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V50 xenon leveling won't work

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Old Jan 11th, 2018, 21:51   #11
kenzoo
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Hello guys and sorry for not replying,
I ended up replacing the headlights.

The car have now passed M.O.T ,
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Old Jan 17th, 2018, 23:12   #12
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Originally Posted by LizardOfBodom View Post
Em, ok, thats the first....
I am positive that even pre-FL has auto levelling, although cant confirm if it does the "dance" on every startup - would be glad to hear from other owner to confirm/deny.
The lights 'dance/nod' when you turn them on in every car fitted with Xenons that I've ever owned, driven, been in. My C30 Bi-Xeneons dance like Darcey Bussell, constantly, on dip when driving. It is actually quite irritating. But they are great lights.
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Old Jan 18th, 2018, 10:57   #13
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Originally Posted by niggly View Post
The lights 'dance/nod' when you turn them on in every car fitted with Xenons that I've ever owned, driven, been in. My C30 Bi-Xeneons dance like Darcey Bussell, constantly, on dip when driving. It is actually quite irritating. But they are great lights.
Thanks for this - that is interesting input as I was trying to estabilish a while ago if any of our cars have active levelling (lean up/down dependant on dip or bumps on the road). From the answers I gathered that no. You are the first person that can confirm that, so I wonder if thats C30 specific or all P1 with ABL or what.... You are 100% sure your car compensate for the road bumps in real time, yea?
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Old Jan 18th, 2018, 13:57   #14
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Thanks for this - that is interesting input as I was trying to estabilish a while ago if any of our cars have active levelling (lean up/down dependant on dip or bumps on the road). From the answers I gathered that no. You are the first person that can confirm that, so I wonder if thats C30 specific or all P1 with ABL or what.... You are 100% sure your car compensate for the road bumps in real time, yea?
Lizard, yes on my 2011 Volvo C30 the lights, when on dipped beam, absolutely adjust/change the beam height all the time, constantly when you are driving. You only notice it when on dipped beam.

It may be that on full beam, which is like daylight, it still does it but you can't see it. but I'd deduced that it 'turns off' when you are on full. On the basis that there'd be no point in adjusting it a bit up/down as that isn't going to help the poor sod coming the other way??

I must say it is quite irritating. And it doesn't seem 'logical' - you crest a rise and you'd think it would lower the beams.....and it doesn't. I don't know where on the car the sensor is located nor what it is sensing TBH.

On my MINI, which has Xenon dipped beam but Halogen mains, it nods/dances when you turn the lights on before it settles but doesn't dance around like the Volvo when you are driving.

It may be my Volvo has a fault and shouldn't be doing it so noticeably.
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Old Jan 18th, 2018, 15:32   #15
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Lizard, yes on my 2011 Volvo C30 the lights, when on dipped beam, absolutely adjust/change the beam height all the time, constantly when you are driving. You only notice it when on dipped beam.

...
Interesting.
Well on high beam you are right - no point, plus from what I think - it may actually rise the projectors up a bit (dipped beam) to spread the beam even further. In the same time, it MIGHT raise them up a bit when over 120khm as it turns into "highway mode", but thats just a guessing. Such logic was implemented in my friends 2008 Focus so same parts could be used there.

As for your car's logic - well, to my understanding it should detect differences between front to rear axle as for cars height, so for example - would expect beam to go down on hard acceleration and up on heavy braking - can you verify it does that? also when going over speedbumps maybe or small dips? As for crests, railway bridges etc - maybe there is not enough difference between f/r level and car is ultimately "levelled" hence no change? Imagine you are climbing 10degree incline, when car is level with the road but not with sea level. Someone explained to me that our cars would only have F/R differentiation and not the actual yaw orientation so going over hill/bridge would not trigger the move?
again - all above is speculating, never driven Volvo with ABL (I reckon you have side to side movement aswell?) but I am really interested in the subject...
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Old Jan 19th, 2018, 00:43   #16
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Yes the ABL is wicked. I did a short trip this evening in lanes and concentrated on it. They turn a fair bit, very handy.
But they won't seem to turn when the car is stationary. So you can't show your mates "Hey look at this" or see it working against say a wall. Well unless you are approaching the wall at pace and trying to avoid it, but you get what I mean.
I think they only swivel when the car reaches a certain speed.
I dread to think what a stealer will charge when you need a replacement or it goes wrong.
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Old Jan 19th, 2018, 00:46   #17
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The levelling is supposed to work as soon as there is a difference between the body in relation to the axles.
BJB, which axle is the sensor attached to? Or is there one on both? The way mine nod when driving I'm thinking it is the rear.
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Old Jan 19th, 2018, 12:53   #18
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I think they only swivel when the car reaches a certain speed.
I dread to think what a stealer will charge when you need a replacement or it goes wrong.
Thanks for the feedback, interesting info
If you can one day just for my curiosity check, if your lights react to accelerating/braking, that will give me full picture. thanks a mill

As for sensors btw - you have them on both axles from what I know as car needs to calculate level of one vs another and that gives indication where car's nose is pointing at.
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Old Jan 19th, 2018, 16:30   #19
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@niggly. Both the Front and Rear sensors are used on the O/S suspension arms. They compare each others position through the MASTER ballast. When it has worked out the adjustment, it tells the SLAVE ballast, and BOTH adjust the Headlight aim height (certainly a lot quicker than me trying to explain it) Rear of the car is more likely to have more movement than the front , because of the way you load the car.
I don't know if you have read any other bi-xenon post, but I have had ballast issues. The bulb would go out after 2-3 minutes, changed the ballast, this happened to both ballasts. The ones I fitted WERE genuine, BUT hadn't been through the Volvo Pre-programming ,so Self-levelling couldn't be achieved.
Now, the really strange thing here is, since Refitting the original faulty units, (and Indy garage programming ) my lights haven't gone out once in 3 months !!, (kiss of death) . They do have a delayed adjustment though . The car (06 v50) hadn't had a update for 50k 5yr, but why work now?
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