In -25*C cold LED headlight worked perfectly every time. But after icy rain, it takes the LEDs a lot of time to warm up the headlights to clear the ice. So chemical defroster is necessary.
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LED headlights in snow
- Thread starter yellowcone87
- Start date
What -25
that Brass Monkey Weather What has the local Seat dealer to say about that " Its No problem in Barcelona "
What -25
What has the local Seat dealer to say about that " Its No problem in Barcelona "
Normal winter temperature here in the Nordic countries
Well in temperatures as high as 4*C I have one that works perfectly and one that does not. I use deicer products to remove ice from the lights anyway, but that makes no difference to the operation of the levelling mechanism. So clearly something has gone awry.
I used Rain x on the headlights of my MK2 for the duration of ownership (3 years) and never had an issue, only ever had benefits. So unless the MK3 lenses are a different kind of plastic i cant see an issue.
whilst this would be a nice feature it would also go against one of the reasons for fitting LEDs in the first place. the right kind of LEDs are so to be brighter than traditional halogen (no contest in my opinion), have a much longer lifetime and also consume less power/be more energy efficient. Fitting heating to the headlights would negate this benefit altogether. I'm not disagreeing with you, just something to consider.
Bonnet gas struts would be nice. Small washer bottle? Mine takes near a gallon as did my MK2. old punto Mk3 on the other hand took less than 2 litres.
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I have looked at a few articles about LED Headlight freezing and it seems to be a common problem on all makes. Some have a small fans that blows across the heat sink on the rear of the LEDs onto the front of the headlight. Looks as if the headlight manufactures are working on ways to stop it.
A few ideas mainly from American sites was to spray vegetable oil or WD40 on them but surely this would be a bit messy. Another one was to just use normal screen wash on them.
One item was on this site.
http://www.electronicsweekly.com/ne...g/car-makers-focus-on-led-headlights-2013-03/
A few ideas mainly from American sites was to spray vegetable oil or WD40 on them but surely this would be a bit messy. Another one was to just use normal screen wash on them.
One item was on this site.
http://www.electronicsweekly.com/ne...g/car-makers-focus-on-led-headlights-2013-03/
Well found says it all that has been said it is a issue in freezing weather
“For very energy-efficient vehicles, electric cars for example, we try to avoid a fan. For future systems, with more efficient LEDs, we don’t have to drive them so hard, so no fan. For high-performance systems, we will still have fan,” said Pietzonka. “The topic of freezing is still an issue. It can be avoided with a fan, or we can defrost it like rear window, with lines or a heating film. There are several systems under development.”
Not necessarily mate, obviously any heating added will draw some power, but there is no reason they couldn't be linked to the heated mirrors or rear screen. They wouldn't need to be heated permanently, just when you need it. That way you get to keep the energy saving for 99% of the time.
'several systems under development ' marvellous. Meanwhile, those of us that live in countries where it rains and freezes have got to put up with useless fkn headlights all to save a polar bear or two. What it won't save is the person/animal who is not seen because the headlights are frozen and lighting up Ollie the owl.
Only 'ze Germans' could foist something on us that's meant to be better ( than xenons-they are not) but only works in the warm. What an advance in technology.
So this is the view I had of the unlit Warwickshire countryside driving home tonight. I was nearly home by the time it came back to life...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdx1jzjdEsI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdx1jzjdEsI
I see what you mean now we are all back to normal has anybody been to the dealers with the Issue as it is a serious issue
Mine is booked in for tomorrow.
I'm not expecting miracles, but I'll let you know what they say.
I'm not expecting miracles, but I'll let you know what they say.
Mine's in the garage today for the drivers side failing to level. I had the same issue on a 2001 Audi S3 in the past and the motors needed replacing on the headlights. The Milton Keynes dealer has ordered a motor in advance to fit to mine and Seat Technical have sent them a load of tests to do on the failing unit... I'll see what they can do (this is my 3rd visit for the same problem as they couldn't detect anything wrong so left it, only reported it to Seat after the 2nd visit (when I threw some toys out of my pram)).
The near side lamp has not failed once.
The near side lamp has not failed once.
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That'll teach you to live in the sticks.....
New excuse for being late/absent from work "I couldn't see where I was going"
Best take the 280 for another thrash and warm the planet up....
Indeed! I actually think the freezing issue is at least partly seperate.
Above 4*c they both work as intended. Below that only one will level correctly until the engine compartment is fully up to temp. I actually think its an electrical gremlin rather than ice. If you watch when you start the car, the beam drops down first, then rises back up to the correct level. At least that's what is supposed to happen... On mine, they both drop down, but then only one will rise back up again. This suggests to me that its not ice causing the problem. If it were, deicer would prevent it, which it doesn't. And it wouldn't be able to drop down at all anyway, since it would be stuck. It isn't stuck, it just won't rise.
To me, it points to a software issue. I can live with the freezing on the outside, that's what deicer is for... The levelling though is simply dangerous. It happens with or without ice present... As long as the temp is low enough to show the snowflake on the dash.
Agree with above.
This is most likely an electrical or software issue with the lights and not temperature related.
Seems a recent issue though in terms of the mk3s life. Didn't see any postings on this from the early buyers (myself included).
This is most likely an electrical or software issue with the lights and not temperature related.
Seems a recent issue though in terms of the mk3s life. Didn't see any postings on this from the early buyers (myself included).
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