about 2 car lengths behind him, at which point he was blinded by his rearview mirror.
If he was driving in front of me, with another oncoming car in the other lane, he was never blinded while I could see the right side in front of his car illuminated by my high beams.
Attached is a representation of what we observed.

He said that the times he was uncomfortable or blinded by the high beams with anti-glare active is nothing compared to how blinded he was when we tested the regular high beams (while he was driving well ahead of me).

fernisatree, was it similar to your observation before you got euro headlights installed?
CanAutM3 did you notice a similar pattern after you coded your lights? Wondering if your M4cs has the same headlights part numbers as the 440.

Paul

[noone]

CanAutM3 - Please post your part numbers of your lights from the top label.

PaulM - Please take pictures of the undersides of your lights so we can see this circuitry. Already have your part numbers, which are identical to my light part numbers.

Where I'm going with this is that we are all in North America. It's all "BMW NA". If the BMW part numbers on our lights are all the same, then it is possible that the manufacturer used different board designs in the drivers light with the same part number which may or may not indicate it can deliver full and proper anti dazzle.

[CanAutM3]

Originally Posted by noone

CanAutM3 - Please post your part numbers of your lights from the top label.

PaulM - Please take pictures of the undersides of your lights so we can see this circuitry. Already have your part numbers, which are identical to my light part numbers.

Where I'm going with this is that we are all in North America. It's all "BMW NA". If the BMW part numbers on our lights are all the same, then it is possible that the manufacturer used different board designs in the drivers light with the same part number which may or may not indicate it can deliver full and proper anti dazzle.

BMW "NA" is really BMW USA. In Canada, we have BMW Canada and and Canadian spec cars differ than US ones.

Both PaulM and mylsef have the EU spec LED arrays and circuitry on our cars, as posted in pictures in the thread.

[noone]

Originally Posted by CanAutM3

BMW "NA" is really BMW USA. In Canada, we have BMW Canada and and Canadian spec cars differ than US ones.

Both PaulM and mylsef have the EU spec LED arrays and circuitry on our cars, as posted in pictures in the thread.

Then how come I have the exact same part numbers on my lights as PaulM from post 78, yet have different circuitry? That makes no sense unless it is some kind of luck thing which circuit board went into the lights from off the shelf parts from Valero which seems highly unlikely.

Seems more likely that the lights work the same if it's the same part number regardless of the board design/revision. Otherwise, how would BMW be able to sort out which same part number went to US Car, vs. Canada car vs Timbuktu car?

It sounds like only fernisatree has different part numbers from his euro lights he purchased.

CanAut - Would you mind posting your light housing part numbers?

[CanAutM3]

Originally Posted by noone

Then how come I have the exact same part numbers on my lights as PaulM from post 78, yet have different circuitry? That makes no sense unless it is some kind of luck thing which circuit board went into the lights from off the shelf parts from Valero which seems highly unlikely.

Seems more likely that the lights work the same if it's the same part number regardless of the board design/revision. Otherwise, how would BMW be able to sort out which same part number went to US Car, vs. Canada car vs Timbuktu car?

It sounds like only fernisatree has different part numbers from his euro lights he purchased.

CanAut - Would you mind posting your light housing part numbers?

How can the headlight perform the same if there is an entire array missing? That's one third of the high beam capability of that specific headlight.

I'll go out and check the PN when time permits. An important quote from Lemeiter (particularly the bold section):

Originally Posted by lemetier

The factory installed headlights have different part numbers on the data sticker as they come pre-programmed and fully assembled. The actual part numbers are elsewhere on the back of the housing.

In another thread, Lemeiter posted what are the functions of the different LED arrays in the icon headlights. As you can see, the GFHB are driven by the LED array that is missing on US cars.

[fernisatree]

Pretty much all of this, it is hard to believe BMW would do this but that's what happened. A lot of US spec cars got watered down headlights. Luckily i think it is only one side. If i would of been asked i could of taken a picture of the part number when i had my headlights out but it is too late as they have been sold.

Originally Posted by CanAutM3

How can the headlight perform the same if there is an entire array missing? That's one third of the high beam capability of that specific headlight.

I'll go out and check the PN when time permits. An important quote from Lemeiter (particularly the bold section):


In another thread, Lemeiter posted what are the functions of the different LED arrays in the icon headlights. As you can see, the GFHB are driven by the LED array that is missing on US cars.

[noone]

Looks like there are 3 led chips. The one on the outer side of this driver's side light is just hard to see but it is circled in the attached picture.

[PaulM]

Originally Posted by fernisatree

I thought my GFHB were working like yours are but they are not. There is a lot of light leakage that oncoming traffic gets blinded with. When i installed the proper headlights there is a distinct tunnel around the cars in front of you. With the wrong headlights there is not a distinct tunnel. Eventually you will be flashed by other drivers. With the proper headlights haven't been flashed once.

So if I understand you correctly, before you changed your headlights you experienced the same behaviour as I did last night?
Or do you have a similar GFHB behaviour as I did last night after you changed your headlights?
I can see the tunnel forming around the car in front of me, it just seems that the GFHB still cause discomfort when getting close to other cars, either behind or oncoming, before they shutoff.

Originally Posted by noone

Looks like there are 3 led chips. The one on the outer side of this driver's side light is just hard to see but it is circled in the attached picture.

I attached another picture of my driver's side outer headlight. From your picture it does look like you have all the required LEDs, but you're still missing what looks like a few resistors, potentially preventing specific LEDs from being turned on/off.

Paul

[noone]

Possibly, but PaulM and I have the exact same left headlight BMW part number so it still doesn't make sense to me how BMW can discriminate at assembly part numbers that are exactly the same yet contain different innards.

At any rate, it sounds like yours may not be working 100% anyways. Let's see what fermisatree says.

I guess I can try coding mine and see what happens. Can always put it back.

CanAut- Can you please walk me through the steps you took to code your lights?

[PaulM]

I had a 300 km drive at night last weekend so I had the opportunity to test the GFHB coding on a longer highway drive, and it really seems like it's not working as it's supposed to.
Basically, it looks like the only thing it does is shut off the driver side high beams completely while keeping the passenger high beams. I haven't been flashed once, but that makes sense since the whole driver side turn back to low beams, not just the outer LED.

Here is a short video of how it behaves on my car (sorry for the shaking). You can clearly see it at the beginning of the clip and again at 0:48 to 1:00. https://www.youtube.com/embed/SbT6bJKb5vQ?rel=0

I have a feeling that the coding is totally wrong; could that be a possibility?

Paul

[noone]

Maybe CanAut can walk us through the coding steps?

[fernisatree]

So the video is kinda shaky but this is pretty much what my headlights do on the autobahn. Since oncoming traffic is there and you are going at a higher speed the left high beam usually doesn't move until its been awhile for traffic coming by. I do not know the timing. Paul it looks like you have the required hardware, unfortunately noone you do not. Maybe the glare you have Paul is from the locking tabs? I have no idea what or where they are honestly. Also to keep note it is a computer and camera, it takes time for the computer to register headlights or tail lights. There has been times driving over here the headlights did not tunnel cause it didnt register the car in front of me. Maybe this is what you are having? I get a split second of glare from adaptive headlights over here all the time and is considered normal. It is the constant glare that is no good. Paul when you drive around does it look like a tunnel shadow with the headlights in the middle with low beams? There is a thread with the beam pattern picture around here somewhere give me this weekend and ill find it. Sorry for the word vomit but its late here and i feel bad for not responding earlier.

Originally Posted by PaulM

I had a 300 km drive at night last weekend so I had the opportunity to test the GFHB coding on a longer highway drive, and it really seems like it's not working as it's supposed to.
Basically, it looks like the only thing it does is shut off the driver side high beams completely while keeping the passenger high beams. I haven't been flashed once, but that makes sense since the whole driver side turn back to low beams, not just the outer LED.

Here is a short video of how it behaves on my car (sorry for the shaking). You can clearly see it at the beginning of the clip and again at 0:48 to 1:00. https://www.youtube.com/embed/SbT6bJKb5vQ?rel=0

I have a feeling that the coding is totally wrong; could that be a possibility?

Paul

[noone]

Fernisatree - Riddle me this. PaulM and I both have the exact same left and right BMW headlight part numbers. Agreed, the circuit boards on the left light do look different. It is of my opinion that they both PaulM and my headlights will perform exactly the same. Again, from an assembly standpoint, there would be no way for BMW to discern differences in parts when they have the same part number. Do we really think that these parts are sub sorted, at assembly, by a manufacturer part number which somehow differs from the BMW part number? I don't think so and only a BMW employee could tell us for sure what the real deal is with these lights. I still have 3 LEDs on the bottom of my left light.

[CanAutM3]

Originally Posted by noone

Agreed, the circuit boards on the left light do look different. It is of my opinion that they both PaulM and my headlights will perform exactly the same.

As was pointed out earlier in the thread, you are missing the LED array that performs the GFHB function. How can you believe they will perform the same as ones that have that array ?

[CanAutM3]

Originally Posted by noone

Maybe CanAut can walk us through the coding steps?

I coded each parameter one by one. I can share my cheat sheet.