LED Matrix Headlights

[W1NGE]

Quick update, for what it's worth. I spoke with a PCNA rep today giving a presentation on a Taycan. He told us that the first Porsche to have matrix headlights enabled in the USA will be the MY24 Cayenne (or Macan I don't remember for sure, apparently new headlight design - perhaps NHTSA regulations require something not present in current hardware?). He also mentioned that earlier cars may not be able to be retrofitted due to regulations which require a car manufactured in a particular year to follow safety regulations from that year.

The same rep told us that charging a Taycan from L1 chargers (120V) will will completely drain the 12V battery because it takes many, many hours during which the 12V battery is drained but never replenished, and that Taycan brake lights only go on if the Taycan is decelerating at a faster rate then 3.8m/s/s regardless of speed. The first one was true long time ago, the second one was never true, hence my qualifier "for what it's worth" - the rep's info may be out of date or plane wrong.

Sounds like he / she made much of this up!

Pretty sure when at a standstill touching the brake pedal will light up the brake lights!

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[whitex]

Sounds like he / she made much of this up!

Pretty sure when at a standstill touching the brake pedal will light up the brake lights!

Hence my qualifier "for what it's worth". He does work for PCNA, so the matrix news might be credible?

 

[W1NGE]

Hence my qualifier "for what it's worth". He does work for PCNA, so the matrix news might be credible?

Matrix most likely.

 

[Genau]

Quick update, for what it's worth. I spoke with a PCNA rep today giving a presentation on a Taycan. He told us that the first Porsche to have matrix headlights enabled in the USA will be the MY24 Cayenne (or Macan I don't remember for sure, apparently new headlight design - perhaps NHTSA regulations require something not present in current hardware?). He also mentioned that earlier cars may not be able to be retrofitted due to regulations which require a car manufactured in a particular year to follow safety regulations from that year.

The same rep told us that charging a Taycan from L1 chargers (120V) will will completely drain the 12V battery because it takes many, many hours during which the 12V battery is drained but never replenished, and that Taycan brake lights only go on if the Taycan is decelerating at a faster rate then 3.8m/s/s regardless of speed. The first one was true long time ago, the second one was never true, hence my qualifier "for what it's worth" - the rep's info may be out of date or plane wrong.

• Matrix headlights: this is probably true given the NHTSA's propensity for anachronistic regulations.
• L1 charging: in cold weather, a substantial amount of the output from the charger may be used to heat the battery, and to preheat the car if that setting is enabled. It seems plausible that in cold weather, those needs could exceed the ~1.2 kW of input power from L1 charging, causing the traction battery to drain instead of charge. But that doesn't explain why the 12 V battery would drain. Note that a portable hair dryer consumes the same amount of power as an L1 charger.
• Brake lights: this is probably true, if he meant that the brake lights only come on DURING RECUPERATION/REGENERATIVE BRAKING when decelerating more than 3.8m/s/s. We've discussed on other threads that there is some deceleration rate where recuperative braking activates the brake lights, but we didn't know the value with certainty.

 

[whitex]

• L1 charging: in cold weather, a substantial amount of the output from the charger may be used to heat the battery, and to preheat the car if that setting is enabled. It seems plausible that in cold weather, those needs could exceed the ~1.2 kW of input power from L1 charging, causing the traction battery to drain instead of charge. But that doesn't explain why the 12 V battery would drain. Note that a portable hair dryer consumes the same amount of power as an L1 charger.

He said the 12V battery drains during charging and is never replenished, therefore charging at Level 1 speeds which keeps the car charging for many many hours was going to kill the 12V battery. I think this might have been true with early Taycans (still looks bad for Porsche engineering), but AFAIK it was fixed long time ago.

• Brake lights: this is probably true, if he meant that the brake lights only come on DURING RECUPERATION/REGENERATIVE BRAKING when decelerating more than 3.8m/s/s. We've discussed on other threads that there is some deceleration rate where recuperative braking activates the brake lights, but we didn't know the value with certainty.

What he said is essentially that the car is not lighting up brake lights unless the mechanical brakes are engaged. He also said mechanical braking only engages when the car is decelerating more than 3.8m/s/s. At that rate, you could come to a complete stop from 60mph in ~7s without brake lights turning on, or from 9mph to stop in ~1s, which would be dangerous. To further prove he was just making stuff as he went, there was a note on a slide which showed the 3.8s/s/s engagement of mechanical braking, which said "*at 100km/h", but when I asked the guy what happens at other speeds, he just said its the same for all speeds (so why did the slide state at 100km/h?). Obviously, at least to me, he was making stuff up on the spot.

I stopped asking questions after that, no point putting the guy on the spot to make up more answers.

 

[Steve R]

So wait a minute, let me get this straight.....the matrix headlights on my TTS are not activated ( because they are not legal in the U.S. )and I'm using something else? Forgive my ignorance.....

 

[whitex]

So wait a minute, let me get this straight.....the matrix headlights on my TTS are not activated ( because they are not legal in the U.S. )and I'm using something else? Forgive my ignorance.....

Yep, your state of art matrix headlights have the capability to not blind opposing traffic by dimming the part of the headlight shining the light directly at the other driver, highlight signs and pedestrians or bikes on the road. Sounds great, except due to US regulations, they can only be used as dumb headlights - either all-full-on or all-off, nothing in-between. This is not new technology, just the US government bureaucracy is lagging about two decades behind the rest of the civilized world. One of the promises Biden ran on was to fast track legalization of adaptive headlights as they are proven to be safer, but after making a big deal about making it legal a year ago, there has been no news since and since no manufacturer is actually selling adaptive headlight in the US a year after the administration declared them legal, my best guess is they left the regulations unfinished, but since the politicians already got the credit for it, no rush to get it done. Maybe the next president will pick up where Biden dropped the ball.

 

[Steve R]

Yep, your state of art matrix headlights have the capability to not blind opposing traffic by dimming the part of the headlight shining the light directly at the other driver, highlight signs and pedestrians or bikes on the road. Sounds great, except due to US regulations, they can only be used as dumb headlights - either all-full-on or all-off, nothing in-between. This is not new technology, just the US government bureaucracy is lagging about two decades behind the rest of the civilized world. One of the promises Biden ran on was to fast track legalization of adaptive headlights as they are proven to be safer, but after making a big deal about making it legal a year ago, there has been no news since and since no manufacturer is actually selling adaptive headlight in the US a year after the administration declared them legal, my best guess is they left the regulations unfinished, but since the politicians already got the credit for it, no rush to get it done. Maybe the next president will pick up where Biden dropped the ball.

Thanks for the explanation.....also feeling the democratic hate, lol

 

[whitex]

Thanks for the explanation.....also feeling the democratic hate, lol

This problem spans both parties (around two decades of administrations). The current administration just took credit for fast tracking a solution, without actually completing the task. Let's see who rans on requiring amber blinkers on the back of the car, again like the rest of the world, something proven safer by multiple studies from insurance companies.

 

[mystermykee]

Someone smart enough please figure out how to code the ECU to enable this.....

 

[Gwaihir]

Do not buy matrix headlights expecting a future OTA update or dealer update to enable them. While these headlights are now legal in the US, Porsche will have to re-homologate the car with matrix headlights.

I think you could be wrong. My understanding is the Matrix LED lights are fitted it’s just the function is not available. OTA update will enable. So basically, you have purchased the hardware already and afterwards being charged to use it. . . .

 

[proficient_mathematician]

Someone smart enough please figure out how to code the ECU to enable this.....

And while you’re at it, figure out how to code the base PLDS+ headlights to have the matrix function for those of us who couldn’t spec them because of component shortages… Or maybe I’ll just duct tape a couple dozen of these on the hood and program a Raspberry Pi to operate them in a matrix array

 

[whitex]

I think you could be wrong. My understanding is the Matrix LED lights are fitted it’s just the function is not available. OTA update will enable. So basically, you have purchased the hardware already and afterwards being charged to use it. . . .

Sadly no. Cars shipped with disabled matrix headlights due to regulations have been certified to comply with the old regulations. In order to enable the matrix headlights functionality, the car would have to be recertified to new safety regulations which allow it. If that was the only change in regulation, maybe, but typically other things change in regulations, and you cannot have a car which is partially compliant with older safety regulations and partially compliant with newer ones.

So bottom line, this could be enough of a pain for Porsche to not even bother. There is no money in it for Porsche to enable it on older cars - only costs.

 

[Gwaihir]

Sadly no. Cars shipped with disabled matrix headlights due to regulations have been certified to comply with the old regulations. In order to enable the matrix headlights functionality, the car would have to be recertified to new safety regulations which allow it. If that was the only change in regulation, maybe, but typically other things change in regulations, and you cannot have a car which is partially compliant with older safety regulations and partially compliant with newer ones.

So bottom line, this could be enough of a pain for Porsche to not even bother. There is no money in it for Porsche to enable it on older cars - only costs.

I’m in UK and we get the option. Will find out in a couple of weeks if it was worth the money

 

[mystermykee]

I’m in UK and we get the option. Will find out in a couple of weeks if it was worth the money

WORTH.

But I guess it’s mainly for people who drive in areas with no city lights. I live in the Bay Area and would hardly use it; although, a very, very cool feature to have.

I had a 2016 M4 that had auto high beams, but coded in what BMW calls anti dazzle. Useful for those trips to Tahoe or night drives on highway 5 here in CA.

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