LED lights too low for road signs

[Greyvan]

Hi all. I have had a look around and cant find a clear answer.
I have a 2019 Caravelle with the LED self levelling headlights. They work as they should and you see them levelling on start up.
As far as head lights go they are very good…..to a point.
There is no way to raise them and equally there is no peripheral light bleed. This means that the light is exactly where the unit puts it with razor precision. It does not even illuminate reflective signs if not in the beam zone. If I were on my old T5 or any car in fact, I reckon the lighting position would be 2 on the scroll wheel.
The issue is that it’s actually really dangerous.
I can’t see far enough forward and I live in a rural and hilly area so the road are all over the place meaning if I point down into a dip briefly, Im literally driving into the black of night.
Obviously the mains are good but can’t always be used for obvious reasons.
Any thoughts on adjusting the self levelling system or perhaps adjusting the units physically?

 

[TallPaul_S]

You can't adjust them, there's level sensors on the front and rear suspension that automatically adjust the lights based on the van's pitch.

Check you're not in 'travel mode' as this lowers the dipped beam slightly to avoid dazzling cars when you're driving on the right - it doesn't adjust the beam, just lowers the cut off.

I can't say I've had any issue with the hard cut off that the LED's have, even going down dips in the road. Not once have I ever though the LED's are 'dangerous'...

If you had the H4's or H7's you'd be driving in the black of night permanently, just on a normal straight, level road!

 

[Greyvan]

Much appreciated. Travel mode…I shall track that down

 

[TallPaul_S]

Much appreciated. Travel mode…I shall track that down

Should be in your MFD settings on the dash, under 'lights and vision'.

 

[Greyvan]

And it was in travel mode!!

Thankyou

 

[TallPaul_S]

And it was in travel mode!!

Thankyou

Well, that'll definitely help a bit! It does raise them up by a noticeable degree. I will say if you've come from halogens, then hard cut off of an LED headlight can take a bit of getting used to. My previous car had Bi-Xenons with a similar hard cut off so I've been used to this sort of light for years.

 

[Ads_Essex]

Also, check your ride height sensors haven’t had the cable(s) snagged - that can often cause them to dip down and remain low.

 

[Dundee_Kev]

Get along to your local friendly MOT station and get them to check they are adjusted to the correct height.

Also check the level sensor links haven't broke free

 

[MikeWillmott]

Had a similar problem on my Kuga…
While at MOT I just bent the level sensor bracket a bit to get them right!

 

[Dundee_Kev]

Had a similar problem on my Kuga…
While at MOT I just bent the level sensor bracket a bit to get them right!

There should be adjustments on the lamp, no need to bend things. The majority of headlights have adjusters on the lamps. Don't think Tesla do, as only ever set them up via the steering wheel controls

 

[ginkster]

There should be adjustments on the lamp, no need to bend things. The majority of headlights have adjusters on the lamps. Don't think Tesla do, as only ever set them up via the steering wheel controls

That might explain why so many Teslas have dazzling headlamps (not your adjusting, but owners maybe fiddlwith it).

 

[Shaun Witts]

After I had VB Air fitted, I felt the cut off on dip beam was too high, which was not something I had noticed before. After I saw my beam pattern clearly dazzle a police driver in a van at a side junction, I took it back to have it checked. It was taken to a local MOT centre, and found to be within spec, but they lowered it a bit at my request. I’ve never had a problem since, and it seems perfect.
So the height of the beam can be adjusted, presumably on the headlight mount itself somewhere.

 

[Ads_Essex]

LED Headlight Adjustment

Haha glad I could be of some help with my poor response

www.t6forum.com

 

[Lubrown]

That might explain why so many Teslas have dazzling headlamps (not your adjusting, but owners maybe fiddlwith it).

Many headlights these days seem to cause dazzle. Some will be the poor quality Chinese aftermarket bulbs (halogen or LED) that simply cannot be adjusted correctly due to the tolerances they are made to but people mess with their lights too or don’t get them checked for alignment when changing bulbs etc. With light sources brighter than ever, as well as more cars on the roads, it’s clearly going to be a more noticeable problem.

There was a petition on it, with the AA and RAC backing it, and government commissioned an investigation into it earlier this year. It’s been the cause of accidents so needs addressing.

Can’t see how they’ll fix it though as it’s already part of the MOT and you could change your bulbs or bend arms or whatever people do the day after you get that… and casually drive around dazzling folk for the next year.
Tricky one.

The one thing I find with LEDs is that despite being very bright they don’t have the colour rendering index of a good halogen so contrast is actually quite poor… and this is, I expect, why people mess with them.

 

[Stay Frosty]

That's right some dazzling lights are down to people messing about with led lamps instead of keeping the original halogens but stock led and hid lighting on some vehicles is equally poor.
Active led arrays that stay on full beam as the vehicle sweeps through a bend and doesn't or can't respond and shut down the array quickly enough to stop dazzling oncoming cars is one example as is my Astra sitting a good foot lower than the cretin behind in his SUV blinding me despite him being on dip... in fact even his ludicrous daytime running lights are blinding me during the daytime?
Just looked this up and apparently it's cataracts.

 

[roadtripper]

I've had the OE LEDs on the Caravelle checked twice now.

I also find the hard cutoff means I feel that I can't quite see as well as I should. I think it's because older headlight designs had some spill so things didn't suddenly arrive into your vision.

But I regularly get flashed by other drivers at night sometimes quite aggressively but they're in MOT spec.

I don't understand why they don't have an adjustment on the dash like they used to, yes they are self levelling but I prefer the option to lower the headlights a touch when in town and on busy roads and leave the full range for late night quieter roads.