Matrix LED Light Issue

[Gru]

The issue is that on our specific cars, it's not working like they usually do, but because there's no fault codes and it's hard for a service centre to test (because it needs a test drive on unlit roads in the dark) our concerns are being dismissed and we're both just being told that our cars are operating as intended.

do you have a dashcam or something else (toll device) near the camera close to the rear view mirror that could interfere ?

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[DWJames]

do you have a dashcam or something else (toll device) near the camera close to the rear view mirror that could interfere ?

I don't. No modifications or extra equipment installed in this car.
I've got some more video footage of what it's doing and have been trying to be more analytical about the behaviour which bothers me most and I think it boils down to:

whenever the full beam auto is active, any input to the steering to the right of center is significantly magnified in the rightwards movement of the headlight's dynamic area of shadow which covers the vehicle in front. It's as though there is a compensation built in so the lights can predict the movement of my vehicle based on the steering input and move the lights by an equivalent amount, but when turning right this steering of the lights is 3 or 4 times as much as required. The same behaviour does not obviously happen when turning to the left.

I assume the same camera system is used for Inno Drive and I have no issues with that.

 

[whitex]

I don't. No modifications or extra equipment installed in this car.
I've got some more video footage of what it's doing and have been trying to be more analytical about the behaviour which bothers me most and I think it boils down to:

whenever the full beam auto is active, any input to the steering to the right of center is significantly magnified in the rightwards movement of the headlight's dynamic area of shadow which covers the vehicle in front. It's as though there is a compensation built in so the lights can predict the movement of my vehicle based on the steering input and move the lights by an equivalent amount, but when turning right this steering of the lights is 3 or 4 times as much as required. The same behaviour does not obviously happen when turning to the left.

I assume the same camera system is used for Inno Drive and I have no issues with that.

Any chance your car disabled the inverted beam for RHD? I know this is a remote possibility, but perhaps disable the inverted beam and automatic high beams, then re-enable them.

I'm only suggesting it because after a recent service (changing out onboard charger, which requires full car power-down, HV and 12V) my Taycan had completely non-functional high beams. This was after it was parked overnight, so car should have reset itself. Turning off automatic high beam and turning it back on, brought the full functionality back. This tells me that it is possible for the settings in the PCM to not reflect settings in other ECU's until you explicitly change them.

 

[DWJames]

perhaps disable the inverted beam and automatic high beams, then re-enable them

Oh wow, you might be onto something there! I was sure I had played with these when I first got the car, but having toggled these 2 settings a couple of times tonight and waited for the car to confirm it had applied the changes I see a noticeable difference in how the lights are behaving

I’ll test more as the week goes on, but I feel like although it’s definitely still not perfect and I’m still lighting up the left hand edge of the car in front when turning right, it’s significantly less now.
I feel light the lights and the shadowed areas they generate are a lot more coherent now and I can tell what they’re trying to achieve whereas previously they moved around a lot, but I found it hard to define what they were up to, as though the left and right ones were conflicting if that makes sense? Some definite progress for me here, thank you

@Rusk fancy giving this a go on yours?

 

[acull2000]

Oh wow, you might be onto something there! I was sure I had played with these when I first got the car, but having toggled these 2 settings a couple of times tonight and waited for the car to confirm it had applied the changes I see a noticeable difference in how the lights are behaving

I’ll test more as the week goes on, but I feel like although it’s definitely still not perfect and I’m still lighting up the left hand edge of the car in front when turning right, it’s significantly less now.
I feel light the lights and the shadowed areas they generate are a lot more coherent now and I can tell what they’re trying to achieve whereas previously they moved around a lot, but I found it hard to define what they were up to, as though the left and right ones were conflicting if that makes sense? Some definite progress for me here, thank you

@Rusk fancy giving this a go on yours?

Reading the manual, it appearrs the "inverted setting of dipped beam" should only be ticked if you're driving on the opposite side of the road. So for a UK car, driving in the UK, the tick box should be off in general?

There was a previous bug where this would "toggle on" without any user request; but that looks to be fixed.

It's conceivable that there could be a bug where the displayed setting (ticked or not) does not correctly match reality (and that toggling the tick box could re-sync) - but I guess for "driving in your home country" the box should be left unticked?

The manual describes the feature "flattens" the dipped beam so that the nearside illumination (eg the verge closest to the car) that is normally highlighted, is not. I'd be surprised if this affected full-beam/ matrix LED though?

I too am recently getting flashed a lot (when on auto-high beam; matrix lights, no RWS) but need to check this and the calibration method (never seen that happen).

 

[W1NGE]

Reading the manual, it appearrs the "inverted setting of dipped beam" should only be ticked if you're driving on the opposite side of the road. So for a UK car, driving in the UK, the tick box should be off in general?

There was a previous bug where this would "toggle on" without any user request; but that looks to be fixed.

It's conceivable that there could be a bug where the displayed setting (ticked or not) does not correctly match reality (and that toggling the tick box could re-sync) - but I guess for "driving in your home country" the box should be left unticked?

The manual describes the feature "flattens" the dipped beam so that the nearside illumination (eg the verge closest to the car) that is normally highlighted, is not. I'd be surprised if this affected full-beam/ matrix LED though?

I too am recently getting flashed a lot (when on auto-high beam; matrix lights, no RWS) but need to check this and the calibration method (never seen that happen).

Correct. Inverted in UK is only needed when in an EU country driving on RHS of the road. PCM NAV should auto select when say in France.

 

[prj]

Back when I was still doing calibration on the dyno I had so many customer cars come in with this setting selected (or similar). I saw it right away on the beam pattern on the dyno wall. Almost every modern car has it.

People just tick all boxes on without understanding what they do with the logic that "more is better". All of these drivers were blinding other motorists, I hope I made at least someone's day better by fixing the setting.

But if it is indeed the issue in this case, then SHAME on the Porsche dealer for not checking such a simple setting. Completely incompetent.

 

[acull2000]

I don't think having the box ticked blinds anyone; my impression is:

• unticked = normal: the beam pattern is flat, with an upward kink on the nearside (to illuminate the nearest verge for pedestrians, animals, signs etc)
• ticked = opposite driving side: the beam pattern is flat, without the upward kink on the nearside

 

[prj]

I don't think having the box ticked blinds anyone; my impression is:

• unticked = normal: the beam pattern is flat, with an upward kink on the nearside (to illuminate the nearest verge for pedestrians, animals, signs etc)
• ticked = opposite driving side: the beam pattern is flat, without the upward kink on the nearside

I haven't tried it on the Taycan but on some other cars it inverted the cutoff pattern so the left and right was swapped.

 

[whitex]

Back when I was still doing calibration on the dyno I had so many customer cars come in with this setting selected (or similar). I saw it right away on the beam pattern on the dyno wall. Almost every modern car has it.

People just tick all boxes on without understanding what they do with the logic that "more is better". All of these drivers were blinding other motorists, I hope I made at least someone's day better by fixing the setting.

But if it is indeed the issue in this case, then SHAME on the Porsche dealer for not checking such a simple setting. Completely incompetent.

I've seen German cars driving in the US with the rear fog lights regardless of the weather. Another example of monkey mentality of just hitting random buttons in the car without a clue what they do. Same with some people always driving with high beams on, while not even knowing about what a high vs. low beam is, or how to change it (they pushed the stalk at some point in the past and it made the road look brighter for them, never thought of it again). Also reminds me of people who ignore warnings, and nowdays they are more than just a warning light - car beeps and displays full error messages on the screen, yet some people simply do not notice (or notice and ignore hoping it will go away?). *sigh*

 

[whitex]

I haven't tried it on the Taycan but on some other cars it inverted the cutoff pattern so the left and right was swapped.

That is what it did when I played with it on my Taycan (after enabling the EU matrix function on my US car).

 

[SoccerMan94043]

Procedure is documented in the owner’s manual but I guess the Porsche techs always either know better or overlook this useful reference source.

Glad you've got a solution (more or less).

This instruction doesn't seem to be there for the MY25 manual. What setting controls "dipped beam on"?

 

[acull2000]

This instruction doesn't seem to be there for the MY25 manual. What setting controls "dipped beam on"?

I played with this tonight- I found it quite hard to get the self-calibration to run. It will do it in drive, hold, park, or even with you (and the key) out the car. Has to be on level ground in medium suspension height, steering straight, auto lights on dipped beam, the right distance from the wall.

The video shows roughly what should happen. Interestingly my calibration somehow fails to leave a straight line - which hopefully explains why I am getting flashed and can be easily sorted out at dealer

I haven't tried it on the Taycan but on some other cars it inverted the cutoff pattern so the left and right was swapped.

I also tried this, and was surprised to see the beam pattern mirrored (and no nearside kicks switched off). Maybe because my cal is off, but @prj I think you may know better than the Porsche handbook

 

[W1NGE]

This instruction doesn't seem to be there for the MY25 manual. What setting controls "dipped beam on"?

Power on the car, tap the dipped beam icon on the main instrument panel - glows green.

Suspect they prefer owners to get calibration checked by the Dealer.

 

[mystermykee]

The video shows roughly what should happen. Interestingly my calibration somehow fails to leave a straight line - which hopefully explains why I am getting flashed and can be easily sorted out at dealer

What do you mean fails to leave a straight line? You mean just after the calibration is finished, you expect a straight line without the stepped cutoffs?

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