When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
I have the Multibeam system on my car, and they are the best stock lights I've ever had....however......
They are intentionally limited in the US application. Specifically, we don't get the Fog Lamp function, or the modulated dipped beam. I do a lot of night driving, and after viewing a few Youtube videos of the euro code version of the system, I'd really like the "high beam on the median looking for deer and low beam for oncoming car" to work. US regs don't allow modulated beams, so we don't get the current high end lights from any of the car makers....
I should probably be glad they don't make us use non halogen Sealed Beams anymore.......
For now, I just get sad when I see the pixel dance on startup...these lights have so much potential that USDOT won't let them use.
A company called LoweredBenz offers a module for $500 which says it will reprogram to E specs.....
Has anyone successfully unlocked the full functions, with this company or another ? If so, did you get different screens in the dash as well ?
Has anyone successfully unlocked the full functions, with this company or another ? If so, did you get different screens in the dash as well ?
Thanks !
I purchased mine from LoweredBenz through Amazon.
The lights work exactly as portrayed in the videos and descriptions. There is no change to instrumentation, it simply requires you set the car to the auto high-beam setting.
Update - ordered. Thank you for the pdf, and to some un-named Brit on youtube who took the system down some winding lanes to show the sliding cutoffs. Amazing !
Will advise. I'm hoping this might be as good as bolting in H4 lights "back in the day".
Last edited by speedlaw; Mar 12, 2021 at 01:24 PM.
I live in Thailand (very dark and dangerous roads at night time).
Must say the Multibeam LED is maybe the most impressive feature on my C43.
Even with front window tinted 60% I see everything crystal clear at night time and much better than any of our other cars.
Question: I still get oncoming traffic to high beam me. (maybe 1 out of 5) is this the same in EU or US? or just Thai people who feel like the oncoming light is too bright and not realizing they are in a shadow zone.
Have anybody here tried to drive towards a car with Multibeams on?
Pretty amazing how it shadows out any other traffic, signs etc. I feel very very safe at night now and easily see the soi dogs or motorbikes with no rear light (which is common here).
Question: I still get oncoming traffic to high beam me. (maybe 1 out of 5) is this the same in EU or US? or just Thai people who feel like the oncoming light is too bright and not realizing they are in a shadow zone.
Have anybody here tried to drive towards a car with Multibeams on?
I have run into this issue only one time so far. In my case, it appeared that the oncoming car was properly blocked, but I suspect they were simply triggered by the apparent brightness of the multi-beams. Otherwise, I have met hundreds of cars with no apparent issues.
Much of my driving is night as well, my job is traffic ticket defense.....to do that, you have to go to every tiny little Court in upstate NY, a very rural place. The majority of those rural Courts are at night. Historically I run 30k miles per year, if there is no plague. Roads are two lanes, twisty, and mostly unlit. Deer are the biggest random hazard-so lighting is important-I've had one deer strike, and missed maybe six more... In the past, I'd resorted to off road lights, very carefully used.
I drove 20 some miles yesterday at night, and no one flashed me. It rained on part of the drive and I was able to see how the car put more light in front of the car, fog light style...also, the lights appear to steer more actively than before. The Ultra Beam function also works...I saw that a few times. The system is constantly changing the lights, it's smarter than you are.
When you approach a sign and you see the system gently drop light ON THE SIGN as not to glare you, well, yes, we ARE amused...
After you get used to them, switching to manual low beam shows how much light is gently sprayed elsewhere, and how helpful that is to the eye, not ON-off ON-off. The ability to vary the intensity is really the biggest game changer in lighting in my driving history...
Last edited by speedlaw; Apr 13, 2021 at 08:49 AM.
Today's discovery...it was a dark and rainy night...
The fog light switch also changes the headlamp pattern.
When the fog light function is turned on (That's the switch to the left on the headlamp switch, in US mode it only turns on the back fog LED), the low beam pattern becomes narrower and changes shape; the intensity increases in the very middle of the pattern. The threshold speed of auto high beams also changes-it is clearly running a different program. The fog light function is accessed via the switch, not automatically.
Left in "normal" high/low beam mode, the fog light switch still changes the pattern of the low beam.
The system is crazy good at putting light where it is useful and taking it away from places it isn't...there were a few places where high beam was compared to active beam, and high beam actually seemed brighter, but it was glare from areas/angles where there is no road (think up 25 feet vertically on either side of the road.) Active beam put all the light in the center and is more useful with less glare/fatigue. It's a lot different from the days I bolted a set of 100w H1 to my cars....surgical, not sledgehammer.
On a dark, unlit road, following another car, that car is in a 'black box", yet light is sprayed on the sides..you can watch the wall of light on one side or the other, and the system doesn't glare the car ahead, even as the road winds right and left.
US DOT needs to pull its head out of the dark place and legalize active lights in the US.
Last edited by speedlaw; Apr 15, 2021 at 09:41 PM.
I was very much interested in activating these features and decided to email them to check compatibility. Apparently according to them my VIN/model is not compatible (2018 C43).
Anyone have another option for activating the ROW lighting functions that would potentially work?
I was very much interested in activating these features and decided to email them to check compatibility. Apparently according to them my VIN/model is not compatible (2018 C43).
Anyone have another option for activating the ROW lighting functions that would potentially work?
I think you needed the 2019 MY lighting and up-they requested my vin before letting me know and there is some reason the modules are coded to the car.
I wonder what is being re coded...when I installed the changes, it took two steps....and each one was a computer type - "updating" with a progress bar....is it re writing the SW in the lights, or just telling the car it' is elsewhere ?
I wonder what is being re coded...when I installed the changes, it took two steps....and each one was a computer type - "updating" with a progress bar....is it re writing the SW in the lights, or just telling the car it' is elsewhere ?
That is part of it.. i think one is telling the headlamp module to be coded with the feature... the other is to tell the car to work rest of world, instead of north america. The software is the same, it's just a matter of coding the right features.
Strange.. My car does that - I live in Canada. When I'm driving I leave the lights on auto however if I'm on darker roads, I can see the light beam turn lower beam on the side as cars approach my car while the other side is bright enough for me to still see the road as it turns down a bit.
In my research I found that Canada had also adopted the euro rules, so I think your car comes that way...American Exceptionalism strikes again. /s
Took mine for the first long night drive this weekend...the modulated beam is very smart, I was flashed once in two hours, and it was as I was entering a town, didn't need the high (er) beam and I think the guy just took notice of the overall brightness of the front of the car. The smart beam is so good I didn't see the interior of any car coming or going.....
In my research I found that Canada had also adopted the euro rules, so I think your car comes that way...American Exceptionalism strikes again. /s
Took mine for the first long night drive this weekend...the modulated beam is very smart, I was flashed once in two hours, and it was as I was entering a town, didn't need the high (er) beam and I think the guy just took notice of the overall brightness of the front of the car. The smart beam is so good I didn't see the interior of any car coming or going.....
No it didn't come that way, I upgrade my lighting to LED lighting at purchased and it came with all those functions.
Took mine for the first long night drive this weekend...the modulated beam is very smart, I was flashed once in two hours, and it was as I was entering a town, didn't need the high (er) beam and I think the guy just took notice of the overall brightness of the front of the car. The smart beam is so good I didn't see the interior of any car coming or going.....
Any streetlights when entering that city? Even a small intersection with only 1-2 low power streetlights will turn off my high beam.
This annoys me a bit as I cannot force it ON - if no cars I would like to keep it ON, as all the street dogs like to sleep on the warm asphalt at night.
Even with 60% tint on the front window it lights up all of the road. It is the best safety feature on my C43.
Any streetlights when entering that city? Even a small intersection with only 1-2 low power streetlights will turn off my high beam.
This annoys me a bit as I cannot force it ON - if no cars I would like to keep it ON, as all the street dogs like to sleep on the warm asphalt at night.
Even with 60% tint on the front window it lights up all of the road. It is the best safety feature on my C43.
To force it on, flip the switch from AUTO to high-beam then just turn on the high beam as you would without adaptive high beam by pushing the stalk inwards.
Any streetlights when entering that city? Even a small intersection with only 1-2 low power streetlights will turn off my high beam.
This annoys me a bit as I cannot force it ON - if no cars I would like to keep it ON, as all the street dogs like to sleep on the warm asphalt at night.
Even with 60% tint on the front window it lights up all of the road. It is the best safety feature on my C43.
Yup, it's smart....overhead lights/city environs mean it won't click on automatic...if you want to force high beams you need to click one right, and push forward, but you are back to full manual beam, and it won't modulate.
I'm curious if the 2019 C43 with ILS has adopted the USA spec or the EU spec. I haven't driven enough outside the city in the pitch black to notice. I did notice the auto high beam engaging in a "curtain" pattern when they turned on last summer one night but never noticed the "black out" behind a car or for an oncoming car like the EU video example seems to show.
I'm curious if the 2019 C43 with ILS has adopted the USA spec or the EU spec. I haven't driven enough outside the city in the pitch black to notice. I did notice the auto high beam engaging in a "curtain" pattern when they turned on last summer one night but never noticed the "black out" behind a car or for an oncoming car like the EU video example seems to show.
After some time with the euro coded lights, I'm still impressed.
As a guy who used to bolt H code lights in and toss Sealed Beams, I guess some things never change at US DOT...
>Fading light zones in and out is much easier on the eyes than on/off.
>The system focuses light almost perfectly where you need it, not a shotgun style approach. Dynamic zones are a game changer.
>I'm pretty sure the LEDs are overall brighter in both low and high beam "modes", but since the aim is much improved, I don't get flashed.
>Low Beams are also very active, they move up and down and right and left a LOT more than the US spec, and will aim up for distance yet still mask out the car ahead of you. They are so good you don't need high beam, active or otherwise, in a lot of places, which is good, because the only quibble is that using active high beams on roads with a lot of reflective signs will sometimes light the signs too much and glare you back. (US signs are more reflective than European, a legacy of the Sealed Beam headlight)
>The Fog Light switch also actives different patterns and responses for poor weather, and works.....fog lights, no, fog patterns !!!
This means it's not fully automatic, just mostly... you still have to select high/low occasionally, but both beams are a significant improvement over the already quite good Mulitbeams in limited US mode.
Last edited by speedlaw; May 17, 2021 at 10:41 AM.
Reason: can't leave anything alone.
Is this fix a one time software upgrade or a chip that needs to be left plugged in?
/////AMG c43: I recommend that you turn off your daytime running lights.
I have several law enforcement officers as clients. Several told me that when looking for speeders they will always lock on the car with the daytime running lights on vs the car with them off as it is much easier to identify them coming down the road.
lowered benz on Amazon. The install takes about 20 minutes, once. It's keyed to your VIN (as are many MB bits apparently) so you need to order it.
I dislike DRL, because I think only Motorcycles should run them, for identification. If you want more contrast use the running lights....DRL end up leaving the dimmer drivers out there driving with no lights on.
Mercedes SLR McLaren 722 S Is Extremely Rare Example Modified by McLaren
Slideshow: A one-of-one U.S.-spec Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren Roadster became even rarer after a factory-backed transformation at McLaren's headquarters.
