IS300h Automatic Headlight Sensor [Location, Dirty]

[TMHD]

Hi Guys!

I am wondering about automatic headlight sensor location, where is it? Anyone know?
Automatic headlights are a nice feature, sure, but in my case, even during the bright day it's on. Few times lights switch themselves off to daylights during the cloudless day straight on roasting sun, but that's it. Normally headlights are on 99% of the time during the day. I know I am living in Dublin, but c'mon! 😄

 

So.. Location of that sensor? Maybe it's dirty AF and that's why it "thinks" it's constantly dark around me?

Many thanks for all replies.

[NemesisUK]

On the RC it's mounted on the dashboard top, left-hand side. A small dome, close to the windscreen.

[wharfhouse]

4 hours ago, TMHD said:

Hi Guys!

I am wondering about automatic headlight sensor location, where is it? Anyone know?
Automatic headlights are a nice feature, sure, but in my case, even during the bright day it's on. Few times lights switch themselves off to daylights during the cloudless day straight on roasting sun, but that's it. Normally headlights are on 99% of the time during the day. I know I am living in Dublin, but c'mon! 😄

 

So.. Location of that sensor? Maybe it's dirty AF and that's why it "thinks" it's constantly dark around me?

Many thanks for all replies.

The sensor is the small dome toward the left of the dash near the windscreen - cover it and lights will come on - there is also a sensitivity adjustment for the auto lights on / off in one of the setup menus - can be set to come on when lighter / darker by + and - 1 & 2. 

[Brechin Slate]

The sensitivity of your light setting can be altered using the settings function and steering wheel controls

[TMHD]

Thank you for your replies. 
So... setting it to minus is a sensitivity how quick it reacts or lighter / darker?
If I want them to turn on automatically only when it gets darker, then should I set it to -2?

[Brechin Slate]

2 minutes ago, TMHD said:

Thank you for your replies. 
So... setting it to minus is a sensitivity how quick it reacts or lighter / darker?
If I want them to turn on automatically only when it gets darker, then should I set it to -2?

Correct the - sign is less sensitive the + sign more sensitive

[wharfhouse]

1 minute ago, TMHD said:

Thank you for your replies. 
So... setting it to minus is a sensitivity how quick it reacts or lighter / darker?
If I want them to turn on automatically only when it gets darker, then should I set it to -2?

I can't remember which way around it is at the moment - the manual doesn't really make it clear - you may need to experiment to see which way to go... I did change mine to 1 as I wanted them to come on a bit earlier (for example when raining) but can't remember which way but will try and remember to check later. 

[TMHD]

Just now, Brechin Slate said:

Correct the - sign is less sensitive the + sign more sensitive

So it has nothing to do with amount of light? 

[TMHD]

Just now, wharfhouse said:

I can't remember which way around it is at the moment - the manual doesn't really make it clear - you may need to experiment to see which way to go... I did change mine to 1 as I wanted them to come on a bit earlier (for example when raining) but can't remember which way but will try and remember to check later. 

For me -2 or +2 they are mostly ON anyways xD 
Will try to clean this sensor or maybe it's a bit faulty... 

[Brechin Slate]

2 minutes ago, TMHD said:

So it has nothing to do with amount of light? 

Yes, it has everything to do with the amount of light, you're altering the sensitivity of the sensor to the amount of light it's receiving

[TMHD]

OK, Thank you all for your extremely quick response. I'll try to sort it out then and will be back with the results.

[Brechin Slate]

Just to be sure, you're not confusing the headlights with the daytime running lights are you? Apologies if I'm insulting your intelligence 😊

[wharfhouse]

4 minutes ago, TMHD said:

OK, Thank you all for your extremely quick response. I'll try to sort it out then and will be back with the results.

If the sun is shining directly on the front of the car the auto lights can come on too - something in the sensor measures that too. But in normal daylight (no direct sun) they should be off. 

[TMHD]

No, they are set to auto. I am manually switching them to daytime running lights at daytime, as automatic... well.. automatic activates headlights for the most of the time. Only in crazy bright day with clear sky and tone of sunshine automatic works the proper way. For the normal days, not really...

[TMHD]

3 minutes ago, wharfhouse said:

If the sun is shining directly on the front of the car the auto lights can come on too - something in the sensor measures that too. But in normal daylight (no direct sun) they should be off. 

That's what I thought. Normal daytime, a bit cloudy and headlights are on in my case... That's a waste a bit.

[wharfhouse]

19 minutes ago, TMHD said:

That's what I thought. Normal daytime, a bit cloudy and headlights are on in my case... That's a waste a bit.

I have just looked at mine and I have +1 sensitivity set as I like mine to come on sooner than default - so if you want them to be on only when it gets darker move sensitivity to -1 or -2 and see how that works.

[wharfhouse]

If you are trying to experiment what I found when trying to set sensitivity was that once the lights turn on they take quite a long time to turn off again. This makes experimenting quite hard and I found the best way was to set a level and then see how it behaves while driving around for a day or two and then change and use again for a couple of days. That's how I ended up as +1 as a compromise - I wanted the lights to come on when it was dull and raining as on Lexus (and it seems other Japanese cars from what I have found) auto lights are independent of the windscreen wipers being on, unlike BMW (maybe other German cars?) where once the wipers come on the auto lights come on. However on +1 they aren't too sensitive unlike +2 when it seemed they were on for a significant amount of time in normal daylight. 

[TMHD]

Now everything is clear. Dealer put the sticker on the lower left corner of the windshield where dome is. Sticker is blocking all sunlight that it should get.

Photo 1 - Lights on automatic, morning sun, but headlights on...

[TMHD]

Sorry. It doesn't let me to upload photo, neither edit post above...
 

Photo 2 - That's the place where sensor is that measure amount of light around. Apparently... Sticker is on it's way.
Photo 3 - Close up

 

[wharfhouse]

7 hours ago, TMHD said:

Now everything is clear. Dealer put the sticker on the lower left corner of the windshield where dome is. Sticker is blocking all sunlight that it should get.

Photo 1 - Lights on automatic, morning sun, but headlights on...

Yes that's the light sensor for the auto headlights - whatever is on the windscreen will be blocking the light falling on it so keeping the lights on all the time. 

[TMHD]

So everything's clear now. Thank you all for help. 

SOLVED: If you have any sticker for tax/insurance disk that is blocking sunlight on that small, rounded dome on the left hand side under the windshield - remove it. 

[paulrnx]

Glad you got it sorted! 👍

[PaulWhitt20]

One wonders about the intelligence of the dealer !

[Brechin Slate]

10 hours ago, TMHD said:

Sorry. It doesn't let me to upload photo, neither edit post above...
 

Photo 2 - That's the place where sensor is that measure amount of light around. Apparently... Sticker is on it's way.
Photo 3 - Close up

 

That's a lot of stickers, are any of them necessary?

[TMHD]

4 hours ago, Brechin Slate said:

That's a lot of stickers, are any of them necessary?

Well... Ireland... I've one more in the top left corner on the windshield too:
1 - Insurance disk
2 - Road Tax disk
3 - Technical Test disk
4 - Parking space permit disk