Question about Daytime Running Lights.
 

How do you know if you have them?

If they are on during the day. and you didn't turn them on, and you can't turn them off????:confused:

Well.........I figured that much, but if they were turned off at the $tealer before you purchased the thing, how would you know? Should there be an indicator on the inside somewhere?

No the lights just would not be on during the day unless you turned them on. Running lights stay on during the day regardless of what you do it's just that simple. Should there be an indicator on the inside somewhere? Maybe, but if your engine is running and your lights are on and you have tried everything you can to turn them off and they are still on then I would conclude you have running lights. But thats IMHO. Let me know if you find out something different.

The car "comes" with the feature built in and available.
It is an option on the pre-del. form, along with locks on,
etc., etc. There is no "indicator" that you have that
selection, selected or, that they are "on".

If you got your X used, it can be re-programmed by stlr
for a cost.

Imo, DRLs are so ubiquitous that they have lost their
visual attention getting...and, we M'cycle riders are
lost in the sea of minivan, headlights-on as it is.
GL,md

The DRL are just the standard hi-beam bulb being underpowered. You can have them turned off at the dealer. I believe all X5's have them, am I wrong?

Hey guys thanks for the feedback. I was mainly curious if my X3 had them, because when I was at the $tealer to have my alarm programmed they has asked if I wanted DRLs and I said no, at that time I had no idea what they were talking about.

There are many types of those light settings.

If you buy the car from Germany, the lights would go automatically on when it gets dark, when using the A position. And they would stay on, eaven if you turn off the car. Same with the other position. So you have to turn the lights to off position when exitting the car.

If you buy a car from Finland, the lights will be on, when you start the engien, no matter what the light switch position is. Eaven with 0 setting.

I bought mine from germany, and I had to take it to service when I arrived to Finland. I have to keep the lights at the A position (or the other lights on position) all the time, so that they will go on when I start, and they will go off when I stop the engine.

As someone said the DRL's are the hi-beams with low voltage.

Only way to know that you have them on, is if you programmed them at the dealer or if you walk outside to your car while it is on, and the halogens closest to the kidneys are on too...

Yes I have seen that on other cars (non BMWs), no matter what position you have on the switch, the low and high beams are on all the time (low beams underpowered creating a yellow dim light). So this setting applies to both low and high beams and makes the light switch useless because the lights are on all the time.


Day time running lights is yet another setting that in the US only applies to the high beams (halogen towards the middle). As said previously if set to activated, the high beams will be on underpowered everytime the car is running. The underpowered high beams are automatically turned off when the low beams are turned on (at night for example).

Except in the case of HIDs
 

If you have HID headlights in your X3, the inboard halogens are DRLs only. Once you turn on the HIDs (or they come on automatically when it gets dark) the inboard halogens turn off automatically.

:iagree:

That's mine works too with dual xenons. And I think there is no way you can turn the inner lights off if the engine is running unless the xenons are on.

Speaking about the automatic turn on functionality... Anyone know for sure how does that work and what is measured? I think there are two sensors used: the rain sensor and a light sensor. If it rains the xenons are automatically turned on. Or if it gets dark enough the lights again are turned on.

However the latter does not seem to be logical. Some days my xenons turn on at 4pm even when the sun is shining and no clouds in the sky. The next day they turn on at 7pm when the sun is going down.

I must be too sensitive guy since in addition to my wipers being too sensitive, also the automatic light function turns them on too early. Need to get the sensitivity to be adjusted from sensitive to normal I guess...

- p

Do X3's not utilize the "flash to pass" hi-beams? On the X5 the DRL also act as hi-beams if you simply put the lever towards the driver and not towards the dash.

I agree. The X3's use the inner halogen beams for the high beam flash. So, with the xenon option, the inner halogen beams are depowered for DRL and full powered for flash to pass.

You're correct. When I stated they act as DRL's only, what I meant was that they don't function as low or high beams. They do, however, also act as passing lights as you state.

Your dealer can set the sensitivity of the lights. There is 3 settings that the dealer can pick from. So you can ask your dealer to make your autolights less sensitive to light.

There are many factors here. Which way the car was facing (towards the sun or away). Ambient light around the car (parked objects, buildlings, etc... that could reflect light). Road texture & color (some sparkly, how black the tar on the road really is). How clean your car is (maybe dirt is covering the sensors).

All i am trying to say is that you are looking at two scenarios and expecting the same results. Something which is impossible with all the variables the system has to deal with.