[x5mad]

I read somewhere that with variable light distribution the beam pattern is different according to what speed you are going. For example in slow city driving the beam is wide but short. For motorway the beam is thrown longer.

However this motorway or highway function seems to be activated once you get to 140km/h (approx 87mph). The speed limit in Australia is 100km/h so I would have to be breaking the law to get this highway beam pattern.

Whilst testing my adaptive LED with HBA off the throw on the motorway is abysmal! I can't see very far ahead of me.

So I went through the FEM module and searched for "hgwy" and changed the 140km/h to 70km/h. I also changed a few others with "hgwy" to a lower speed.
I did notice however that "HBA" was also on the descriptive text.

Unfortunately I did not notice any difference in the throw of the adaptive lights once I passed 70km/h (HBA off).

Does anyone know if this can be done/coded?

The only other thing I could think off was to raise the throw mechanically. I.e. I lifted the hood and raised the right headlamp a full 2 turns. Have yet to test this out though.

[Almaretto]

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[x5mad]

Originally Posted by Almaretto

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Yes I know, I've seen this hence trying to code the highway lighting at lower speeds.

Any ideas?

[Almaretto]

Originally Posted by x5mad

Yes I know, I've seen this hence trying to code the highway lighting at lower speeds.

Any ideas?

From ISTA+:

The motorway light distribution increases the range of the driving light under certain conditions.

The footwell module (FRM) or front electronics module (FEM) or body domain controller (BDC) switches the headlights to motorway light distrubution mode under following conditions:

• Driving speed exceeds 110 kilometres per hour for longer than 30 seconds
• Driving speed exceeds 140 kilometres per hour

The headlights are lowered once the driving speed falls below 110 kilometres per hour. The headlights are lowered (reducing the headlight beam throw) in gradual stages as the speed drops below 110 kilometres per hour:

• 110 kilometres per hour
• 100 kilometres per hour
• 90 kilometres per hour
• 80 kilometres per hour

From 80 kilometres per hour, the headlights are fully reset to country road light distribution.

There are different light distributions for city, county road, freeway and full high-beam headlight.

An asymmetrical shorter headlight beam through was realised in the light distribution for city. A greater headlight beam throw is not necessary due to the street lighting.

In the light distribution for county road the light distribution targets good illumination of the road sides and high range. For this purpose, the light/dark boundary will be raised in the outer area. This illuminates traffic signs and obstacles clearly sooner and better. A limitation of the headlight beam throw in the center serves to prevent blinding oncoming traffic.

The light distribution for freeway approximately correspond with the light distribution for county road; however, the limitation in the centre does not apply.

Combined light distributions are also available for the last mentioned light distributions. During the transition from light distribution for county road to light distribution for freeway, the characteristic properties of the correspondent light distributions vary. In addition, a speed-dependent raise of the light/dark boundary occurs for the light distribution for freeway to increase the range.

Conditions between a light distribution and the full high-beam headlight and low-beam headlight can be implemented with defined recesses in the cover.

Horizontal movement range of headlights

Both headlights can be moved vertically and also horizontally by a few degrees. The light cones thereby receive a new targeted alignment.

[x5mad]

So after adjusting the drivers side headlight mechanically (raised it by 2 full turns) I went for a drive last night.

What a huge difference! Drove for almost an hour on varying roads and did not get flashed once. The throw is so much better. I can't believe this is now the third new car from BMW in last 5 years that I have had to do this. My previous was a f30 328 with xenons which I also had to adjust as was too low from factory.

I am now much happier with the led lights. Previous xenons I could drive with just low beams on a pitch black road but with my leds I had to use high beam as the low beam was far too dangerous. Not anymore!

If anyone is disappointed with the throw try adjusting the light upwards. There are plenty of articles which show you how to adjust without blinding other road users.