2006 S60R bi-Xenon headlight response

  • Thread starter Thread starter Sheldon Rabin
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Sheldon Rabin

How do you cope with the VERY SLOW Low-High-Low bi-Xenon headlight action
when night lane changing and passing?
S.Rabin
 
I don't know what country you live in, but in Canada, on my '04 XC70, the
movement takes about 1 second. I had to get the dealership to manually
adjust the low beams, so maybe they can tinker with the apparent delay, if
it's greater than 1 second.

Here's a short synopsis on my experience with bi-xenon head lights:

There seems to be a motor that simply moves the reflector to achieve high
beams. In Canada we have daytime running lights (essentially low beam) but
on my XC70, if I keep the light switch in the leftmost "off" position, then
only the round daytime running lights stay on, saving my bi-xenon bulbs. If
I leave the switch in this position, the highs will not activate. Also,
there is a sensor on the centre console, just below the radio, that
automatically switches the daytime lights to low beam bi-xenon when it gets
dark outside (something not covered in the owner's manual). I initially
found that the bi-xenons where staying on all of the time. The dealership
said that the "twilight sensor" was blocked. Not knowing where to look,
neither did the dealership, we discovered that a map was covering the
sensor.

Good luck.... Cam
 
Sheldon said:
How do you cope with the VERY SLOW Low-High-Low bi-Xenon headlight action
when night lane changing and passing?
S.Rabin

Not much to cope with. Mine shifts from low to high reasonably
quickly, although not as fast as traditional lighting systems.

Far more problematic is the dim road lighting while on high beam. The
light pattern is so dispersed to the side that objects other than
highly reflecftive street signs remain un-illuminated. The lack of
long distance coverage borders on dangerous in poorly lit roads.
Bi-xenon lights on USA volvos also have a very sharp cutoff resulting
in a total lack of road visibility on hilly roads. It is truly a poor
design.

When I compare the "reach" of high beams on my S80 to the bi xenon's on
the V70 the difference is striking.
 
I agree with your statement "dim road lighting while on high beam" We
took delivery a few days ago of an XC70 and last night I was driving at
night for the first time with it. I was driving through hilly roads and
honestly thought the high beams were not on. My Subaru Forester provides
better lighting.
These lights also changed low to high quickly. No issue there.
Cheers
Onne
 
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